Select Committee on Economic Disparity & Fairness in Growth

America is more unequal today than any other time in modern history. Great wealth disparities slow our economy, poison our politics, and offend our moral sensibilities. In 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi established the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth to shine a light on the nature of this problem, and to propose practical, analytically sound solutions to ensure everyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a shot at securing a comfortable life for their family.

The Select Committee conducted a series of field visits across the country in an effort to meet Americans where they are and hear their perspective on the economic challenges they are facing in their communities.

All too often, policy debates lack a visceral sense of the struggles and hopes of our nation’s people. At the start of each hearing, Committee Members were presented a series of stories from across America about economic hardship and triumph to provide critical context to the issues they’re discussing. Each unique story illustrates the distinct barriers Americans face in their shared pursuit for prosperity. Provided below is the full collection of over forty recorded stories presented to the Committee over its tenure.

Check out the map below and scroll down below to watch them share their stories

The Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth is comprised of the following members:

• Chairman Jim Himes (D-CT)
• Ranking Member Bryan Steil (R-WI)
• Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
• Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH)
• Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)
• Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX)
• Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX)
• Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK)
• Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN)
• Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL)
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
• Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL)
• Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
• Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA)

The Select Committee would like to thank the panelists and storytellers from across the country who lent their voices to our study of economic disparity. The Committee would also like to thank John Hessler, Specialist in Computational Geography and Geographic Information Science at the Library of Congress, and Julia Bayer, Solution Engineer at Esri, for their help in building this web application.