Thoughts on Addressing Economic Disparity

Floor Speech

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Ms. JACOBS of California. Madam Speaker, I thank Chair Himes for organizing this Special Order, and I say thank you to the ranking member.

I welcome our Republican colleagues to the committee. I know we are going to have some strong debates on this committee, and we should because economic inequality is the central issue of our time. It deserves all the energy and attention we can give it because we are at a pivotal moment.

Right now, the bottom 50 percent of the population holds 2 percent of the wealth in the United States. The top 1 percent holds nearly a third of all wealth.

I have some experience with that. The most consequential day of my life, the day that would determine whether or not I grew up with opportunity and privilege, was the day that I was born. That is true for so many kids in America. But unlike the majority of kids who were born in 1989, I was lucky. While some were born into generational poverty, I was born into a family of wealth. That is what I did to earn my wealth and my opportunity in life--I was born.

For decades, our policies have benefited people like me, and that has to change because, in addition to being immoral, economic inequality represents a long-term threat to our international competitiveness, our national security, and the health of our democracy.

I know my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, some of whom served with me on Armed Services, are thinking deeply about how we remain competitive in the international landscape. But with 140 million Americans who live in households that are low income, low wealth, are one crisis away from economic ruin, that is more difficult.

I represent San Diego in Congress. We are one of the wealthiest counties in the country. We have Fortune 500 companies. We have mansions on the beach. Yet, more than 40 percent of our kids were living in families experiencing poverty before the pandemic. We have to do better.

That is why I am so grateful to be on this committee and that we are taking the time to debate and negotiate the Build Back Better Act, a bill that would make historic investments to rebalance our system, especially for children.

I know our disagreements are real, but I have faith that, together, we can work to find solutions like the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, Head Start, all of these programs that, when they were passed, had wide bipartisan support.

Madam Speaker, I again thank Chair Himes and our Republican colleagues.

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