Anne Arundel Today

WASHINGTON, DC – On May 25, 2023, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) joined Steve Clemons at Semafor's "American Infrastructure: A New Era Summit" to discuss the work of the Regional Leadership Council and House Democrats’ efforts to amplify the Investing in America agenda as well as Republicans’ insistence on draconian cuts moving us closer to default. Below are excerpts from his interview and a link to the livestream: 

Click here to watch the full interview.

ON THE WORK OF THE REGIONAL LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

“...The Washington Post had a poll that showed that 62% of Americans said 'Well, the last Congress didn’t really do much.' Now, anybody who knows and followed the 117th Congress was one of the most consequential, productive Congress’ in which I have served. And this is my 22nd Congress. And we’ve had a lot of productive Congress’, some not so productive. But this was one of the the most productive, with a four vote majority, where trillions of dollars were spent – in the first instance, to bring us out of the pandemic, and in the second instance to Invest in America. To invest in our international [competitiveness]. To invest in making sure we could grow jobs."

“...So, [Jeffries] appointed twelve individuals to serve on this Regional Council, and he asked me to chair it. Our job is to [first], identify what we did, what are the things that are available for communities, cities, counties, states. Secondly, to implement what we did, to make sure it’s out to the people, and making a difference in the resiliency and productivity of America. And then thirdly, and this is critical, to inform people what we have done. And the last “I” is Investing in America – that’s what Joe Biden talked about when he [spoke] to Congress.”

ON REPUBLICANS MOVING US CLOSER TO DEFAULT

“We need to tell the American public the truth—that this is a phony debate, a fraudulent issue. It does not have much to do with the debt at all. The debt has to do with when you spend money or you cut taxes, neither of which will be affected by the debt limit per se. We’re the only country in the world that has a meaningful debt limit... Denmark, where my father was born, has a debt limit. Australia used to have it – it repealed it. We and Denmark, and Denmark never reaches it. It’s a phony political issue meant to pretend that we’re cutting spending by eliminating the debt.”

Original source can be found here.