A report by the Institute for Policy Studies, Kairos Center, Repairers of the Breach, and the Poor People’s Campaign.
As we near the end of 2021, our nation is still facing multiple, interlocking crises around voter suppression, health, poverty and economic insecurity, housing, debt and more. Below, we look at two major pieces of legislation making their way through Congress: the Build Back Better Agenda (BBBA) and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The BBBA is an attempt to respond to these crises – which predate and have become worse during the pandemic – through life-saving programs like health care, cash assistance and paid leave, but it is stalled in the Senate. While there is much more to be done, it is both morally wrong and economically insane to block the BBBA and use the lie of scarcity to claim it is too expensive, when at the same time, Congress will likely pass the NDAA, which is four times greater.
These two bills represent diametrically opposed views of how to address the challenges of our time: a moral budget vs a war budget. Congress: Which side are you on?