Speeches
July 11, 2012
“With millions still out of work and families struggling to make ends meet, Republicans are responding by voting to take away critical health care protections. Polls show a clear majority of Americans want Congress to move on from the health care issue and spend time focusing on creating jobs and moving our economic recovery forward.
July 11, 2012
“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.
July 9, 2012
As he prepared to take office, President Kennedy spoke to a nation troubled by anxiety over America’s leadership in the world and uncertainty over whether future Americans would inherit a strong and secure economy.
June 8, 2012
“When crisis struck our financial system in 2008, it wasn’t because there was too much regulation. For years, the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress took the referees off the field when it came to Wall Street.
June 7, 2012
Right now, in this room, many of you are busy typing away on your smartphones, broadcasting snippets of information to the remotest corners of our world. Texting, tweeting, email – all have become ubiquitous tools in the transfer of information and the latest step in the march of innovation. We live at an exciting moment when we can feel the pulse of change literally in our fingertips.
March 5, 2012
Israel is truly the product of a dream fulfilled. I have been personally enriched each of the twelve times I have visited Israel. The most recent was last summer, when I brought twenty-six Members of Congress with me. Now that I’ve been there twelve times, I guess you could say the next visit will be my ‘bar mitzvah’ trip.
February 27, 2012
Our number one priority must continue to be creating jobs and setting our economy back on a course toward sustainable growth that creates opportunities for our middle class. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the House Budget Committee earlier this month that growth must take precedence over deficit reduction. I agree. However, putting our fiscal house in order by reining in deficits and getting our debt under control is a critical part of ensuring sustainable economic growth, and so it is essential for us to have a plan to reduce deficits once the economy has further recovered.
August 2, 2011
Let me suggest at the outset that talking about jobs is talking about debt. The only way to successfully deal with our debt is to create jobs and economic growth in America. After seven months there has not been a single jobs bill--that is the negligent record of the Republicans.
May 23, 2011
If the United States fails to pay the bills it has incurred, it ‘would be a financial disaster not only for our country, but for the world economy.’ Those are the words of Speaker Boehner in January...
April 5, 2011
Sigmund Livingston, the founder of the Anti-Defamation League, reflected that anti-Semitism is ‘an expression of hatred the seeds of which were planted in the days of childhood, when the mind is subtly conditioned for the reception of libels and fictions.’ He understood that anti-Semitism feeds on ignorance and can take root very early in life. And he created the Anti-Defamation League because he believed in the power of truth, boldly and unapologetically stated, to overcome that ignorance. I believe that that mission has taken on a special importance at this moment in history.
March 30, 2011
One year ago, Democrats took bold action to pass the Affordable Care Act and the Education Reconciliation bill. Today, these laws are putting patients—not insurance companies-- back in control of their health care. And American families and students are now benefitting from new protections and greater freedoms.
March 28, 2011
Democrats’ overwhelming priority in the 112th Congress is job creation. In the last Congress, we took important steps to pull our country back from the brink of a depression and create as many as 2 million jobs—but we also know that millions of Americans remain out of work. So it’s surprising and disappointing that, almost three months into this new Congress, Republicans have failed to even propose a single job-creating bill. The people we represent deserve better.
March 22, 2011
I want to thank you for all of your hard work to strengthen local communities across our country. More than 2,000 counties and 15,000 municipalities count on your work. And as those communities work to make themselves better places to live, to start a business, to get an education, and to raise a family, they are counting on your expertise and your advocacy.
March 18, 2011
Now it’s time to write a new generation of stories. They will be written by young men and women, like the young man who wrote me last fall. They will serve openly and proudly. They will be leaders in the civil rights movement of our time. They will endure sacrifice and separation from their loved ones—so that the rest of us don’t have to. Some of them will die for their country—so that the rest of us don’t have to. Let’s recognize their service—and every American’s service—for the precious gift it is. Let us give every American’s service the honor it deserves.
March 12, 2011
"But there is a sure sign of someone who does not take those problems seriously: disparaging and scapegoating public servants, instead of taking on the real challenges...
February 18, 2011
We have, as the Speaker indicated, been here for two months. We've been here for two months and we have not taken a single action to create jobs in America. In fact, we've done two major things that will undermine, in my view, jobs in America.
February 16, 2011
Our nation is in deep fiscal trouble, and cutting spending is part of the solution. But we can’t cut spending in a reckless, short-sighted way that mortgages our country’s economic future.
February 15, 2011
We’re here today to recognize an historic moment for the people of Southern Sudan. Last week, we learned the results of the independence referendum in Southern Sudan, which showed that an overwhelming majority voted to secede from the north.
February 15, 2011
The historian Taylor Branch called the men and women of America’s civil rights movement no less than 'the modern founders of democracy.' Today, a leader of that movement was awarded America’s highest civilian honor: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
December 13, 2010
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks this morning at the National Press Club on the need for American leaders to look beyond two-year election cycles to address the challenges facing our country, including job creation, economic growth, and fiscal responsibility. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
September 30, 2010
When President Obama and the 111th Congress took their oaths of office, America was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing almost 800,000 jobs per month. Over a quarter of the personal wealth in America had been wiped out. We were in a record amount of debt. From the day we began our work, Congress had this overriding goal: stopping the freefall, creating jobs, and building a solid foundation for the future.
September 29, 2010
Rebuilding America's manufacturing industry is essential to creating well-paying, middle-class jobs, and to ensuring that America can be the world's innovation leader for generations to come. That's why Democrats have focused so much energy on the Make It In America agenda, an effort to strengthen American manufacturing. It is a plan that includes incentives for manufacturing investment, workforce training, encouraging innovation, and fighting for a fair playing field for American companies that compete abroad.
September 28, 2010
At his town hall meeting last week, the most painful question put to President Obama was also one of the simplest: 'Is the American Dream dead?'
September 23, 2010
As we work to recover from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, our small businesses remain the job-creating engine of our economy. Supporting small businesses, and making products in America, are key to creating well-paying, secure, middle-class jobs.
September 16, 2010
I am honored to receive this award, and to join with you in support of the hard work that will bring a Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial to the hallowed ground of the National Mall. It will be a great day when Dr. King, not far from where he delivered his famous speech on the Mall in 1963, is honored among our nation's founders.
