WAFS Newsletter | November 2021 | EMS Mentorship Program | Progress of Buld Back Better Act & Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
WE ARE for Science
EMS Graduate Student Mentorship Program
Via the EMS Diversity Committee’s Mental Health Working Group, students are seeking to launch an EMS-wide Mentorship Program & Engagement Network. In this group, advanced year graduate students will provide guidance and support to incoming and early year graduate students in EMS. Pairing between graduate students mentors and mentees will be done through an intake form in which students can address particular pairing preferences along themes of diversity and mental health. Students will work to lead a brief project collaboration with each other in order to give students a venue to practice advocating for their scientific interests to the broader community. Part of the aim of the program is to provide graduate students a venue in which they can make genuine and meaningful connections with other graduate students across departments, and to provide an opportunity to de-stress and spend time with others. If you are interested in participating, please contact Alex V. at at...@psu.edu for more information; the program aims to launch in Spring 2022.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill:
· Has been signed into law by President Biden after passing both the House & Senate
· Addresses clean water by having all the nations lead pipes removed
· Provides support to get reliable, high-speed internet to all Americans
· Provides funding to repair US roads and bridges
· Addresses climate change by making the largest ever investment in public transit in U.S. History
· Builds out a network of Electric Vehicle charging stations
· Tackles pollution by reclaiming abandoned mines, capping orphaned hydrocarbon wells, and cleaning up hazardous waste sites
The Build Back Better Act:
· Has passed the U.S. House of Representatives
· Has not passed the U.S. Senate; requires 50 (+1) votes from Senators and VP Kamala Harris
· Lowers the cost of child care for workers
· Establishes free, universal pre-school programs
· Creates federal paid family and medical leave
· Expands tax credits for children and earned income
· Increases Pell Grants for incoming college students
· Invests $150 billion in Affordable Housing
· Lowers the cost of Prescription Drugs
· Strengthens and expands Medicaid, including for seniors and those with disabilities
· Expands energy tax credits to encourage electric vehicles
· Funds investments in low and zero-emissions technology
· Invests in high speed railways
· Funds climate change research
· Reforms oil and gas fee and royalty structures
· Eliminates tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans
· Reforms corporate tax codes
*among many other itemized benefits
A Long Journey to Transformative Legislation
In a stunning turnaround from last month’s reporting of Democratic in-fighting and lack of progress on Biden’s legislative agenda, the United States House of Representatives has officially passed both line items of Joe Biden’s presidential agenda: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and The Build Back Better Act. The President’s agenda was initially conceptualized as a single legislative item. However, more traditionally conservative values were earmarked and extracted into a lone line piece of legislation to have that legislation be bipartisan. While, under the current rules of the Senate, bills regarding government spending only require a simple majority via Budget Reconciliation, this legislation was intended by President Biden to display in an increasingly competitive global environment that democracy as a concept is still functional and can deliver results. Initially, progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives organized to withhold their votes on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Representative Jayapal, leader of the 95 member House Progressive Caucus, led this effort. Representative Jayapal urged that Progressives had not been assured that significant progress was made on the Build Back Better Act to ensure that progressive priorities, such as addressing child poverty, climate change, and wealth inequality, would be addressed in legislation before efforts were curtailed as politicians began focusing on 2022 midterm campaigns. After a month of seemingly public in-fighting where more conservative democrats advocated for the singular passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, understandings were reached.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House in United States history, is well known for her ability to count; put simply, she has a reputation of not bringing a vote to the floor of the US House unless she knows it will pass. Previous votes on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill were pulled, signaling that Speaker Pelosi was aware that the Democratic Party did not, at the time, have enough votes to pass bipartisan infrastructure spending. This in many ways is a win for the Progressive movement as it signals a strong coalition with a sizeable voice inside the Democratic Party; there are 221 Democratic House members of which 95 are members of Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s House Progressive Caucus. When the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passed the US House of Representatives, the handful of Democratic ‘No’ votes were from progressives who voted to demonstrate their priorities but who were quoted as willing to change their vote had they believed it would be necessary to pass the bill. 13 of a total 213 House Republicans crossed the aisle to support the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill while the other 200 voted no. Republican leadership had considered retaliating against the Republican ‘yes’ votes by stripping them of committee assignments. However, in the Senate, 17 of 50 Republicans voted to advance the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnel, was among those Republicans who supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill which he has publicly quoted as ‘popular’; therefore it is unlikely there will be any retaliation against Republicans in the Senate. President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill into law publicly on Monday ahead of his virtual meeting with China’s President Xi.
While Rep. Pramila Jayapal signaled confidence and optimism from early on, doubts were raised that the Build Back Better Act would receive a vote in the US House of Representatives at all. Concerns of inflation were on the rise, prompting concern over increased government spending. To address these concerns, Pelosi negotiated a release of scoring from the Congressional Budget Office, an entity that details how much legislative actions will cost over time. There were doubts that this process could happen quickly enough to capture a vote from Democrats before leaving for the Holiday Season. However, CBO scores came in and Nobel prize-winning economists contributed their opinions to Congress. The date for a vote originally quoted for Wednesday, November 17th soon became Thursday the 18th. However, at the last minute, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy entered what some have called a speech and others have referred to as an “hours-long rant” in which he criticized as unnecessary social spending. McCarthy spoke for 8 hours to interrupt the passage of the bill. While this was not enough to permanently impede a vote, McCarthy is now the record holder for the longest speech on the House Floor. The next day, the Build Back Better Act passed with 220 of 221 Democrats voting ‘Yes’ and all Republicans who chose to vote, choosing a ‘No’ vote.
While the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill had already passed in the senate, this is not the case for the Build Back Better Act. The BBB Act will require 50 yes votes from Democrats + 1 vote from tie-breaker Vice President Kamala Harris. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who many perceived to be stonewalling the legislative agenda after a series of bad press in which she refused to speak to constituents, has been quoted recently by Democratic senators as a serious negotiator. While Senate Republicans Mitch McConnell and John Thune report that they have reportedly pressed her many times to change her party from Democrat to Republican to flip the balance of power in the Senate, Sinema has remained adamant she will not be switching party affiliation. This is after she participated in a photoshoot with Mitt Romney in a Halloween costume kneeling and serving Sinema in a small box which he captioned as “She’s one tough cookie.” Sinema has described her opposition to the idea that parties should speak with one voice, saying, “Having some disagreement is normal. It is real, it is human. And it's an opportunity for us as mature beings to work through it.” Sinema has also signaled that while she will not negotiate publicly, she is not an opponent of the bill and views the bill’s climate provisions as her biggest priority. Senator Joe Manchin, while he has since denounced such claims, was also rumored to have considered dropping his Democratic Party affiliation, presumably as a threat against the democratic party, although he would have become an independent. Manchin seems to now be in much better spirits and has been photographed smiling with Democrat Stacy Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands. Whether or not the Build Back Better Act passes into law is now on the shoulders of two senators whom it can be expected will continue their negotiations directly with the President.
*Citations:
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/build-back-better-passes-house/
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026081880/senate-passes-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/17/kyrsten-sinema-strikes-back-522732
https://nypost.com/2021/10/28/mitt-romney-kyrsten-sinema-break-the-internet-with-ted-lasso-cosplay/