Investing in Middle Class Families to Build Back Better
Hello Folks –
I hope this finds you well and having had your fill of turkey, football, and... rain. It was terrific for me to get to spend some time with my family over the Thanksgiving weekend. We ate a lot, played a few board games, watched a couple movies, and counted our blessings. My wife and kiddos (and the roof over our heads) are among the many things for which I’m thankful. But that’s not all.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to represent you. As most of you know, I was born and raised here in the district I’m now honored to represent. It’s my home. I wake up every day thankful for the opportunity to represent you. And through this difficult pandemic and our efforts to recover our economy, my team and I have been working harder than ever to be there for you, to get back to you, and to help you solve problems with federal agencies. Get in touch with my team and me if you need a hand. You can also catch last week’s telephone town hall here and listen to the latest conversation about how we’re working for you!
I’m thankful for the incredible folks on the front lines who have been combatting this virus in our communities and working day-and-night to keep our friends and neighbors safe and healthy. The doctors, the nurses, the health care workers, the grocery store workers, the first responders, the scientists and researchers, and so many other frontline employees. I’m also thankful for all of the folks who have had to transform their lives to keep the world spinning – the teachers, the postal workers, the food bank volunteers, and everyone who’s been contributing to helping the most vulnerable among us.
I’m thankful for the local employers and small businesses who have continued to provide good jobs and good wages, and who have been going above-and-beyond to keep serving our community during these unprecedented times. In fact, I was thrilled to get out with my family over the weekend to celebrate Small Business Saturday and get back to a few family traditions – including a stop at WinterFest at Peninsula High School. There were awesome crafts by a ton of great vendors — and I was able to get some cool gifts from Emerald Greens Yardart!
I’m thankful for the brave servicemembers who have sacrificed so much for our country – and I’m thankful for their families, too! I have the honor of representing a region that is home to a large number of veterans, active-duty service members, and their families. Over the years that I’ve served as your representative, I have witnessed, and have been humbled by, the extraordinary sacrifice that families have made when a loved one makes the decision to serve in the armed forces. Serving on the House Committee on Appropriations, I’m honored to have the opportunity to play a meaningful role in supporting veterans and their families. We can’t – and shouldn’t ever – take them for granted.
I’m thankful for our democratic republic. I know that democracy can be messy—but it’s certainly better than the alternative. I came to Congress with two goals in mind: to see the economy work better for people in our region and to see government work better for them too. I don’t want to see a government that is dysfunctional, corrupt, and unable to make progress on delivering health care, jobs, and education for the folks I represent. With that in mind, as your representative, I’ve sponsored bills to make reforms that will strengthen voting rights, reduce the roll of big money in politics, and have a government that works for the people.
I’m thankful for people who want to strengthen our democracy. As Chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress over the past three years, I’ve been proud to lead the bipartisan effort to make Congress more efficient, effective, and transparent. Our bipartisan committee has passed nearly 125 recommendations to get government working better for the American people, and we’ve even made progress on getting some of these recommendations implemented. And I’m thankful for that!
I’m thankful for the federal workforce. The folks I’ve met at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Base Kitsap, Olympic National Park, the VA, and elsewhere have consistently impressed me. That’s why I’ll be working hard over the next few weeks to see Congress pass a funding bill and prevent a government shutdown (which should be the bare minimum). There needs to be an agreement to fund the government long-term and give our federal agencies and workers certainty. Federal workers should not have to worry about another government shutdown.
And finally, I’m thankful that Congress is making some progress this year to create jobs and make life better for the folks I represent. In addition to passing the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this year (you can read more about that in the last newsletter here), Congress took action just before Thanksgiving to advance the President’s Build Back Better Act - comprehensive legislation to lower costs for families, reduce taxes for families, ensure people have economic opportunity, and combat the climate crisis. Let’s dig into the details!
Investing in Middle Class Families to Build Back Better
The Build Back Better Act is all about investing in and helping middle class families. I recorded a short clip right after the vote to talk about what’s in the bill:
The Build Back Better Act: Lowering Child Care Costs
The Build Back Better Act is about helping everyone who has struggled over the last year because they didn’t have any place to care for their kids. Investments to make child care more affordable and more accessible to more families can be real difference makers. These investments will also help every small business currently struggling to find employees because they will empower families to go to work – which means we will have both a larger and more diverse work force.
The Build Back Better Act: Lowering Health Care Costs
The Build Back Better Act recognizes that too many families were struggling with health care costs even before the pandemic. In the greatest country in the world, people shouldn’t go broke because they are sick or get sick because they are broke.
The Build Back Better Act: Lowering Housing Costs and Expanding Affordable Housing
The Build Back Better Act is about addressing the affordable housing crisis, which is most severely impacting the most marginalized and lowest-income people in our region and throughout the country, including seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, and others. The Build Back Better Act includes robust investments in affordable, accessible homes – providing more rental assistance, addressing the public housing repair backlog, and investing in the National Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve more affordable homes.
The Build Back Better Act: Helping People Pay for College and Access Training
The Build Back Better Act is also about helping everyone who is struggling or who has a family member who is struggling to afford college or who wants to get job training. We have some incredible community colleges, technical colleges, and universities in our region – which we know open the door to economic opportunity for so many. The bill would expand financial aid to help more people afford college, including increasing the maximum Pell Grant.
The Build Back Better Act: Lowering Taxes
Middle-class families and families making ends meet have felt the squeeze for far too long. The Build Back Better Act is about giving families in our neck of the woods a break.
The Build Back Better Act: Growing Jobs
The Build Back Better Act is all about revitalizing communities that have been largely left out of the economic growth of communities that we’ve seen in places like those in the shadow of the space needle. And proudly, that’s because the Build Back Better Act includes a pilot project for the RECOMPETE Act, bipartisan legislation I introduced to empower persistently distressed communities, like the one I grew up in out on the Peninsula, to develop, implement, and carry out economic development strategies and create jobs over the long-term.
The Build Back Better Act is also about creating more jobs, including more green jobs! That’s because provisions in the bill will create 2 to 3 million new jobs in the clean energy sector. And as Russell Wilson (who will hopefully bounce back tonight on Monday Night Football) would say: why not us? As we look at jobs that can be created in modernizing our grid, in building renewables, in protecting our environment -- these are all opportunities for our local businesses and for economic development in our region!
All-in-all, it’s a big deal!!!
Taken together with the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is now signed into law, the Build Back Better Act aims to help families, and our economy, get cranking again after what has been a really tough couple of years.
Recently, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, Mark Zandi, issued an analysis of this legislation and found it would spur economic growth and ease inflation. Zandi’s report found that the plan would add more than two million jobs by mid-decade, would lower business costs, would improve labor force participation (through investments in child care and expansion of the earned income tax credit), and would lift worker productivity.
Also of note: the bill is paid for – not deficit financed. It’s paid for by asking more of the very wealthiest Americans – those making more than $400,000 (and primarily those making more than $10 million) – and large multinational corporations. The vast, vast, vast, majority of folks I represent will see their taxes go down! That sounds pretty good to me. I was proud to support this bill, and I’m hopeful that in the coming days, the Senate will pass this bill and get it over to the President’s desk to be signed into law. I’ll keep you updated!
Helping Folks Get Covered
The COVID-19 pandemic has been an important reminder about ensuring every American has access to quality, affordable health care. The good news is that right now, open enrollment for health and dental coverage is underway in our state! Through December 15, folks can head on over to WAHealthPlanfinder.org to check-out the 2022 health plans that are available to anyone who wants to get covered on the exchange, including free and low-cost coverage.
Working for You
Supporting the COVID-19 Vaccination Effort
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, 90% of Americans can receive a COVID-19 vaccine within 5 miles of where they live – including at many local pharmacies! It was great to catch-up with the pharmacy team at the Safeway on the Hilltop of Tacoma to see how the effort is going. Vaccines are safe, effective, and free – and the best way to help us crush this virus. Find one in your community today at vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov
Working Together to Keep Our Economy Running
Thanks to the team at Home Depot for inviting me to their Gig Harbor location to learn more about the work they do and the issues front of mind as the world’s largest home improvement retailer. We chatted about supply chain issues, the local economy and community safety, and investing in infrastructure to increase the flow of goods!
Supporting Our Care Workers
Home health care workers, like Mary from Port Orchard, do vitally important work to ensure people can live with dignity. As we work to Build Back Better, we've got to take action to ensure they get the protections, respect, and pay they deserve. It was great to join Mary and other SEIU 775 members at the Care Can’t Wait rally in DC!
OK – that’s it for now folks. As always, I’m honored to represent you.
Sincerely,
Derek