Indivisibles,

I’m here with an update on something that flew under the radar last week. Right before they left for recess, the Senate passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, containing a TON of really important progressive wins.

I want to break down what this is, why it matters, and what happens next. And just to shake things up, I figured I’d do it as a Q&A.

Q: What’s a Budget Resolution?

A: For Congress to pass a federal budget, there are two steps. First, they pass the “Budget Resolution,” which sets the toplines for spending and revenue in the budget, and assigns topline figures to each committee. After both the House and Senate pass the Budget Resolution, then the process of Budget Reconciliation begins. 

The Budget Reconciliation process allows Congress to pass legislation that can’t be filibustered. So, for now, Congressional leaders are trying to move as much of the Biden agenda as possible through this process (reminder: this does not work for a lot of very crucial legislation, which is why you need to keep the heat on your Senator to reform the filibuster to pass S.1).

What you need to know is: the Budget Resolution is basically the blueprint for the reconciliation process. Getting your priorities in doesn’t mean that they’re all going to make it into the final bill and become law - but it’s a very important start.

Q: So what’s in the Budget Resolution?

A: A lot of very good stuff!!! Progressives in the House and Senate have been organizing for months to ensure that their top priorities made it in, and their work paid off. 

The Senate Budget Resolution includes ALL of the Congressional Progressive Caucus priorities:

• Major climate investments, including establishing a Clean Energy Standard, investing in green jobs through a Civilian Climate Corps, and ensuring at least 40 percent of climate investments are directed to disadvantaged communities;
• A pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, including DACA recipients, TPS holders, and essential workers;
• Lowered prescription drug prices and expanded Medicare benefits covering vision, dental, and hearing while lowering the eligibility age;
• Huge investments in a care economy, including creating a federal paid family and medical leave program that covers all workers, a universal child care program that is affordable to all families and pays child care workers a living wage, and improving Medicaid home and community-based services by creating better caregiving jobs and ensuring care is affordable for aging relatives or people with disabilities;
• Significant resources for housing justice, including making rental assistance universal for all renters who qualify, prioritizing affordable and public housing investments including repairs and upgrades to public housing, and prioritizing funds for unsheltered populations and low-income renters.

This is the kind of change we need to see Democrats delivering.

Q: That’s...a really big deal!!! How did this happen?

It happened because of some very cool work on the part of progressive electeds!

To recap: at the end of last year, the Congressional Progressive Caucus passed a reform package so that they could operate more cohesively. We, along with many of our partners, have been working with them to support a voting bloc strategy - where progressives commit to vote as a bloc in order to demand that their priorities be included in exchange for their votes. So, in this case, the CPC released a set of top priorities, said that they’d need to see them in the bill to support it, and...voila, they’re in the bill!

Now, here’s the tough part. We have to make sure this bill gets across the finish line with all this amazing stuff intact.

Q: How does all this relate to the infrastructure bill?

A: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (formerly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework) has also passed the Senate, and is also sitting in the House waiting to be considered.

This is where things get tricky, because we have to keep these two bills linked. If we pass the IIJA first, there’s a real risk that conservative Democrats will decide they’re satisfied and there’s no need for more spending. That would be disastrous. That’s why Congressional Progressives have demanded that these two bills must pass together, at the same time. Specifically, in a survey of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), a majority said they would not vote on the bipartisan package unless the Budget Reconciliation bill was moving at the same time. This gave the CPC the leverage they needed, and Speaker Pelosi agreed to their demand--both because they had the raw power and because moving the two bills together is the only way to accomplish all of President Biden’s recovery agenda.

Conservative Democrats are already organizing to undermine this plan. Over the weekend, nine House Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi demanding an immediate vote on the IIJA and threatening to derail the Budget Resolution unless they got it.

Let’s be really clear about what’s happening here: these conservative Dems are trying to derail the broader Democratic agenda. They want roads and bridges, but they’re trying to sink climate action, paid family leave, a pathway to citizenship, and more. 

Q: That sounds bad! How do I ensure we get all these big, bold priorities passed?

First, we back progressive members of the House to stay strong. If you’ve got a Democratic Representative, call them. Tell them you need these two bills to stay linked up. 

And if your Representative is one of the trouble-making nine, call them to express your outrage, and ask why they’re opposed to lowering prescription drug prices, expanding access to childcare, and providing eyeglasses to seniors.

Second, we’re going to go through the full reconciliation process this fall. During that time, there’s going to be a lot of churn around what's in the bill and and what's out. It will be crucial for us to keep advocating as the full bills are written to make sure none of this drops out, and that these bold plans aren’t gutted by penny-pinching conservatives.

We’ve taken the first step towards big, transformative change - because progressives organized, fought, and won. Now we need to keep the heat up.

In solidarity,
Leah Greenberg
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible