Congratulating President Biden

Floor Speech

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Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate President Biden for the progress our Nation has made this past year. In early 2021, the President took office during a global crisis and was determined to get America back on track. He knew we needed a comeback. He knew we needed to focus on building a better America.

So what did President Biden do? He invested in the American people, and he invested big. The boom was beginning.

In March 2021, the American Rescue Plan was signed into law. In total, a historic $1.9 trillion were put to work for the American people during the severe public health and economic crisis caused by COVID.

Since then, the American Rescue Plan has been helping us recover. We are now enjoying one of the strongest periods of economic growth in history, and we are building a better America.

If we look at the progress we have made over the past year, Madam Speaker, we can see how successful the American Rescue Plan truly has been.

The plan powered historic jobs recovery and produced the largest calendar increase in jobs on record. The unemployment rate dropped at a record pace, but we have also seen the biggest drop in long-term unemployment ever recorded in a 12-month span. Nearly 2.5 million people broke out of the cycle of long-term unemployment. Madam Speaker, this is huge.

As the Representative of a majority Latino district, I was especially proud to learn there were record drops in Latino and African-American unemployment rates. African-American unemployment fell by more than 30 percent. Latino unemployment fell from nearly 9 percent to 4.4 percent, the fastest drop ever recorded.

These are hardworking Americans going back to work, putting food on the table, and earning good paychecks. This is building a better America.

We have seen that when Americans have job opportunities, great things happen, and they do. That is why we also saw the lowest number of home foreclosures ever recorded. We also witnessed a record low number of credit card delinquencies.

The American Rescue Plan isn't only helping working adults. The American Rescue Plan's historic child tax credit benefits nearly 40 million families with 65 million children.

Madam Speaker, in my own home State, the child tax credit directly benefits nearly 7 million children, many in our area of Houston. Madam Speaker, that is a whole lot of children. Most families in Texas will receive several thousand extra dollars because of the increased 2021 child tax credit.

Because of these historic tax credits, child poverty rates have been slashed dramatically. In only 1 year, unemployment is at a record low, job opportunities are on the rise, and child poverty rates have been reduced. We are building a better America for all.

I am so proud we have a strong leader in the White House who is leading America to full recovery. President Biden got it right, Madam Speaker. He understood that betting on the American people is always a good idea. With the right resources, America will win. We will all win. It is just that simple. Together, we really are building a better America.

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