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NEW: Reconciling with Reality
A radically pragmatic blueprint for Building Back Better,
from PPI's Center for Funding America's Future
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The White House and Congressional Democrats are at a pivotal moment in their long-running effort to turn President Biden’s ambitious “Build Back Better” vision into law. The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the U.S. Senate in August remains snagged by internal disagreements among Congressional Democrats about the size and cost of the follow-on social investment package party leaders hope to pass with reconciliation rules that are not subject to a Republican filibuster.
Democrats can still deliver historic economic and social investments that the country needs by spending smarter, not just bigger. The goal should be a more focused and disciplined reconciliation bill that sets clear priorities and accomplishes a few big objectives well instead of haphazardly trying to do everything at once. Specifically, PPI believes that lawmakers should focus on delivering three urgent priorities effectively: supporting working families, combatting climate change, and expanding access to affordable health care for those in need. As President Biden has promised, the package should also be fully paid-for with credible offsets.
Read what a roughly $2 trillion package should include...
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EXCLUSIVE: Axios has the scoop on PPI's newest polling on technology and the economy
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Don't miss Axios' exclusive reporting on PPI's newest polling. We look at technology, competition and the economy and find most voters in battleground congressional districts and states take pride in U.S. technology companies. At the same time, voters have significant concerns about data privacy and security. Read more:
Axios: A majority of voters in battleground districts and states agree Big Tech companies are monopolies with too much power, according to new data shared exclusively with Axios — but those same voters are divided on what Congress should do in response.
By the numbers: 57% of respondents said America’s large technology companies “are monopolies that have too much power and too little competition."
- 72% said they were worried about the ability of small U.S. tech companies to compete with their larger U.S. counterparts.
- And 63% said they were worried about the size of the largest tech companies.
Yes, but: Despite the concerns, just under half (49%) said tech companies have grown so big and powerful that Congress needs to break them up or strongly regulate them.
- Instead, 51% said they agreed more with the view that "American technology companies are highly innovative and competitive, so Congress shouldn’t intervene with heavy-handed regulation."
What they're saying: "Despite worries about monopolies, worries about competition, they don't seem to be clamoring for break-ups or super-stringent regulations," Progressive Policy Institute president Will Marshall told Axios.
- "What I take away from this is there's no public groundswell for eviscerating these tech companies, as people on the left and right ends of the spectrum have called for."
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New from the Experts
PPI Director of Health Care Arielle Kane: It's Time to Change How We Think About COVID-19
⮕ PPI
Reinventing America's Schools Project Co-Director Tressa Pankovitz: Parents Are Filling the Political Vacuum for Charter School Support
⮕ Reason Magazine
PPI Strategic Adviser Paul Bledsoe: All Democrats must compromise to pass economic plans, just like 1993
⮕ The Hill
RAS Project Co-Director Curtis Valentine: Education: A Passport to Opportunity
⮕ Educate Podcast
ICYMI -- PPI Director of Social Policy Veronica Goodman: The Reconciliation Bill Should Invest in America's Kids
⮕ Newsweek
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Hot Off the Press
PPI's Paul Bledsoe in Marketplace: Electric vehicles’ share of market rapidly growing
Automakers investing in EV variety is certainly important, but we shouldn’t discount how much government policy plays into the evolution of transportation, said Paul Bledsoe, a consultant to the Energy Department under President Barack Obama... “The tax incentives are crucial to get people into the EV driver’s seat,” Bledsoe said.
⮕ Marketplace
PPI's Paul Bledsoe in Prospect Magazine (UK): One man, one planet: how the COP climate talks will put the fate of the Earth in Boris Johnson’s hands
“Johnson is certainly viewed as a reliable ally and leader on climate by the Biden team,” says Paul Bledsoe, Washington-based analyst and veteran of “COPs” since his days in the Clinton White House. But he adds that “hopes that Johnson might play a key role on the global stage,” for example by coaxing China into greater action, “have yet to materialise.” And indeed, “the PM’s silence after Kerry’s Kew Gardens speech was notable.”
⮕ Prospect Magazine
PPI's Reinventing America's Schools Project in The 74: Education Experts Talk the Science of Reading, Pandemic Learning Loss and the Need to Close Literacy Gaps in a Post-COVID World
⮕ The 74
PPI's Paul Bledsoe in E&E News: EV sales have doubled. Is a ‘tidal wave’ coming?
“People are really starting to understand that EVs are here to stay, and if we can pass the infrastructure and reconciliation bills, then they’re going to have a huge incentive to go out and get that EV,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Senate Finance Committee staff member who now works with the Progressive Policy Institute.
⮕ E&E News
Politico's Scoop on PPI's Newest Hire:
USTR OFFICIAL GRESSER RETURNS TO PPI: Ed Gresser has left USTR after a six-year stint to become the Progressive Policy Institute’s vice president for trade and global markets policy. Gresser most recently was assistant USTR for trade policy and economics. He worked in the 1990s as policy director for then-Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and performed a similar job for then-USTR Charlene Barshefsky from 1998 to 2001. Gresser previously worked for PPI before co-founding the independent think tank ProgressiveEconomy.
⮕ Politico
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ICYMI -- On a bonus Radically Pragmatic Podcast episode, Paul Weinstein, Jr., Senior Policy Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, sits down with Rep. Seth Moulton (MA-06), for a special conversation about infrastructure development and high-speed rail.
Congressman Moulton serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as the House Budget and Armed Services Committees.
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The US has a housing crisis, but how did we get here? Vox's Jerusalem Demsas joins the show to discuss the politics of housing. What does the public really think about building more housing? What motivates NIMBYs - economic self interest, fear of change, or something else? How much should we worry about accusations of gentrification when new housing gets built? We cover all this and more.
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Don't Miss These PPI Events
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The Science of Reading and Closing Literacy Gaps in a Post-COVID World
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As policymakers look to address the inequities exacerbated by COVID, PPI's Reinventing America’s Schools Project hosted a webinar on creating effective reading recovery programs.
Watch the full webinar here!
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ICYMI: Going Above and Beyond to Educate America’s Students
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Don't miss PPI's recent event with school leaders and a parent advocate on returning America's students to the classroom safely, while ensuring students no longer experience COVID-induced learning loss.
Check out the webinar here.
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Don't Miss These PPI Reports
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Reconciling with Reality: Top Priorities for Building Back Better
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New from PPI's Center for Funding America's Future:
“When combined with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill, this package would represent the third pillar of the largest and most progressive public investment since the Great Society over 50 years ago," said PPI's Ben Ritz in "Reconciling With Reality."
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ICYMI: Working Toward an Inclusive Labor Market Recovery
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"Our pandemic strategy should also include new investments in training workers with sought after skills in the marketplace and new steps to empower workers after decades of wage stagnation and growing economic inequality," said PPI Director of Social Policy Veronica Goodman.
How can policymakers ensure an equitable recovery? Read PPI's recommendations here.
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