Enough Drama for a Telenovela
As far as sagas go, there hasn’t been this much “Will they, or won’t they?” since the storied, weekly plotline Rachel and Ross of Friends. If you didn’t catch the wildly popular sitcom, just imagine waiting nine years for the first kiss!
Rising prices are top of mind of most Americans, yet the biggest federal policy proposal with real potential to help families cope with today’s global financial trends hangs in the balance. That’s why the drama over the Build Back Better Act should have most Americans on the edge of their seats – with children’s health, stability, and early learning in limbo.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, promises a vote before Christmas. Wall Street seems optimistic that some large package will pass. But political watchers aren’t so certain, scrutinizing every move Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) makes to see if they can define his position. The united Republican opposition subjects them to a collective bit part as the jilted boyfriend, always complaining but with no leverage. So, we wait to see if the Democrats will come together. Will the Senate pass the House version, or will they pare it down? Will they, or won’t they? Not even brainy Ross knows the answer.
NPR sang the Build Back Better Blues yesterday, releasing a Marist poll that shows that fewer than half of all Americans support the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). Yet only a few days earlier, a Monmouth University poll that wisely tests the policies rather than the name of the bill reports a hearty 61% support of a “plan to expand access to healthcare and child care, and provide paid leave and college tuition support.”
Digging deeper it’s pretty clear that BBB suffers from message and spin problems more than substance. Poll respondents place a top priority on Congress controlling inflation and helping Americans afford daily expenses. Even parents with children at home who support the plan (63%) don’t see it as a #1 priority (41%). That’s because the relief that BBB provides for coping with inflation still has not been made clear to Americans.
Here are the facts, more than half of all families receiving the child tax credit are coping with inflation by using their Child Tax Credit payments to buy necessities such as food, clothing, and school supplies. It doesn’t take a pollster to know that the parents of the 3.6 million children lifted out of poverty by this payment are making ends meet, despite inflation, because they are receiving these funds. The same goes for paying for child care.
Coincidentally, the Children First Board President, John Summers, is the brother of, Larry Summers, who knows a bit about federal policy from his stints as Treasury Secretary during the Clinton Administration and head of the National Economic Council for President Obama. Larry’s economic predictions last spring are now being exploited by Republican opponents of the measure. They see the potency of using inflation talking points to indict the bill and Summers’ comments about inflation are a key element of their fodder.
Summers predicted inflation was on the horizon last spring, pinning the combined effect of the Trump and Biden investments to protect from the economic collapse and the supply chain interruptions caused by COVID as contributors to the upward trend.
But those same lawmakers ignore the fact that with respect to Build Back Better Summers’ points out, “The legislation would spend less over 10 years than was spent on stimulus in 2021. Because that spending is offset by revenue increases and because it includes measures such as child care that will increase the economy’s capacity, Build Back Better will have only a negligible impact on inflation.”
Here’s our non-economist take. Low and moderate income families need help right now. Inflation is decreasing their buying power the most. When they don’t have enough to cover expenses, the first things to go are utilities, prescription drugs and child care. From there school attendance and performance decline, causing the risk of intergenerational poverty to grow.
The best way to cure the effects of inflation on these families is by enacting Build Back Better, because the economic consequences of not doing so are immediate for most American families and long-term for the economic health of our country.
It’s time to end the antics in D.C. and enact Build Back Better. It’s the best tool at our disposal for helping hard working American families cope with inflation.
Season over! |
