Alan Minsky for the PDA National Team

Become a PDA Sustainer: Support PDA’s Advocacy for a Huge Progressive Infrastructure Package

We, at PDA, were pleased by the announcement on Tuesday night of a $3.5 trillion dollar infrastructure bill that Democrats will try to pass on a party-line vote, via the Senate reconciliation process.

While this massive omnibus bill doesn’t have everything we want, it includes so many positive programs and policies that it could be the most progressive package passed by Congress in the past half-century.

The operative word in the previous sentence is “could.” Nothing yet has passed Congress. One thing is for sure: our adversaries will try to tear this down. Legions of corporate lobbyists will descend on Capitol Hill in the coming days to try to undermine the best parts of the package.

However, unlike the recent past, the lobbyists are going to face powerful opposition because we progressives are much stronger now.

PDA will be right there, pushing back against the lobbyists, exposing how they work against the interests of the people and the planet. We will also be advocating for the progressive proposals in the infrastructure bill, explaining why they are beneficial for American society.

PDA does this work all day, every day, 365 days a year. See below for the long list of policies that we are fighting for in the infrastructure package—it’s breathtaking. Over the next couple of months, as the details of this legislation are finalized, we will be constantly vigilant, making sure that a transformational progressive infrastructure package gets passed without being undermined by powerful corporate lobbyists.

Work so intense requires a steady reliable revenue source; that is why becoming a PDA sustainer is the best way to support PDA. Sign up here to make a monthly donation to PDA. 

Here is a list of programs that PDA is actively advocating to be included in the final version of the infrastructure package:

—Expand Medicare to include vision, hearing, and dental coverage.

—Use Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.

—Lower the Medicare eligibility age to 60 (or, better yet, 55).

—Make the child tax credits, introduced in the American Rescue Plan, permanent.

—Make tuition free at public colleges and community colleges for everyone with an annual household income of $125,000 or less.

—Invest in high-speed rail, in the general rail system, and in carbon-free public transportation.

—Build enough electrical vehicle charging stations to facilitate universal use of EVs.

—Update the electrical grid, transitioning it from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

—Eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies; invest in renewable energy capacity.

—Revitalize domestic manufacturing to create high-tech, high-wage, environment-friendly jobs in poor communities and economically depressed regions.

—Build affordable housing, and do so without having a negative impact on home ownership rates in working-class communities, particularly in communities of color.

—Launch a Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) and a Federal Writers Project modeled on the New Deal programs of the same names.

—Expand programs that address hunger in America.

—Create a national family and medical paid leave program.

—Establish universal child care for three- and four-year-olds.

—Rebuild clean drinking water and sewage infrastructure.

—Build high-speed broadband infrastructure so that it reaches all Americans.

—Invest in teachers and public school infrastructure.

—Include Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

—Protect collective bargaining with the PRO ACT.

Help PDA make this infrastructure reform happen. Become a PDA sustainer today.

In this moment, the federal government has an opportunity to make a profound positive impact throughout American society. Achieving this goal will open up further possibilities, as it will establish the idea that great things can be done for the benefit of the people and the planet through our democratic process. Please seize this opportunity by supporting an expansive and visionary infrastructure package with a monthly gift to PDA.

Thanks for anything you can do, 

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