Stand Up for Economic Justice, Stand Up for Investing in People
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
To your Senators:
Thank you for your hard work in defending Democratic priorities in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill” (BIB) and refusing to allow Republicans to repeal the Davis-Bacon “prevailing wage” standards for government contracts. But I am deeply disappointed that the current BIB language does not address the looming debt ceiling crisis, give the CDC eviction moratorium authority during this health emergency, or include IRS funding to crack down on high-end tax cheats. I ask that you add those three provisions into the upcoming Budget Resolution. If Debt Ceiling repeal or long-term extension is not included in either the BIB or the Budget Resolution, Republicans can -- and certainly will -- use it to nullify the Democratic agenda.
To your Representative:
I stand with you and strongly support your refusal to debate or vote on the Senate’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill” (BIB) until after the Senate also passes and sends to the House legislation that fully implements President Biden’s American Jobs & Families Plans. That legislation should restore taxes on the super-rich and giant corporations that Trump cut, and fund IRS enforcement against high-end tax cheats.
In addition, it is imperative that you quickly pass legislation to authorize the CDC to issue and extend national eviction moratoriums in this health emergency. And it is also imperative that you repeal the debt ceiling law, or if that is not possible, suspend the law or raise the debt ceiling for the duration of the pandemic economic crisis and recovery period.
Background
The Three Bills:
Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (BIB) is also known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF),” the “INVEST in America Act” HR.3684, the “$1 Trillion infrastructure bill” (cost over 10 years), the “$500 Billion infrastructure bill” (cost over 5 years), or simply “The Infrastructure Bill.” This is Manchin’s corporate goodies, construction, and repair bill that omits investment in human infrastructure. The Senate passed it on Tuesday, August 10. The House must now pass it when it reconvenes come September.
Budget Resolution (BR) may also be referred to as the “Budget Bill.” This is the bill that sets terms and parameters for the Reconciliation Bill. The Senate is scheduled to take it up this week. Once the Senate passes it, the House is expected to reconvene briefly to pass it and then return to recess.
Reconciliation Bill may also be referred to as American Jobs & Family Plans (AFJP) or “Biden’s Proposals,” or the “$3.5T (or $3T) infrastructure bill.” This is the bill that we hope will fully implement all the provisions of Biden’s AJFP proposal. It will have to be passed by Democratic votes alone through the reconciliation process. It will come before both the Senate and the House in September.
The Debt Ceiling
Because government spending always runs ahead of tax revenue, Washington is always borrowing money to fund its operations. This is called “deficit spending.” Republicans, who believe that government should be run like a for-profit business (with most of the benefits going to those at the top), hate deficit spending when Democrats do it, but approve of it when Republicans do it. They also hate spending tax money to benefit families, children, the non-affluent, or anyone else who isn’t part of the 1%. Progressives like us don’t think that the government should be run like a profit-making business but rather like a nonprofit entity for the common good. Progressives also believe that the “you must live within your financial means” rules that govern family and business economics don’t apply to the federal government because the federal government can create new money for itself as needed (something Wall Street and the financial industry hates).
In 1974, Republicans rammed through Congress the Budget and Impoundment Control Act (BCA) that set a limit called the “debt ceiling” on how much money the government could borrow to fund its operations. Their purpose was to strangle social and domestic spending. Now, every time Washington hits the ceiling, Congress has to raise it or else large portions of the government shut down because they have no funding. Republicans use these periodic debt-ceiling crises to slash social spending and force Democrats to accept laws and social policies they would otherwise block.
The current debt ceiling has already been reached, and as usual the Treasury Department is using what they call “extraordinary measures'' to keep the lights on for another couple of months. But sometime around October those measures will be exhausted and there will be another shutdown -- unless Congress either repeals the BCA, or suspends it, or at the very least raises the ceiling once again. Progressives hoped the BIB would address the debt ceiling issue, and if not, then they expected that the Budget Resolution would set up the Reconciliation Bill to do so. But so far, that has not happened, and no one is explaining why.
Pelosi’s Promise
Schumer’s strategy of first passing the bipartisan, corporate-friendly, BIB and then the Democrats-only Reconciliation Bill makes progressives like us deeply uneasy. Since the meat and bones of the Democratic agenda are going to have to be passed by Democrats alone in the Reconciliation Bill, what’s the point of this awkward two-step since everything could have been in one reconciliation bill? We fear that once BIB is passed, the moderate (corporate) Democrats will not support the Reconciliation Bill with its higher taxes on the rich and big business. To reassure the progressive wing of the party, Pelosi has promised that she will not allow the House to take up the Senate-passed BIB until the Senate also passes and sends to the House the Reconciliation Bill. But once BIB passes the Senate, the House will be under intense pressure to immediately pass it and get that construction money rolling into the economy as fast as possible. Time will tell.
References
HR.3684 “INVEST in America Act” (AKA Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill or BIB)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684. (Note: This is the version passed by the House. The Senate version is assumed to be quite different, but no one knows for sure).
Senate passes $1T bipartisan infrastructure bill in major victory for Biden, The Hill, 8/10
The infrastructure bill is being lauded as a victory for bipartisanship – but is it? Guardian 8/9
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/09/us-senate-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill
Budget package includes plan for pathway to citizenship, green cards for millions, The Hill 8/9
Democrats leave out debt ceiling hike from budget for $3.5T spending plan, The Hill 8/9
Janet Yellen made another call on Congress to act on the debt limit. NY Times 8/9
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/business/yellen-congress-debt-limit.html