November 19, 2021 09:27 AM UTC

Colorado Progressives Thrilled as Build Back Better Plan Passes U.S. House

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• by: ProgressNow Colorado

Following last night’s passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation making historic investments in education, health care, affordable housing, renewable energy, and another year of funding for Sen. Michael Bennet’s landmark Child Tax Credit, ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest multi-issue progressive advocacy organization, thanked Colorado’s progressive majority congressional delegation for seeing this crucial component of the progressive agenda through its first big test–and called on the U.S. Senate to pass Build Back Better without further delay.

“Last night was a huge step for progressives in keeping the promise they made to America in 2020 to Build Back Better after the devastating COVID-19 pandemic,” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Sara Loflin. “After months of wrangling, we’re closer than ever to making investments that every American family will see and feel in their daily lives. This legislation will help millions of working Americans by supporting the ‘human infrastructure’ that matters just as much as roads and bridges. Money Americans will save on health care will be redirected straight to the economy.”

“We’re thrilled to see that another year of full funding for Sen. Michael Bennet’s Child Tax Credit was preserved in the legislation that passed the House last night,” said Loflin. “Sen. Bennet’s Child Tax Credit is working right now to bring about the biggest reduction in child poverty in half a century. The direct monthly payments to millions of families are providing crucial economic stimulus where it’s needed most, and must be permanently funded by future legislation.”

“The Build Back Better Plan also represents the largest investment by the federal government in combating human-caused climate change in American history,” said Loflin. “Offsetting the cost of renewable energy conversion is a vital tool to incentivize the switch to renewable energy by individual consumers. Assistance is being targeted at individual consumers who need help most investing in renewable energy for their homes, which is where we must begin if the United States hopes to meet our international treaty obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Democrats must pass this landmark legislation in order to deliver on their promises to American voters,” said Loflin. “By delivering on the promises in the Build Back Better plan, millions of Americans will finally get to see what happens when progressives govern. After years of dysfunctional increasingly extremist Republican control in Washington, too many Americans believe that we can’t solve the big problems confronting us. Now is the best chance Democrats will have for a decade to prove them wrong.”