Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) spoke with Jake Tapper on CNN this afternoon to discuss the Build Back Better Act.
“I’ve always said is “what’s most important is what’s in the plan, not necessarily what day we do we do the plan.” Everyone is working to try to get to something, I still think by the end of the month, so you know hopefully still in the next several weeks. But what really matters is that content. We’re waiting for a few of the senators to just be a little more clear and what they see as important. We’ve been very clear, the House has a bill we’re ready to vote on that shows the priorities, but I still think we’re going to get this thing done, hopefully by the end of the month.”
“As Progressive Caucus members we’ve said, “have some of the most important programs that are out there and have made them for a little shorter term, but the ones that are truly transformative, let’s do things that can impact people, the quickest and also as universal as possible so that way the majority of our constituents are benefiting from the many good things that are in the bill.” That’s what you just heard Nancy Pelosi say, but what she also was referring to in the letter is there’s all kinds of other things that are in here that aren’t maybe the ones that are the big items that I think the average person is going to feel for their family. No doubt people 40 million Americans are going to get that tax cut through the Child Tax Credit, you’re going to clearly see people benefit from only paying 7% of their income on child care, and on some of the provisions that we have around expanding Medicare and provisions around family medical leave and prescription drug prices. So we want to keep the big ones that people are really going to see, but then there’s a lot of other little buckets out there that there’s money in that perhaps some of that can be repurposed to keep those programs I just mentioned and some others really doing well. We also have some priorities around things like housing and immigration and some other issues, but it’s not at all out of line with what Speaker Pelosi said today.”
“The Child Tax Credit is one of the ones that our constituents will feel and they’re getting right now. They’re getting some help in this way because of the COVID package we passed earlier this year but this will extend it for years. This program alone lifts half the children in poverty in this country out of poverty. So that’s why it’s so important. But Jake, I’d also argue those childcare provisions, when you look at what people are paying for childcare, and what I was told by business groups back home, the number one barrier to people going back to work and everyone’s trying to hire people right now is childcare so if we can address that not only do we get people into the workforce, but in the money that we put out there for COVID, six of the seven jobs that were created went to men. This makes sure that everyone is benefiting from the money we’re putting out there, so I think childcare also is something that’s really important to a lot of us.”
