Please add your name to our petition to Senator Manchin if you haven't already.
My note from yesterday is copied below in case you missed it.
- Robert
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Yesterday, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia went on Fox News and said he would not support President Biden’s transformative Build Back Better proposal.
“This is a no on this legislation,” Manchin said.
Well, one thing we know at Public Citizen is how NOT to accept “no” for an answer.
Tell Senator Joe Manchin:
“No” is not an acceptable position on Build Back Better. It has already been radically altered and shrunk to meet your demands. Further modifications can be made, but Build Back Better MUST pass.
Add your name.
Let’s talk about the narrow politics of this first. Politicians routinely withhold support from legislation before winning some concession. Don’t get distracted by the hyper-ventilating press or even the appropriate anger from the White House and Manchin’s Democratic colleagues.
Build Back Better is very much still in play. It’s our job to keep the pressure on.
A reminder of a few reasons why we cannot accept “no” on Build Back Better:
- The richest country in the world suffers from a disgraceful and rarely acknowledged child poverty crisis. In recent years, about one in six children in America — including one in four Latino children and one in three Black children — lives in poverty. A new child tax credit, which would be continued under Build Back Better, cuts those rates in half.
- The United States lags behind all other wealthy nations in taking care of our kids. Build Back Better would ensure affordable child care and universal pre-K for everyone. These moves would advance racial and gender justice.
- The planet is racing toward climate catastrophe. Build Back Better provides real money — more than $500 billion over 10 years — to reduce carbon emissions and speed the transition to a clean energy future.
- And Build Back Better contains many, many other vital provisions, from expanding affordable housing to lowering insulin prices, from far-reaching programs for Native Americans to providing hearing care under Medicare.
It should go without saying that these provisions would disproportionately benefit West Virginia, which is one of the poorest states in the country, and that the revenue generating measures in Build Back Better — which fall almost entirely on corporations and the super-rich — will have limited impact on West Virginians.
Tell Senator Manchin that we refuse to take “no” for an answer. America and West Virginia need Build Back Better.
Stay focused and stay engaged. We’re going to get this done.
Thanks for taking action.
For progress,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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