Groundwork Collaborative on Urgent Need for Build Back Better to Protect Fragile Economic Recovery

Today Groundwork Collaborative released the following statement from Executive Director Lindsay Owens on Sen. Joe Manchin's recent comments and the status of the Build Back Better legislation:

"If Sen. Manchin is concerned about inflation, then he should join us in fighting back against the corporate profiteering that is driving it - rather than trying to derail legislation that will not impact inflation one bit."

"The economic case for Build Back Better is crystal clear: putting more money into people's pockets helps families participate fully in our economy; investing in child care and paid leave helps workers stay healthy and return to work; and tackling the climate crisis is essential to building a more resilient and sustainable future.

"Passing the Build Back Better Act isn't just about ensuring that Sen. Manchin honors his commitments - it's about building an economy that works for all families, not just the wealthy and well-connected. Especially given the new COVID variant and rising economic uncertainty, it's more important than ever for Congress to stand up to the corporate interests who benefit from this broken status quo and put us on the path to economic resilience by passing the Build Back Better Act, in full, without further delay."

Background

• Goldman Sachs is sounding the alarm that a failure to quickly pass these critical investments would severely impact economic growth in early 2022.

• Economist Mark Zandi says that without the Build Back Better bill, the economic recovery will be vulnerable to stalling out if we suffer another serious wave of the pandemic; an increasingly likely scenario with Omicron spreading rapidly.

• Last week, Groundwork released new findings highlighting the specific ways that mega-retailers are hiking up prices and short-changing the workers who support our supply chains.