OUR CRUCIAL SPRING CAMPAIGN IS NOW UNDERWAY
Please donate now to keep the mission and independent journalism of Common Dreams strong.
For Immediate Release
March, 31 2021, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Olivia Alperstein, Media Manager, Institute for Policy Studies, olivia@ips-dc.org
Progressives Groups to Biden and Congress: Go Bolder, Go Faster
The American Rescue Plan is a powerful response to the immediate needs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, to ensure a just and equitable recovery and to build the kind of economy that serves the people in it, we call on President Biden and Congress to draft and pass a Build Back Better package that meets the massive challenges facing our nation.
WASHINGTON
The American Rescue Plan is a powerful response to the immediate needs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, to ensure a just and equitable recovery and to build the kind of economy that serves the people in it, we call on President Biden and Congress to draft and pass a Build Back Better package that meets the massive challenges facing our nation.
We need bold legislation to fix our crumbling physical infrastructure and deeply inadequate care infrastructure, and address the long-term crises of poverty, climate change, and inequities rooted in systemic racism. The Build Back Better package must address pressing social challenges, ensure that there are high-quality jobs throughout the economy, and provide a better and fairer society. Low-wage workers, women, immigrants, and Black and Brown communities have been hardest hit by the pandemic. As the nation recovers, the benefits of this package must be targeted in such a way that it generates greater equity in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, immigration status, and zip code.
To achieve these goals, the Build Back Better package must be adequate in size and scope. A $3 trillion package is a step towards meeting our immediate physical infrastructure needs alone. But even addressing a robust subset of our pressing challenges would take substantially more. For example, to tackle the climate crisis; restructure the care economy; make college available to all; and modernize our unemployment insurance system would take a package two times as large. Meeting other crucial goals like advancing towards universal health care; monitoring the economic and public health of all the nation's people; creating a pathway to citizenship for essential workers and their families, young immigrants, and TPS holders; and ending poverty--to build a truly inclusive economy from the bottom up--would need an investment on the order of $10 trillion over the next 10 years, along with key changes in regulations and other rules governing economic life. These changes will not only help our nation recover but also lead to dignified jobs and long-term shared prosperity. Lawmakers can sustain these transformational changes into the future by ensuring that wealthy individuals and corporations pay their fair share in taxes and by reducing prescription drug prices.
The scale of legislation that we recommend is economically sound and procedurally achievable. These policies are overwhelmingly popular. Their enactment is simply a matter of political will.
Families and communities have waited long enough. Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act within the first 50 days of the Biden Administration. We urge Congress and the Administration to bring the same ambition and urgency to this effort, with passage of a transformative Build Back Better bill before the August recess.
"The compounding crises our country faces--extreme poverty, emboldened white supremacy, and the climate crisis--demonstrate the need for President Biden and Congress to go bold and go fast," said Matt Hayward, Legislative Affairs Director at the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center. "The priorities that the President is laying out today begin the process of building back from this crisis, but don't go nearly far enough. Our families and communities need and deserve so much more, and they need it now."
"We can't remain stuck in the paradigms of the past--the challenges working families face today are too great," said Deepak Bhargava policy expert and professor at CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. "The Build Back Better package must be both big to meet the scale of the economic crisis we face, and equitable to redress the disproportionate harms of economic inequality on communities of color, immigrants and women."
"The boldness of what we are proposing is the only way to tackle the interconnected crises of climate, care, a crumbling infrastructure, and the desperate need for quality jobs, and we can pay for much of it through fair taxes that also stem the excessive inequality that is eating away at our democracy," said John Cavanagh, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies.
Original Signatories
Congressional Progressive Caucus Center
Institute for Policy Studies
Alliance for Quality Education
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
BOLD ReThink
Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR)
Center for Popular Democracy
Chicago Foundation for Women
Common Defense
Community Health Councils
Demos
Early Care & Education Pathways To Success (ECEPTS)
Earthworks
Family Values @ Work
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Green New Deal Network
HBCU Collective
Indivisible
Insight Center
Institute For Women's Policy Research
Jobs With Justice
Keystone Progress
Labor Network for Sustainability
Legal Aid at Work
MomsRising
MoveOn
National Association of Social Workers
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
National Network of Arab American Communities (NNAAC)
National Partnership for Women & Families
Open Society Policy Center
Parent Voices CA
People's Action
Rights & Democracy
Service Employees International Union
Supermajority
Voices for Progress
Take On Wall Street
The Century Foundation
Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest PA
Working Families Party
Young Invincibles
Institute for Policy Studies turns Ideas into Action for Peace, Justice and the Environment. We strengthen social movements with independent research, visionary thinking, and links to the grassroots, scholars and elected officials. I.F. Stone once called IPS "the think tank for the rest of us." Since 1963, we have empowered people to build healthy and democratic societies in communities, the US, and the world. Click here to learn more, or read the latest below.
LATEST NEWS
Maxwell Frost Had One Word for Both Ron DeSantis and Fascism. It Began With "F"
The freshman Democratic congressman offered a concise political rebuke of his fellow Floridian during a rock concert Friday night.
Jun 03, 2023
Freshman Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida was given an opportunity to speak to the crowd attending the Paramore concert in Washington, D.C. on Friday night and he offered just one word to Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and the fascist policies he has pushed as the governor of the Sunshine State.
"Fuck Ron DeSantis! Fuck fascism!" said Frost when handed the microphone by lead vocalist Halyey Williams during the show at the Capitol One Center.
\u201cHoly shit. Maxwell Frost appeared at a Paramore concert last night & his first words on stage were \u201cfuck Ron DeSantis.\u201d The crowd went absolutely wild. Gen Z will make Ron DeSantis\u2019s life miserable & will never allow him to be president. Watch \ud83d\udc47 \nhttps://t.co/S7Drc0dgRq\u201d— Victor Shi (@Victor Shi) 1685806387
Frost, currently the youngest member of Congress at 26-years-old, has been an outspoken critic of DeSantis for his attacks on public education, a relentless targeting of the LGBTQI+ community, book banning, and his regressive economic policies.
"I said what I said," Maxwell tweeted later in the night. The congressman also responded to right-wing critics who denounced him for using the harsh word as he brushed off any concerns.
\u201clol they\u2019re so mad \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\u201d— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@Maxwell Alejandro Frost) 1685766962
In March, Frost said it was important to call DeSantis out for what he is. "He is abusing his power and using the state to target political opponents and political enemies," Frost said. "And there’s a word for that, and it's fascism, and we have to be honest about it."
Frost, a musician himself, performed and danced with the Tennessee-based band during Friday night's show to loud applause from the youthful audience.
\u201cVery grateful for this moment. I\u2019ve been practicing in the shower for YEARS\u201d— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@Maxwell Alejandro Frost) 1685766243
"Do you see this?" Williams asked the crowd after the lawmaker's remarks. "Do you see the future right here?"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Progressives Say Submitting to GOP Ransom on Debt Ceiling 'Nothing to Brag About'
"Here's the news media's takeaway on the debt ceiling deal: Yay! Bipartisanship works! Here's the reality: GOP radicals held the economy hostage, Democrats paid the ransom, and bipartisanship is badly broken."
Jun 03, 2023
President Joe Biden delivered his first televised address from the Oval Office on Friday night to applaud the final result of legislative negotiations between his administration and Republicans in Congress who took the U.S. economy hostage over the debt ceiling, but progressive critics found the victory lap hard to take given the details of the deal and the devastating impacts they will have.
"It was critical to reach an agreement and it's very good news for the American people," Biden said during his remarks from the White House. "No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed. We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse."
But what Biden called a "big win for our economy and the American people," progressives—who argue the entire debt ceiling law is unconstitutional because it violates the 14th amendment and warned since last year that Republicans would orchestrate a crisis to protect wealthy tax dodgers and corporations while imposing fresh cuts on key social programs—should be seen for what it is: a kick in the face to the planet, democracy, and the material needs of poor and working-class Americans.
"Wall Street and corporate interests may be enthusiastic about this bill, but I believe it moves us in exactly the wrong direction." —Sen. Bernie Sanders
Warren Gunnels, majority staff director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said on social media Friday, the final legislation—which Biden is expected to sign into law Saturday—should be seen as "a big win for the donor class and a big loss for the 99%."
"It's nothing to brag about," Gunnels added.
\u201cNegotiating a debt deal that:\n\n-Doesn\u2019t include a penny in revenue from the top 1%\n\n-Increases spending for war profiteers\n\n-Fast tracks fossil fuel projects &\n\n-Increases poverty & hunger\n\nIs a big win for the donor class & a big loss for the 99%\n\nIt\u2019s nothing to brag about\u201d— Warren Gunnels (@Warren Gunnels) 1685753094
"Not everyone got what they wanted?" Nina Turner, former Ohio State Senator and congressional candidate, asked rhetorically. "The 1% and the military-industrial complex got exactly what they wanted."
As Common Dreamsreported, Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet this week said Biden signing the agreement into law would be "as good an outcome as our industry or our company could ask for at this point," noting that it calls for "3% growth for two years in defense where other areas of the budget are being reduced."
\u201cThe budget deal struck by the White House & House Republicans sets a damaging precedent shifting federal spending from domestic programs to the Pentagon.\n\nThe deal sets military at nearly 56% of discretionary spending\u2014$886 billion out of $1.59 trillion.\nhttps://t.co/SD91JQSCF3\u201d— National Priorities Project (@National Priorities Project) 1685637613
Journalist and author Mark Jacobs suggested that much of the coverage in the corporate press has been friendly to Biden's framing of the legislative result, but that this should be challenged.
"Here's the news media's takeaway on the debt ceiling deal: Yay! Bipartisanship works!" said Jacobs. "Here's the reality: GOP radicals held the economy hostage, Democrats paid the ransom, and bipartisanship is badly broken."
In addition to across-the-board spending caps for non-defense discretionary spending—which economists note is a real-world cut, given inflation, to key programs that serve tens of millions working class individuals and families—the deal greenlit permitting reforms for oil and gas projects desired by the fossil fuel industry and will force fast-track approval of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline that frontline communities in West Virginia, Virginia, and elsewhere have opposed for years.
\u201cThe debt deal protects tax cuts for the rich, gives defense contractors more cash, expedites a fossil gas pipeline during the climate crisis - and makes it harder for starving people to get food stamps.\n\nAnd Biden is now celebrating it as a "big win." https://t.co/UmtUETp3sO\u201d— The Lever (@The Lever) 1685751113
Katie Bergh and Dottie Rosebaum, policy analysts with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, detailed this week how changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) contained in the deal championed by Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy "would put almost 750,000 older adults aged 50-54 at risk of losing food assistance through an expansion of the existing, failed SNAP work-reporting requirement."
"The older adults who lose access to SNAP would lose about $8 per person per day in benefits," explained Bergh and Rosenbaum. "These individuals often have very low incomes, and the loss of SNAP will push most of those affected into or deeper into poverty."
At the same time, the deal championed as a "big win" included large cuts to the IRS budget that a CBO analysis this week showed will actually cost the federal government over $40 billion in lost revenue and increase the deficit—the opposite result of what the GOP claims regarding the budget but very much in line with helping wealthy tax dodgers and corporations pay less each year.
\u201cMcCarthy and the MAGA faction that controls the House GOP held the global economy hostage & were ready to plunge us into a job-killing, retirement plan-erasing, once-in-a-generation recession unless their demands were met.\n\nThat\u2019s not negotiating a deal. It\u2019s extracting a ransom.\u201d— Indivisible Guide (@Indivisible Guide) 1685303159
In a Friday op-ed explaining his opposition to the legislation, Sen. Sanders said the only thing good to say about the bill was that it was not worse—which it certainly could have been.
"At a time when this country is rapidly moving toward Oligarchy, with more wealth and income inequality than we've ever experienced, I could not in good conscience vote for a bill that cuts programs for the most vulnerable while refusing to ask billionaires to pay a penny more in taxes," Sanders wrote. "Wall Street and corporate interests may be enthusiastic about this bill, but I believe it moves us in exactly the wrong direction."
\u201cIt's a disgrace that Republicans brought us so close to the edge of catastrophe during this debt ceiling debacle.\n\nIt simply did not need to happen this way.\n\nWe must abolish the debt ceiling so no party can use it to threaten the livelihoods of Americans for political gain.\u201d— Robert Reich (@Robert Reich) 1685754060
"The fact of the matter is that this bill was totally unnecessary," Sanders concluded in his op-ed. "The President has the authority and the ability to eliminate the debt ceiling today by invoking the 14th Amendment. I look forward to the day when he exercises this authority and puts an end, once and for all, to the outrageous actions of the extreme right-wing to hold our entire economy hostage in order to protect their corporate sponsors."
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Second-Round Talks End, Activists Urge Nations to Not Let Industry Dilute Global Plastics Treaty
"It is clear from this week's negotiations that oil-producing countries and the fossil fuel industry will do everything in their power to weaken the treaty and delay the process," said one Greenpeace USA campaigner.
Jun 02, 2023
As the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee wrapped up in Paris with an agreement to develop the first draft of a Global Plastics Treaty by November, climate, environmental, and other advocacy groups on Friday urged governments not to allow fossil fuel and other corporate interests to water down the landmark accord.
"Time is running out and it is clear from this week's negotiations that oil-producing countries and the fossil fuel industry will do everything in their power to weaken the treaty and delay the process," Graham Forbes, Greenpeace USA's global plastics campaign lead, said in a statement. "While some substantive discussions have taken place, there is still a huge amount of work ahead of us."
"Plastic pollution and the climate crisis are two sides of the same coin," Forbes added. "The Global Plastics Treaty must tackle plastic production head-on. This will align with the need to stay within 1.5℃ and move the world away from its plastic addiction. Anything else less than that, and the treaty will fail."
\u201cWhy do we need a Global Plastics Treaty?\n\nBig oil and big brands continue to make a profit while indigenous peoples, marginalised and affected communities bear the brunt of social injustice and the climate and plastic crisis.\n\n\ud83e\uddf5[1/2]\u201d— Greenpeace Africa (@Greenpeace Africa) 1685710817
Governments from around 170 nations, NGOs, and plastics industry lobbyists spent the week at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in the French capital hammering out the framework for the world's first treaty aimed at reducing plastic pollution.
As Reutersreports:
Though the first half of the five-day negotiations was spent arguing over procedural issues, delegations split into two groups to discuss the range of control measures that can be taken to stop plastic pollution as well as whether countries should develop national plans or set global targets to tackle the problem.
By the session's close on Friday, countries agreed to prepare a "zero draft" text of what would become a legally binding plastics treaty and to work between negotiation sessions on key questions such as the scope and principles of the future treaty.
The "zero draft" text would reflect options from the wide-ranging positions of different countries by the start of the next round of talks to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in November.
Ana Rocha, who directs the Global Plastics Program at GAIA, lamented that the conference "hosted at least 190 industry lobbyists, who used their access and infinite resources to promote tech-fixes like chemical 'recycling,' and plastic credits, while fenceline communities, waste pickers, Indigenous peoples, youth, and other members of civil society most impacted by plastic pollution had very limited opportunity to hold the mic."
"If we are to achieve a strong plastics treaty, member states must listen to and represent their people, not the very industry that is profiting from this crisis," Rocha added.
\u201cTAKE ACTION \u27a1\ufe0f Plastic pollution is a global problem that needs a global solution. International leaders are working toward a treaty to fully address the plastic problem. Add your voice: Urge the @StateDept to help make that happen.\nhttps://t.co/gduEUEa1O6\u201d— Center for Biological Diversity (@Center for Biological Diversity) 1685733905
Julie Teel Simmonds, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, praised the United States for helping to "jumpstart substantive talks in Paris," however, she added that the U.S. "must come to the next session with a bold commitment to cut plastic production."
"The U.S. hasn't yet been willing to put the reduction of plastic production front and center in this treaty, and we can't curb pollution without drastically scaling back its creation," she asserted. "At the next negotiations, the United States should take direct aim at the pervasive plastic that's infiltrating every corner of our planet by hitting hard on production."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT
JOURNALISM TODAY
JOURNALISM TODAY
We Can't Do It
Without You!
Without You!