New Democrat Coalition Leadership and Third Way Call for Passage of the Build Back Better Act, Discuss How it Could Ease Inflation
As the House of Representatives prepares to vote on the Build Back Better Act upon the release of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score, leaders from the New Democrat Coalition and the Director of the Economic Program at Third Way joined a press call hosted by Invest in America Action to call for the passage of the Build Back Better Act through the House this week. A recording of the call is available here.
The speakers stressed that the Build Back Better Act will lower costs and cut taxes for middle-class families, strengthen the workforce, enable the U.S. to tackle climate change and minimize its detrimental economic effects, and ease long-term inflationary pressures. In addition, the speakers noted that the upcoming CBO score will not account for key economic benefits from the bill, or revenue that will be gained from enhanced tax enforcement.
New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-01), NDC Leadership Member Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10), and NDC Member and Chair of the Joint Economic Committee Don Beyer (VA-08) and Director of the Economic Program at Third Way Zach Moller made the following statements on the press call:
“As New Dems, we have been deeply committed to supporting the middle class, growing the economy, and across our districts folks want to see governance work,” said New Democrat Coalition Chair Suzan DelBene (WA-01). “That's why we’re calling to pass the Build Back Better Act this week. Not only will this transformational legislation provide families with a middle-class tax cut, expand access to health care, fight climate change, and create jobs – it will also help lower the costs that weigh heaviest on families.”
“The Build Back Better Act is filled with policies that will grow our economy and create jobs. It includes environmental investments that are also pro-growth strategies with $550 billion to tackle the climate crisis, which is the single largest investment in clean energy in our history,” said NDC Leadership Member Brad Schneider (IL-10). “But when discussing the importance of the bill, we also have to talk about the costs that would be incurred if we don’t pass this bill. The cost of inaction is simply too high, and it can only be headed off if we act now.”
“Investments in the Build Back Better Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will build economic resilience to help households weather economic shocks and reduce long-term inflationary pressures,” said New Democrat Coalition Member and Chair of the Joint Economic Committee Don Beyer (VA-08). “Just imagine what the child tax credit payments, affordable child care, and universal pre-kindergarten are going to do for the quality of our workforce in just a few years. The Build Back Better Act is going to put us in much better shape in terms of long-term economic growth.”
“With so much focus on the topline of a CBO report, it’s important to remember that the CBO doesn’t tell us what a bill does for real people — it won’t talk about the costs that families face, like child care or health insurance” said Zach Moller, Director of the Economic Program at Third Way. “Additionally, there is bipartisan agreement that the IRS enforcement can really save money. There are esoteric scoring rules that say the CBO won’t be allowed to count these savings as scorable, which will lead to an underestimation of revenue. At the end of the day, I feel confident that the bill will be fiscally responsible.”
Next Article Previous Article