September 23, 2021

Members of the United States House of Representatives

U.S. Capitol

First Street SE

Washington, DC   20004

Dear Representatives,

We write to you at a consequential moment, when our country confronts multiple, severe crises—and when Congress has made substantial progress in crafting legislation that offers real solutions and can put us on a path to a thriving future.

The full Build Back Better plan currently being negotiated would put our country on the path to 100 percent clean energy, provide home health care to those who need it, replace all lead pipes that poison drinking water, build a million new units of affordable housing, add hearing, dental, and vision coverage to Medicare, ensure child tax credits aren't taken away from parents who need them, expand and electrify public transit, boost rural broadband, lower the cost of prescription drugs, provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of people, paid family and medical leave and child care, and much more. These wildly popular investments are paid for with taxes on corporations and the wealthy, which have for decades avoided contributing their fair share. Collectively, the investments would create millions of good, union jobs.

The full Build Back Better plan makes transformational investments in our future, and all of the organizations signing this letter support it. Unfortunately, this plan—and the prospect of a successful Biden presidency—could be torpedoed by a maneuver being orchestrated by corporate lobbyists, if members of Congress go along.

There are two parts to Build Back Better: a $3.5 trillion investments package via the reconciliation process, as well as a smaller bipartisan infrastructure bill that goes alongside it.  The vast majority of Democrats in Congress have signaled they are ready to move forward with both of these pieces of legislation. Polling shows the full package is popular. But because the full Build Back Better plan would reduce big corporations’ ability to avoid taxes and engage in harmful behavior such as polluting our air and charging obscene prices for prescription drugs, corporate lobbyists are doing all they can to prevent its passage. 

These lobbyists’ strategy is to pass the bipartisan bill first, knowing that if it is taken off the table, that would reduce the incentive for conservative Democrats to vote for the bigger reconciliation bill. The way to secure the best deal for the American people is to ensure both bills move together—and that means rejecting lobbyists’ strategy of passing the smaller bipartisan bill through the House on September 27 without having first passed a larger reconciliation bill.

A significant majority of voters put Democrats into power in the last elections because they wanted our government to start acting in the best interest of the public. Now it is time for Democrats to deliver. For this to happen, because their majority is narrow, Democrats from all sides of the party must come together and compromise. That’s what the full Build Back Better plan represents. It’s much smaller than policy experts’ call for $10 trillion of investments or more. It’s much smaller than the $6 trillion figure advanced by congressional leaders like Majority Leader Schumer. The $3.5 trillion reconciliation figure is already a compromise, hammered out by conservative and progressive Democrats in the Senate, and it omits many wise investments while leaving significant potential revenue on the table. Progressives in Congress have been flexible and constructive throughout this negotiation and continue to work to land a reconciliation deal, but they have also been clear: they will oppose passage of just the smaller bill by itself—because it doesn’t contain the climate solutions and care, education, and economic investments we need. Passing just that small bill alone wouldn’t be a compromise; it would be a capitulation. We strongly support the position of the Congressional Progressive Caucus that two bills must pass together, as a critical step on the journey toward tackling the climate crisis and furthering racial and economic justice. We urge progressives to hold strong. We will have your back.

We urge all members of Congress to support the full deal including the reconciliation bill. To be clear: should the smaller, bipartisan bill come up for a vote before a reconciliation bill has passed, we urge representatives to vote no—in order to get to yes on Build Back Better.

Sincerely,

Green New Deal Network

198 methods

350 Chicago

350 New Hampshire

350 Triangle

350 Vermont

9to5 Colorado

Alabama Interfaith Power & Light

ARTivism Virginia

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA

Association of Young Americans

Aytzim: Ecological Judaism

AZIPL

Backbone Campaign

Blue America

Broward for Progress

California Green New Deal Coalition

Center for Coalfield Justice

Center for Popular Democracy

Center For Sustainable Communities

Central Florida Jobs with Justice

Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund

Citizen Action of Wisconsin

Climate Reality Project, NOVA Chapter

CODEPINK

Colorado Fiscal Institute

Colorado Jobs with Justice

Colorado Working Families Party

Communities United For Action

Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action

DBA: A.C.E.S. 4 Youth

Delaware Working Families Party

Down Home NC

Earth Rise Indivisible

Evergreen Action

Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition

Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions

Family Values @ Work

Florida Clinicians for Climate Action

Florida Rising

Georgia Conservation Voters

Green Education and Legal Fund

Green New Deal Virginia

GreenFaith

Greenpeace USA

Herndon Reston Indivisible Science-Environment

Hometown Action

Indivisible

Insight Center for Community Economic Development

Iowa CCI

JOLT USA

Loudoun Climate Project

Maine People's Alliance

Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action

Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light

MoveOn Political Action

Mujeres Unidas y Activas

NC Climate Justice Collective

New Mexico Thrives

New Mexico Working Families Party

Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment

NJ Working Families

People's Action

Peoples Climate Movement - NY

POWER interfaith

Ramsey Pins

RI Interfaith Power & Light

Right To The City Alliance

Rights & Democracy - NH & VT

SEIU Local 1

Solutionary Rail

Sunrise Movement

Sunrise Movement Asheville

Sunrise Worcester

Sustainable Roanoke

TakeAction Minnesota

The Climate Mobilization

The People's Lobby

Together Colorado

United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE)

United Vision for Idaho

US High Speed Rail Association

VA Justice Democrats

Vets for the People

Virginia Interfaith Power & Light

Waldwick Progressives

Women's March

Working Families Party

WV New Jobs Coalition

WV Working Families