WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement today after the Department of Labor announced 313,000 jobs were added in February:

“The modest wage growth in February shows that Republicans are failing to deliver on the promise to American families that they touted in their tax bill. Working families are still waiting for the wage growth they deserve – and were promised. The average worker’s wages have grown less than 5 percent over the last 35 years, after adjusting for inflation. We have to take real steps to make sure families see economic gains—and the Republican tax scam simply doesn’t cut it.

“The Republican law serves special interests at the expense of our children, who will deal with the debt burden of the partisan tax bill for generations to come. The gains corporations are seeing from the tax bill are disproportionately going to executives instead of workers. For every dollar being pocketed by investors, only 3 cents is making its way to workers.

“Congressional Republicans have it backwards. We should invest in hard-working Americans, not spend $1.5 trillion on corporate giveaways. We need to make sure this economy works for everyone and must put the interests of working families before special interests and large corporations."

President Trump promised American families that they would see a $4,000 annual raise after the tax plan; so far, average weekly wages have increased $7.97. JEC Democratic staff are holding Trump accountable on this promise and his promise to be “the greatest jobs President [ever]” on our jobs tracker here.

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For more information, please contact Latoya Veal at Latoya_Veal@jec.senate.gov or 202-224-0379.