House Speaker Pelosi is proposing a procedural vote that would set up future passage of two budget measures crucial to President Biden’s domestic agenda. Her plan represents an attempt by Democratic leaders to quell a rebellion by unhappy party moderates. https://t.co/sSTL6tDE5a
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 16, 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed a procedural vote this month that would set up future passage of two economic measures crucial to President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, a move Democratic leaders hope will win must-have votes from unhappy party moderates.
In a letter Sunday to Democratic lawmakers, Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested that the House will take a single vote that would clear an initial hurdle for both a budget resolution and a separate infrastructure bill. The budget blueprint would open the gate for Congress to later consider a separate, $3.5 trillion, 10-year bill for health, education and environment programs.
Nine centrist Democrats said Friday they would oppose the budget resolution until the House first approves their top priority: a $1 trillion package of road, railway and other infrastructure projects. In the face of solid Republican opposition, Democrats can lose no more than three defectors to pass legislation through the closely split chamber.
Late Sunday, the moderates issued a statement saying they still wanted a vote on final approval of the infrastructure bill to come ahead of the budget. They stopped short of saying they’d oppose Pelosi’s plan to initially move both measures forward together, suggesting the speaker’s move had bought some time yet left the battle unresolved…
When the House returns this month, it will also vote on revised legislation addressing federal oversight of many states’ election laws, Pelosi wrote, another Democratic priority. That measure seems likely to pass the House but get bogged down in the 50-50 Senate…
WATCH: The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate passed a massive infrastructure bill and immediately kicked off debate on a $3.5 trillion spending blueprint for President Biden's key priorities on climate change, universal preschool and affordable housing https://t.co/XJlqp4kouY pic.twitter.com/Td7gRlukbs
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 16, 2021
Biden administration approves largest increase to food assistance benefits in SNAP program history https://t.co/rRK1O35rWV
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 15, 2021
… U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to announce Monday morning that benefit amounts for the program, formerly known as food stamps, will rise an average of 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels. First reported by the New York Times and confirmed by a spokeswoman at the Agriculture Department, average monthly benefits, which were $121 per person before the pandemic, will rise by $36 under the new rules.
The increase is based on an update to the algorithm that governs the Thrifty Food Plan, which tracks the cost of 58 different categories of groceries needed to provide a budget-conscious diet for a family of four.
“Plain and simple, this is totally a game-changing moment,” said Jamie Bussel a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropy focused on health. “The changes have enormous potential to reduce, and potentially eliminate, child hunger and poverty in this country. This will reflect much more accurately what food actually costs in communities.”…
Opinion: It’s liberals who are the tough-minded realists about policy https://t.co/t2nOuy8k6r
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 16, 2021
… In 2021, it’s liberals who want citizens, politicians included, to look rigorously at the evidence. It shows how many public programs make a substantial, positive difference in the lives of Americans, especially kids from low-income families. It’s conservatives who prefer ideology and moralism to the facts.
The spending that liberals favor these days — much of it included in President Biden’s American Families Plan that Democrats are pushing through Congress — is for government interventions that have been tested and proved…
Just a few particulars from the report written by Arloc Sherman, Ali Safawi, Zoë Neuberger and Will Fischer:
“When children grew up in a household receiving additional cash benefits, their academic achievement increased on a lasting basis.”
“When elementary and middle school students received access to free school lunches, their academic performance improved.”
“When children had access to quality pre-kindergarten at age 4, they were likelier to enter college on time.”…
There is no rational reason the child poverty rate needs to be as high as it is in the United States. The percentage of children living in poverty in this country based on market incomes is not all that different from the share in most of 18 other rich countries. But an analysis of pre-pandemic data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — that is, from before the covid-fueled surge of social spending — found that when public policies relating to taxes and benefits were taken into account, the United States ranked dead last.
We should do better. With smart policies, we can…
Monday Morning Open Thread: Laws Must Be Made, Children Must Be FedPost + Comments (113)