7 Takeaways from the Build Back Better Wars and What Comes Next
In this issue:
Though the ink isn’t dry on the deal, and there are some important elements still being negotiated, we offer our take on some lessons from the Build Back Better wars and what should come next.
Two new, exciting jobs at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies: a Distinguished Lecturer in Labor Studies, designed for experienced organizers and practitioners (only a B.A. required); and an Associate Director of Internships and Experiential Learning to manage the School’s Labor and Community Semester programs.
Doug Henwood interviewed Deepak about the book Immigration Matters: Movements, Visions, and Strategies for a Progressive Future for his podcast, which you can listen to here. Deepak is also quoted in a new Vox article “Immigrants Could Fix the U.S. Labor Shortage” arguing that “What’s really required is a rewrite of the country’s immigration laws that sets a much larger target for admissions under all the categories and probably adds a fifth category for climate migrants, which is going to be an increasingly large part of the flow that we see from the Southern Hemisphere in the coming decade. . . So ultimately, this is going to require a new political consensus.”
7 Takeaways from the Build Back Better Wars and What Comes Next
BBB is a “structure test” that tells us a lot about who wields what kind of power in America.
Following the twists and turns of the BBB drama, most of us overestimate the role of individual players in shaping outcomes and underestimate the role of structural power. It is true that how we play the cards we’re dealt can affect what we win (more on that later), but, in the end, the biggest ticket outcomes in policy reflect the balance of power between social groups in society. This is important to remember now because if you think you lost X because Y didn’t fight hard enough or sold you out, you’re likely to train your fire about disappointments on people you mostly agree with. If you think a cherished priority didn’t make it into the bill because, for example, Big Pharma has way too much power (and working people have too little), you’ll reorient strategically to build more power so you come back later and win. For our future prospects, the meaning we make of the bill and the stories we tell about it are as important as what’s in the bill. This is a decisive learning and choice point for every organizer and activist in America who fought so hard to make it happen.
BBB would be a historic social policy victory.
Bernie Sanders calls it “the most consequential bill since the 1960s,” and he’s right — at least if we’re talking about progressive bills. Among the remarkable elements are
a one-year extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit and a permanent expansion of the full refundability element that is largely responsible for bringing down child poverty by 40% in the country this year (Half of Black and brown children have previously been excluded from the benefits of the child tax credit because of its lack of full refundability, so this is a huge step forward to tackle racialized poverty in America.)
universal pre-K and affordable child care for everyone making less than $300,000 per year (The idea of universal child care has been kicking around for decades, but the last time it got a serious hearing was in the Nixon administration.)
expanded health care coverage (including for low-income families in states that did not expand Medicaid), and $150 billion for expanded housing production including more money for public housing
an investment of $150 billion to expand home care services and increase wages for home care workers
the largest investment in addressing climate change ever made ($555 billion), including tax incentives for clean energy production and a new Climate Conservation Corps
potentially, major immigration provisions that would legalize millions of people (The immigration provisions are the exception to the structure point earlier – whether the most important measures make it in the final bill depends on how hard and skillfully Democrats fight for them in the coming days.)
hidden gems in the bill include: allowing DACA holders and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders to access federal financial aid for the first time ever; banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; making hearing, dental, and vision coverage mandatory as part of Medicaid (hearing was also added as a benefit to Medicare); and increased funding for children's nutrition.
Progressives won the battle of ideas and exercised new clout in the policy-making process.
As we’ve reported earlier, progressive economic paradigms pushed by movements, think tanks, and progressive political champions are now the consensus among 90%+ of the Democratic Party. It’s very disappointing that a couple of corporate Senate Democrats (and a group of allies in the House) cut the size and scope of the bill, but the fact that they were such a small minority arguing against an ascendant consensus is a remarkable new reality in American politics that augurs well for the future.
And it’s obvious that without the Congressional Progressive Caucus “holding the line,” we would not have gotten a Build Back Better bill at all. Progressives saved Biden’s agenda.
Turns out, corporations still have a lot of power in America.
It is no coincidence that the provisions that got axed or weakened in the bill are precisely the ones most ardently opposed by the 1%, the fossil fuel industry, big Pharma, and insurance companies. Sinema and Manchin were the henchmen who did the dirty work, but they were acting on behalf of the country’s corporate elite. The exclusion of measures to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices — perhaps the single most popular provision in the entire bill — is a case study of how policy is shaped by corporate power. Corporate fingerprints are also all over the decision to ax the clean electricity standards for utilities, paid leave for workers, Medicare dental and vision benefits, and the modification to the health care expansion in states that did not expand Medicaid (the convoluted workaround will use the insurance exchanges and make money for health insurance companies rather than the much more efficient public system). The tax provisions are in flux and might turn out quite well, but it’s also clear that, courtesy of Sen. Sinema, corporate America has had a lot of influence.
For the most part, we won social insurance and environmental programs that corporate America doesn’t like but we lost on the issues where they were implacably opposed. The wins are worth celebrating. They are a testament to the power we have built. But the losses present a sobering message about how much more power we need to build. (On that latter point, if we were big Pharma, we wouldn’t feel great that only a handful of corporate Democrats saved us from losing billions of dollars in profits, and we’d probably redouble our efforts to elect Republicans and/or more corporate Democrats.)
There are some important power-shifting measures included in the bill.
Deepak has written elsewhere about how the failure by the Obama administration to prioritize building power for progressive constituencies on issues like worker rights, immigration reform, and voting rights was a disastrous mistake that paved the way for Republican takeover and Trumpism. By contrast, Republicans have been ruthless in using governing power to undermine the power of unions and people of color (see “right to work” laws and voter suppression laws, which they don’t campaign on but rush to implement when they have control of state governments).
Some lessons about the relationship of power, policy, and politics have been learned by Democrats in this go around, particularly that if you’re going to give people new benefits, they should feel the impact before the next election (unlike key Obamacare benefits, which kicked in after the 2010 midterms). Democrats have also embraced the idea that benefits should be visible rather than “submerged” or hidden as Obama’s middle-class tax cut was designed to be. There is encouraging data suggesting not only wide support for the child tax credit but also that those who received the child tax credit this year (including Trump supporters) have a more favorable view of Biden than those who didn’t. Imagine what might happen with a major, sustained awareness and outreach campaign by trusted community and labor messengers about that and the other benefits in the bill?
There are some areas where the bill doesn’t shift power relations. The continued reliance on states to deliver benefits, for example for vastly expanded child care benefits, is a mistake. The failure to include Unemployment Insurance reforms that would have ensured some national standards is also a major disappointment. Programs administered by states often create negative experiences for beneficiaries (see Jamila Michener’s Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism and Unequal Politics). And in an age where Republicans control so many state governments, this continued reliance on states invites mischief. We need more programs like social security that are fully federal and fewer that allow for states to mess them up. It’s also clear that Democrats haven’t internalized the importance of building the power of outside civic groups — community groups, unions, and others — to the extent that Republicans have understood the value of weakening them.
There are, however, some other important power-shifting provisions in BBB including increased funding for IRS tax enforcement against wealthy tax cheats; inclusion of a provision of the PRO Act that would require employers to pay fines from $50,000 to $100,000 when they commit unfair labor practices such as firing workers organizing for a union (right now, employers pay nothing; this may be the first deterrent to union-busting added to the US code since the 1930s); the homecare expansion which could facilitate unionization of this large and growing workforce comprised overwhelmingly of women of color; fixing the broken federal oil and gas leasing system that perversely hands public money to corporations to fuel climate change; and the creation of a Civilian Conservation Corps, which will create an expanded and passionate constituency to fight climate change. The fate of what may be the largest single powershifting proposal — legalizing millions of undocumented people — is at this writing undecided. To his credit, Biden included $100 billion in his revised BBB plan for immigration, but action now turns to the Senate, where Democrats will have to ensure that Manchin, Sinema, and the (unelected) parliamentarian don’t tank it.
Democrats have a chance in the next few days to recover lost ground on race and immigration.
The Platypus has been very critical of Biden’s decision to deprioritize voting rights and of the administration’s immigration policies, too many of which have represented continuity with the Trump era (see Cristina Jimenez’s and Deepak’s piece “Cruelty Has Consequences”). Morally, of course, this is a disaster. But from a political point of view, these decisions depress enthusiasm and turnout among the most loyal Democrats. Some pundits have made the weak argument that Terry McAuliffe’s reelection prospects have been harmed by the delay in passing the infrastructure bill. But his polling numbers are shockingly low among Latinos. He’d have benefited far more from a more robust Democratic commitment to immigration this year.
In these final days of negotiations, it’s critical that Democrats fight for the inclusion of provisions to legalize millions of immigrants. For decades, a mass movement has marched, voted, and advocated for this. And as former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said a couple of weeks ago, arguing for the inclusion of a path to citizenship in the reconciliation bill: “If my 2010 reelection to the Senate proved anything, it was that Democrats can fight and win on immigration. It makes policy sense and political sense and not just with Latino voters, but also with Americans of all backgrounds.” The re-elections of Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (NV) and Mark Kelly (AZ) in 2022 may depend on getting it done. Getting this provision through the last gauntlet of Senate procedure and potential roadblocks from Manchin and Sinema should be the place where Congressional progressives use their substantial leverage now. It’s one of the few big undecided items, and a lot hangs in the balance.
What now?
As we’ve argued previously, the marquee fight in America is about whether multi-racial democracy survives the authoritarian surge. In that context, the obvious next steps are:
Fight like hell on the remaining outstanding issues over the next few days to ensure BBB is as progressive as it can be.
Unite with enthusiasm to pass the final BBB bill (once the details are agreed and it’s clear that Manchin and Sinema support the whole framework, as the Congressional Progressive Caucus has rightly demanded). President Biden is correct that his Presidency and Democratic majorities depend on passage of the bill. And given the authoritarian threat, failure of the bill would be disastrous for democracy itself.
Implement it well and communicate the benefits not just through the media, but through door-to-door organizing so people feel the benefits, understand how they were won, and feel they have a role in defending them. We need to own the victories we achieved, explain who is responsible for blocking progress on things we didn’t win, and make the case for building power as the next right step to continue the momentum.
Make the case in 2022 that continued progress depends on expanded Democratic majorities. The New Deal did not consist of one bill – it was a series of bills over multiple election cycles.
Campaign to eliminate the filibuster and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Win the 2022 elections — hard, but doable — so the momentum can continue and the victories can be built upon rather than torn down. (Where viable, we should also primary conservative Democrats – the large and growing caucus of savvy progressives in Congress was critical to our wins, and we need more of them.)
All in all, the BBB legislation is a historic accomplishment. While we share the disappointment of many over losing worthy elements, it would be a mistake not to see and celebrate the bill as an impressive achievement, against long odds, of progressive movements, politicians, and idea-makers working over decades. The bill’s passage should be seen as an invitation for more of what helped us win — more bold ideas, more organizing, more strategic electoral work of the kind that turned Georgia blue, and more boisterous movements demanding big change.
Finally, as a reminder of how policy makes a difference in peoples’ lives, here’s how people said they’d spend the child tax credit.