Dear John,

We’re closer than ever to passing President Biden’s Build Back Better bill, but we’re facing one very big obstacle.

And I’m not talking about Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Mitch McConnell, or the corporate lobbyists working overtime to stymie it.

I’m talking about the media.

Instead of covering what’s actually in the bill, the media is only talking about the top-line number: $3.5 trillion (and not, by the way, the fact that the package ends up costing $350 billion per year over ten years, or less than half of the country’s annual Pentagon budget).

They’re talking almost exclusively about the cost of the bill while almost totally ignoring the benefits.

This is a huge, huge problem, and if we don’t fix it, childcare, paid leave, Medicare expansion, climate action, universal pre-K, free community college, and so many other items in Biden’s agenda will go up in flames. The good news is that once people know what’s in the bill, they love it. In fact, polling for all the programs in the plan is off the charts.

That’s where Inequality Media comes in. We are producing, testing, and deploying proven-effective explainers and viral videos to our social media network of millions to make sure that people know all the amazing ways this bill would help them. Our team has honed its messaging skills over the years and is bringing them to bear in this monumental policy effort, at this crucial moment. But in order to go big enough to break through the media noise, we need to really ramp up our budget.

Will you make a donation to help us get out the truth, including by helping make sure that every American knows what’s in President Biden's Build Back Better bill — and how it will help them?

Joe Manchin says he won’t support the bill unless it’s slashed to $1.5 trillion, cutting it by more than half.

What would that mean? Here are the elements of the bill most likely to be cut back if Manchin gets his way:

❌ Lower prescription drug prices

❌ Expansion of Medicare to include dental, hearing, and vision coverage

❌ Universal pre-K

❌ Free community college

❌ Paid family leave

❌ Child tax credits

❌ Clean energy

❌ Tax hikes on the wealthy

That’s because these measures are the ones that are most despised by the corporate backers of conservative Democrats. But they are also wildly popular with the voting public. So why aren’t people raising more of a ruckus about this plan?

Because most people have no idea what’s in it … because the media simply isn’t covering it. All they talk about is “$3.5 trillion.” But for what? No one knows, because the media is choosing not to say.

We don’t have much time. We need to go big right now with the truth, including making sure that every American knows what this game-changing bill will deliver. Will you make a donation today?

Yes, I’ll donate.

Thank you for helping us ensure that the media doesn’t sabotage this once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a fairer America.

Robert Reich

Inequality Media