Building Back Bitter

And Just Like That...BBB is shelved, for now

Joe Manchin, Senator for West Virginia and probably also Mordor, has long been a thorn in the side of the Democratic agenda. Now, because of him, Build Back Better is shelved until at least the new year. As a result, we can likely expect two things: First, the bill will probably be pared down further. Second, necessary provisions whose renewal hinges on BBB’s passage will lapse in the new year. The latter is especially horrifying, since 35 million children were lifted out of poverty with one of those provisions.

Manchin’s opposition to the bill is reportedly because he “cannot stand our economy, or basically our society, moving towards an entitlement mentality” — which is super grating coming from a millionaire who lives on a yacht. Joe Manchin has received millions of dollars in government coal subsidies this year alone. He’s already slashed free community college and paid family leave, and now he wants to “zero out” the Child Tax Credit. Yes, that is allegedly a direct quote from him.

Meanwhile, new polling from Data for Progress and Invest in America finds that, by a +16-point margin, voters across the political spectrum reject the idea that BBB “creates entitlement” and instead believe that BBB helps vulnerable Americans like children and seniors.

In addition, the majority of voters — including a majority of Independent voters — believe that child care investments like the Child Tax Credit will actually boost the economy by making it easier for more parents to enter the workforce, thus lowering consumer prices.

Read our full report here. And call your doctor if you experience any migraines, high blood pressure, or trouble breathing.

Here are some other highlights from DFP over the past week:

Please sir, a crumb of student loan debt relief

Last year, the Biden administration put a moratorium on student debt repayments while quietly cancelling over $11 billion in student loans — most of which were targeted for public servants and borrowers with total and permanent disabilities. But the moratorium is set to expire on January 31, 2021, and the Biden administration has no intention of extending it further. Meanwhile, there has been little movement from the Department of Education to explore Biden’s legal options for broader debt cancellation, despite his campaign promise to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt per person.

In a new Data for Progress poll, we find that the Biden administration’s refusal to extend the student loan moratorium is a step in the wrong direction politically. The moratorium is widely popular with voters: 70 percent of voters across the political spectrum, including a majority of Republicans, supported pausing student loan repayments during the pandemic.

Read the full report here.

This highlight was brought to you by the letter Omicron

Well, folks, we have a new coronavirus variant — and if we want to avoid another spike in cases, we need to get more people tested for coronavirus. (Luckily, some people apparently really like getting tested.) At-home coronavirus tests can make testing more accessible to millions of people, but they come with a price tag. That alone makes it prohibitive for millions of Americans. In response, President Biden released a plan earlier this month to require insurance companies to cover the cost of at-home tests, thereby making them free. We find that this plan is widely popular: by a +43-point margin, including half of Republicans, voters want at-home coronavirus tests to be free.

Read the full memo here.

Republicans and Democrats can see the forest for the trees…technically

Climate action, for some reason, is still a polarizing issue — but conservation efforts still manage to enjoy wide bipartisan support. We partnered with the National Wildlife Federation to test voters’ attitudes toward conservation issues and the proposed Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which would channel billions of dollars in funding towards Tribal-led conservation efforts. The bill proves to be popular with, well, everyone. Our new polling finds a whopping 84 percent of voters, including 77 percent of Republicans, support the bill.