Democrats unveiled their latest version of President Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation yesterday.

It’s a 10-year, $1.75 trillion investment in America’s future — with significant spending to level the playing field for working people along with an unprecedented commitment (though it should be even more) to addressing climate change and transitioning to clean energy.

Senator Bernie Sanders called it “the most consequential bill since the 1960s” but ALSO rightly noted that it has “major gaps.”

It’s important to recognize that BOTH of those things can be, and are, true.

• Remember, the “original” $3.5 trillion plan, which has now been cut in half, was NOT actually where this all started. Bernie — along with Public Citizen and others — initially called for an investment of $6 trillion.

• Which we could, in fact, have paid for. Easily — if more members of Congress, Democrats AND Republicans, were willing to make billionaires and Big Business pay their fair share of taxes.

• And I won’t lie, it has been disappointing — make that infuriating — to watch corporate Democrats like Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema hold this crucial legislation hostage to satisfy their wealthy campaign contributors.

BUT ...

This version of “Build Back Better” would STILL be the single greatest investment in working people in generations.

And — this is really worth emphasizing — it has not been finalized yet.

That means we can still make “Build Back Better” even stronger.

Perhaps most significantly, we can demand that it include allowing Medicare to negotiate fairer drug prices — to at last challenge Big Pharma’s outrageous and immoral price gouging, which sees Americans spending more for prescription medicines than the people of any other country on Earth — and devote the savings to improving Medicare, including with the addition of dental and vision coverage.

It also means that Manchin and/or Sinema could find more ways to obstruct their own party’s efforts to pass this overwhelmingly popular and helpful legislation, so we need to be on the lookout for more shenanigans from them as well.

And we can’t let this legislation get separated from the bipartisan infrastructure bill the House also needs to pass (the Senate passed it back in August). To prevent corporate Democrats from sabotaging “Build Back Better,” the two bills MUST be considered as a package deal, which has been the plan all along.

Tell Democrats in the House AND Senate:

1. “Build Back Better” must include giving Medicare the power to negotiate fairer prices with Big Pharma — something overwhelmingly popular with the American people, including 7 out of 10 Republicans — with the savings directed to expanding Medicare to include dental and vision coverage.

2. Do not separate “Build Back Better” from the bipartisan infrastructure legislation. The two bills must remain a package deal as was the plan all along.

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Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 
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