Dear fellow MoveOn member,
We could be just days away from passing President Biden's Build Back Better bill—which would transform the lives of working Americans with child care, paid leave, Medicare expansion, climate action, universal pre-K, and more—but we're facing one very big obstacle.
And I'm not talking about Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Mitch McConnell, or the corporate lobbyists working overtime to stymie it.
I'm talking about the media.
Instead of covering what's actually in the bill, the media is talking only about the top-line number: $2.2 trillion (and not, by the way, the fact that the package ends up costing $220 billion per year over 10 years, or less than half of the country's annual Pentagon budget).1
They're talking almost exclusively about the cost of the bill while almost totally ignoring the benefits.
This is a huge, huge problem, and if we don't fix it, child care, paid leave, Medicare expansion, climate action, universal pre-K, and so many other items in President Biden's agenda will smolder. The good news is that once people know what's in the bill, they love it. Because they need it. Polling for all the programs in the plan is off the charts.2
That's where Inequality Media Civic Action—the organization I founded that works closely with MoveOn—comes in. Inequality Media Civic Action is producing, testing, and deploying proven-effective explainers and viral videos to our social media network of millions to make sure that people know all the amazing ways this bill would help them. Our team has honed its messaging skills over the years and is bringing them to bear in this monumental policy effort, at this crucial moment. But in order to go big enough to break through the media noise, we need to really ramp up our budget.
Joe Manchin says he won't support the bill unless it's slashed to $1.5 trillion, less than half of what was originally proposed.
What would that mean? Here are the elements of the bill most likely to be cut back if Manchin gets his way:
❌ Lower prescription drug prices
❌ Universal pre-K
❌ Paid family leave
❌ Child tax credits
❌ Clean energy
❌ Tax hikes on the wealthy
That's because these measures are the ones that are most despised by the corporate backers of conservative Democrats. But they are also wildly popular with the voting public. So why aren't people raising more of a ruckus about this plan?
Because most people have no idea what's in it … because the media simply isn't covering it. All they talk about is "$2 trillion." But for what? No one knows, because the media is choosing not to say. Nor are they choosing to talk about an even greater price tag: the cost of doing nothing about the problems the bill will address.
We don't have much time. If this bill doesn't pass the Senate by the end of the year, it might not pass at all. So we need to go big right now with the truth, including making sure that every American knows what this game-changing bill will deliver. Will you make a donation of $65 to Inequality Media Civic Action today? We don't have much time.
Thank you for helping us ensure that the media doesn't sabotage this once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a fairer America.
1. "PREPARED REMARKS: Sanders Senate Floor Speech on Defense Spending Bill," Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont, November 17, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/159740?t=4&akid=312260%2E53570607%2EqCR8Sy
2. "Voters Continue to Support the Build Back Better Agenda," Data for Progress, November 3, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/159741?t=6&akid=312260%2E53570607%2EqCR8Sy
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Will you chip in to fight right-wing lies and pass urgent legislation to confront the multiple crises our country faces?
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