For 194 years the Black Press of America has consistently “pleaded our own cause” for freedom, justice, equality, and empowerment. Today we continue to plead that all elected officials do all that is politically possible to act and to ensure progress that significantly improves the quality of life for our families, communities, and businesses.
This is not about being a conservative, liberal, progressive or someone who is indecisive in the middle of today’s political spectrum. These two historic bills are about moving the nation forward. – said Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.
Now is the time for the Congress of the United States to act and to vote to pass President Joe Biden’s bold and consequential legislations: Build Back Better Framework and Infrastructure bills.
This is not about being a conservative, liberal, progressive or someone who is indecisive in the middle of today’s political spectrum. These two historic bills are about moving the nation forward. Time is out for bickering and further debate. The time to enact is now.
Decades ago, when The Honorable Congressman Adam Clayton Powell (D, New York) would repeatedly say, “Keep the faith, baby,” it was a call to action for Black America and for the U.S. Congress.
Here are the pertinent racial equity facts concerning Biden’s legislative agenda that must be voted on now without delay:
President Biden believes we must invest in our country and communities of color by creating good jobs, lowering costs that hold back families, and building an economy where not just the wealthy get ahead.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will create good-paying, union jobs by fixing our roads and bridges, replacing lead pipes, installing electric vehicle charging stations, and more.
The Build Back Better Agenda invests in our people and gives working people in this country a fair shot to build a decent middle-class life, succeed, and thrive – instead of trying to get by.
There would be the largest federal investment in public transit in history to modernize transit.
The plan makes health care costs and premiums more affordable by extending the American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) cost savings, closing the Medicaid gap for low-income Americans, letting Medicare negotiate drug prices to lower prescription drug costs, and helping seniors access critical health care services like dental, vision, and hearing care.
Extending the ARP’s cost savings would help 360,000 Black people and 730,000 Latinos save an average of $50 per person per month and allow 328,000 uninsured Black people and 580,000 uninsured Latinos to gain coverage.
The plan also adds dental, vision, and hearing coverage for the more than 5.8 million Black people and 5 million Hispanic people on Medicare and closes the Medicaid gap for low-income Americans. Caring for your family would be more affordable by extending the Child Tax Credit; making childcare and elder care more affordable; helping people, especially women, get back into the workforce; and making sure every 3- and 4-year-old in America can go to preschool.
The President is working to get both pieces of legislation across the finish line, and the American people are demanding exactly the kind of investment that President Biden and Democrats are proposing. These are investments that will create jobs, lower taxes, and make life more affordable for working families.
Keeping the faith is not about patience or procrastination. It is about the courage to act, vote, and to enact legislation in real time. That time is now. Congress finally must now vote to approve Biden’s Build Back Better and Infrastructure bills. The future of our communities and the future of the nation are at stake.
Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).
