Friend,
The Biden administration has reached a compromise deal with Republicans on infrastructure. By itself, this compromise does not fully address the challenges facing our country. It must serve as a first step in a two-tiered infrastructure plan for us to achieve meaningful progress on the many weaknesses and vulnerabilities we face in our national infrastructure system. I hope you’ll allow me a moment to explain why – and then join me in pushing for bolder action from Democrats.
Our country is facing an unprecedented moment of opportunity and challenge: Our planet is warming and natural disasters are proliferating to a dangerous degree; our investment in childcare, homecare, and education is disgracefully lacking; we have gross levels of inequality and an extreme depletion of affordable housing.
Infrastructure legislation must invest in both human as well as physical infrastructure to meet this extreme moment of climate crisis effectively. By itself, this compromise framework with Republicans does not do that. It is a start, but we must do more.
Crucially, we cannot delay bold action – nor let Republicans run out the clock on Democrats’ known period of control in Congress. Just think back to 2009 – when, at the beginning of the Obama presidency, Democrats had a majority in the House and a supermajority in the Senate. We spent many months seeking Republican support for President Obama’s agenda, only to see them obstruct and delay and our Senate supermajority evaporate before the term ended – before we could pass our agenda.
Here’s what I say to my colleagues: We didn’t have the time to meander back then – and we don’t have it now, either.
For the sake of our planet, for the sake of equality and prosperity for the American people, now is the time to go big and bold. That’s why I’m asking 1,000 members of this team to sign my petition urging my Senate colleagues to take that bold action. Can I count on your signature?
These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas. They are not a wish list. They are the policies that President Biden and countless Democrats ran on in 2020. They have been mandated by the American people, and Congress must heed the people’s call.
I’ll keep fighting for bold action that meets the urgency of this moment. Thanks for doing your part and fighting alongside me.
Dick
