Ranking Member Scott Statement on August Jobs Report
WASHINGTON – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 201,000 jobs in August, with the unemployment rate at 3.9 percent.
“Today’s jobs report once again shows that the Republican tax bill is nothing but a broken promise to American workers. The White House predicted passing their tax scheme would increase the average family’s annual income by at least $4,000. Nine months later, the typical worker’s wages are not even keeping up with inflation while corporations and their CEOs are raking in historic sums of money.
“Workers are not getting a fair deal in this economy. This is not an accident; it is the product of policy choices in Congress and across the federal government. Rather than spending nearly $2 trillion on a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the richest Americans, we should be investing in America’s future. Rather than fighting for the well-off and the well connected, we should be fighting for the people who work long hours and multiple jobs just to barely get by.
“An important first step would be to pass the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 (H.R. 15). This bill would gradually increase the federal minimum wage and ensure that the minimum wage is no longer a poverty wage.”
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