WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks today at a press conference with House Democratic leaders to discuss additional bills [2] added to Democrats’ Make It In America plan. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“With millions of Americans still out of work through no fault of their own, we must approach job-creation with the seriousness and urgency this challenge deserves.  Unfortunately, the Republican leadership has chosen instead to hold a vote repealing health reform again – a vote the House has already held thirty times this Congress.

“Our focus ought to be on finding economic solutions that will create jobs now and boost our competitiveness over the long term.  Democrats’ Make It In America plan will do just that.  And it does so by revitalizing our manufacturing sector.

“Indicators have shown that manufacturing is a bright spot in our recovery, but after two years of strong gains, we just witnessed a month of manufacturing contraction and slowed growth in earnings.  We cannot risk letting our manufacturing growth falter. We must take this warning sign and treat it as a turning point.

“Over the past two years, Democrats have put forward Make It In America bills that will help us out-educate, out-innovate, and out-build our competitors – and create millions of well paying, middle-class jobs in the process. This week we are adding additional proposals to our Make It In America plan, and we are calling on the House leadership to put them on the Floor before the summer is over.

“These bills would invest in rebuilding our infrastructure to help move goods to market, enhance job skills training and education to prepare our workforce for manufacturing jobs, and enforce trade rules to ensure a level playing field.

“Speaker Boehner said that he would allow the majority to work its will in this House. If these bills came to the Floor, I believe there would be a large, bipartisan majority of members voting in favor. That’s because Make It In America combines the best ideas from both parties and has strong support from both business and labor.

“Now is not the moment to hunker down; rather, it is a time to go on offense. And Make It In America is our economy’s best offensive play. Everyone here with me has been a leader in the Make It In America effort, and I’m going to give them the opportunity to talk about several of these new proposals in more detail.”

For more information about the Democrats' Make It In America plan, click here [3].