Sara Jacobs: “I thank Chair Himes for organizing this Special Order, and I say thank you to the ranking member. I welcome our…”

“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.…”