From Bernie Sanders
A number of Senate Republicans and Democrats came together to negotiate a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
While the amount of money proposed, $579 billion in new funds over eight years, is far less than needed and the method for paying for these projects has some major problems, there is no question but that we need a major investment in our crumbling roads, bridges, water systems, waste water plants, public transit and broadband.
There has been some confusion as to what happens next. So, as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, let me be very clear in joining President Biden, House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer in saying:
There will be no bipartisan bill unless there is also major legislation which, finally, addresses the long-neglected needs of the working families of our country as well as the existential threat to our planet of climate change. The two bills must go forward together.
We can no longer ignore the reality that half our people Black, White, Latino, Native American and Asian American live paycheck to paycheck, millions work for starvation wages and our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living than their parents. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that climate change is causing devastating destruction in our country and around the world. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all and that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee paid family and medical leave. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth and that our childcare and pre-K systems are dysfunctional. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that we are an aging society and that millions of senior citizens and people with disabilities require high-quality home health care. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that there are almost 600,000 homeless people in America and some 18 million households that spend at least 50% of their limited incomes on housing. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that millions of bright young people are either unable to afford a higher education because of the cost, or are leaving school deeply in debt. We must act NOW.
We can no longer ignore the reality that there are over 10 million undocumented people in this country, many of whom are performing critical and dangerous work during the pandemic. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We must act NOW.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
