welfare-in-the-united-states

"After months of productive, good-faith negotiations with @POTUS and the White House, we have made significant progress on the proposed budget reconciliation package. I look forward to getting this done, expanding economic opportunities and helping everyday families get ahead."

"$7.5 billion for the nation’s first network of electric-vehicle chargers along highway corridors..."

"[The White House's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better framework is] by far the most significant piece of legislation ever passed in the world [to address climate]"

"“This week, Democrats are continuing to make important progress toward finalizing President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, and we remain confident that a final deal is within reach"

"I have always said, 'If I can't go back home and explain it, I can't vote for it.' Despite my best efforts, I cannot explain the sweeping Build Back Better Act in West Virginia and I cannot vote to move forward on this mammoth piece of legislation"

"$108 billion..help upgrade the nation’s electricity grid..."

"$11 billion in transportation safety programs, including a new program to help... reduce crashes and fatalities... particularly among cyclists and pedestrians..."

"Being anti-Trump is not enough. Democrats need to run on results, and this should light a fire under frontline Democrats to get Build Back Better passed."

"Sanders' remarks on the NDAA—which cleared a key procedural hurdle late Wednesday—came as Democrats in Congress also worked to finalize the Build Back Better Act, a reconciliation package whose social spending and climate provisions have been gutted to satisfy right-wing members of the majority party such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Manchin, a key swing vote in the Senate, has repeatedly cited the national debt as a reason to pare back the reconciliation bill, which now has a top-line price tag of around $1.75 trillion over ten years—roughly half of the original $3.5 trillion framework. But while the West Virginia Democrat says he's alarmed by the prospect of spending to expand Medicare and combat the climate crisis, he appears unconcerned that, over the past decade, Congress has poured over $9 trillion into the only federal agency that has yet to pass a full independent audit. Manchin has approved every NDAA since 2011, and he voted Wednesday to advance the 2022 Pentagon budget."

"Most of that has been negotiated, most of it is ready to go. And we are just waiting for the last parts of the bill to be put together. We’re hopeful that that will be done in the next few hours, frankly"

"As we work through the text of the legislation I would hope all of us will continue to deal in good faith and do what is right for the future of the American people"

"This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do. And the President has worked diligently. He's been wonderful to work with. He knows I've had concerns and the problems I've had and, you know, the thing that we should all be directing our attention towards the variant, a Covid that we have coming back at us in so many different aspects in different ways, it's affecting our lives again"

"roughly $110 billion... toward improving the nation's roads and bridges..."

"$65 billion to bolster the country's broadband infrastructure ..."

"$2.5 billion for ferries. Clean drinking water..."

"More than $25 billion...to help modernize America's airports..."

"including nearly $300 billion for the Highway Trust Fund and"

"Democrats 'pretty much there' on U.S. social spending bill"

"we're working on it"

"The reconciliation framework is a pro-worker victory: child care, home care, clean energy jobs, health care, tax fairness, immigration improvements and support for worker organizing"

"We are just missing two things: What exactly is going to be in the bill and how we’re going to pay for it “Other than that, we are good to go"

"We have our Build Back Better Framework. Now it’s time for Congress to pass it. Let’s get this done."

"However, if our six colleagues still want to wait for a CBO score, we would agree to give them that time — after which point we can vote on both bills together."

"President Biden's framework is the product of months of negotiations and input from all members of the Democratic Party who share a common goal to deliver for the American people."

"The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill represents a historic investment in West Virginia’s infrastructure – around $6 billion over the next 5 years. Here are some of the investments that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will bring to WV:"

"Thanks to the #AmericanRescuePlan, nearly $124 MILLION in relief is on the way to 440 #WV healthcare providers. I fought for dedicated funding for rural healthcare providers in the ARP to ensure they can continue to provide critical care in our communities"

"If I sound angry, I am. My constituents are angry. It’s clear to us that this bill is wrong on the merits. And they have responded with a single word: enough!"

"President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law one of the largest infrastructure packages in U.S. history... shoring up $1.2 trillion, $550 billion in new investments for the nation's bridges, airports, waterways, public transit and more... Headlining the 2,702-page bill’s spending,"

"the largest-ever federal investment in public transit, allotting $39 billion to modernize systems, improve access for the elderly and people with disabilities, and repair more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 railcars and thousands of miles of train tracks...."

"$66 billion earmarked for high-speed rail, safety improvements..."

"Until we get that, we don’t have anything to say about numbers"

"$5 billion for zero-emission buses..."

"$55 billion to replace all the nation's lead pipes and service lines..."

"more than $50 billion for water infrastructure improvement... a sweeping clean-up measure targeting toxic hot spots or areas of heavy industrial pollution..."

"In addition to the $550 billion in new investments, the package also includes roughly:"

"$650 billion in previously authorized funding for roads and other infrastructure,"

"$90 billion for public transit..."

"[it ()] doesn't contain everything that the president proposed and that some had hoped. But that's the nature of progress in a democracy"

"A bipartisan infrastructure bill that has already passed in the Senate, but not in the house"

"The U.S. Congress is poised to pass a $778 billion military budget bill for 2022. As they have been doing year after year, our elected officials are preparing to hand the lion's share — more than 65% — of federal discretionary spending to the U.S. war machine, even as they wring their hands over spending a mere quarter of that amount on the Build Back Better Act... U.S. society does face critical threats to our security, including the climate crisis, systemic racism, erosion of voting rights, gun violence, grave inequalities and the corporate hijacking of political power. But one problem we fortunately do not have is the threat of attack or invasion... by any other country at all... If the public is ever to have any impact on this dysfunctional and deadly money-go-round, we must learn to see through the fog of propaganda that masks self-serving corruption... and allows the military brass to cynically exploit the public's natural respect for brave young men and women who are ready to risk their lives to defend our country."

"A budget reconcilliation bill , that has divided Progressive Democrats and Moderate Democrats who have not been able to reach a compromise, neither in the house nor in the Senate."

"We are outraged that the initial framework does not lower prescription drug prices"

"And, by the way, you hear these numbers — $3.5 trillion or $1.75 trillion. We pay for it all. It doesn’t increase the deficit one single cent"

"Call for the damn vote. Tell people to get in line. Be explicit"

"I wish I could say yes, but there’s a great deal of uncertainty within the caucus as to what’s contained in the deal"

"The United States is on pace to spend over $7 trillion over the next ten years for the Pentagon. To put that number in perspective, the U.S. spends more each year on the military than China, Russia, India, the U.K., Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and Australia combined. While Republicans and Democrats are in sharp disagreements over the much smaller Build Back Better legislation, there is largely a bipartisan consensus when it comes to the military budget and foreign military intervention..."

"As we’ve consistently said, there are dozens of our members who want to vote both bills — the Build Back Better Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — out of the House together"

"A full accounting of the spending and revenue has been provided by the White House, numerous pieces of the legislation have already been scored, and the [Joint Committee on Taxation] has put out analysis that Build Back Better will contribute to reducing the deficit"

"On the night the Build Back Better vote was to take place, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy forced a delay until the following morning by delivering an 8 hour, 32-minute floor speech—the longest in House history—during which he assailed the legislation as “big government socialism.” And, as with most legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, not a single Republican supported the bill, which also lost the support a lone Democrat who voted against it. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hopes to pass the bill by Christmas, but he first has to convince all 50 Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them to back the plan. It won’t be easy. The paid family leave provision may be cut to satisfy a demand from Sen. Joe Manchin, and Sen. Bernie Sanders will call for provisions in such areas as Medicare and climate to be strengthened. Any changes to the legislation will have to be voted on in the House, where Pelosi holds a razor-thin majority and can only afford three defections from her party. * In the meantime, Democrats have some selling to do. Many of the bill’s provisions won’t go into effect until after the 2022 mid-term election cycle where Democrats will go head to head for control of both houses. They will need to convince the American public of the many ways their lives will be made easier and more affordable by the Build Back Better Act."

"The sausage got made! President Biden's 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill passed the house late last night and soon will be signed into law."