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21st Century New Deal For Jobs - In the News
21st Century New Deal for Jobs
In the News
Progressive lawmakers lay out alternative infrastructure plan
(5/22/2017) Published in The Hill by Melanie Zanona
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) will lay out its own infrastructure proposal this week, staking out a position ahead of a legislative debate over transportation that is expected to heat up later this year.
The effort, spearheaded by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), attempts to paint a clear contrast with President Trump’s infrastructure vision by calling for direct public investment in roads, bridges and other public works, as opposed to providing “corporate giveaways” to spur private-sector investment.
Progressives In Congress Call For $2 Trillion In Infrastructure Spending
(5/25/2017) Published in Huffington Post by Igor Bobic
WASHINGTON ? Progressive members of Congress on Thursday unveiled their own plan to overhaul the nation’s crumbling roads, bridges and waterways ? an ambitious proposal that dwarfs plans offered both by President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats.
The so-called “21st Century New Deal for Jobs” invests $2 trillion over the next 10 years to make badly needed repairs to the nation’s transportation, water, energy and information systems. It contains several progressive priorities, including the use of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage standards, maintenance of racial and gender equity in hiring, focus on low-income communities and carbon-free energy production.
Politico: Morning Transportation
(5/25/2017) Published in Politico by Brianna Gurciullo & Tanya Snyder
MY WAY FOR THE HIGHWAY: Today, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a coalition of left-of-center organizations will announce their drive for a progressive infrastructure package that would “prioritize public investment over corporate giveaways and selling off public goods.” That includes plans to introduce a concurrent resolution stating that taxpayers shouldn’t “subsidize billionaires … that will profit from privatizing” infrastructure. Read their white paper here.
With proposed Trump cuts, chances fade for a bipartisan infrastructure deal
(5/25/2017) Published in The Washington Post by John Wagner
On Thursday, a group of liberal Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups staged a rally outside the Capitol where they blasted Trump’s cuts and ticked off 10 principles that they will insist are part of any plan going forward. Among them: “Prioritize public investment over corporate giveaways and selling off public goods.”
Positive impact in African American community is key to Democratic infrastructure jobs plan
(5/25/2017) Published in the San Francisco Bay View by Kelsea Wilkerson
Washington, D.C. – Today, May 25, congressional Democrats and a coalition of progressive organizations representing millions of Americans kicked off the long-anticipated infrastructure fight, launching a massive campaign to create millions of new jobs – and invest billions in much-needed projects in African-American communities across the country.
Pointing to preventable disasters like the Flint water crisis, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Millions of Jobs Coalition announced a congressional resolution that lays out 10 principles that must be true of any jobs plan – especially prioritizing public investment for African Americans who have for too long been left behind by our economy and public policies.
Dems & Coalition Kick Off Fight for Infrastructure Jobs
(5/25/2017) Published by Big Island Now
Congressional Democrats and a coalition of progressive organizations kicked off the long-anticipated infrastructure jobs fight today, Thursday, May 25, launching a massive campaign for public investment in millions of new jobs in Hawai‘i and across the nation.
Pointing to the nationwide infrastructure crises—like O‘ahu’s failing water system, which has over 400 water main breaks a year—the grassroots Millions of Jobs Coalition teamed up with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to unveil a plan calling for millions of jobs to be created by investing $2 trillion in public infrastructure over 10 years—including $35 billion to repair critically damaged water systems in Hawai‘i and across the country.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus Proposes a Major Investment in Affordable High-Speed Internet
(5/26/2017) Published in Free Press by Amy Kroin
On Thursday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus announced a plan that would help change all of that. The CPC’s sweeping infrastructure plan would, among other things, invest $150 billion in expanding high-speed internet access, with the goal of wiring every U.S. home. The plan would create new networks for rural and low-income communities; just as significant are the tax credits it would provide to boost adoption by reducing the price people pay for existing internet-access options.
“We commend these progressive legislators for proposing policies that would create new jobs and new economic opportunity by narrowing the digital divide and making affordable internet access a reality for millions of Americans,” said Free Press Action Fund President and CEO Craig Aaron. “By bringing high-speed broadband internet to places it isn’t available, more people will be able to find jobs, start their own businesses and get an education.”
In the current political climate, the CPC’s plan is swimming upstream against the Trump administration’s regressive budget proposal and infrastructure plan. But it lays out a bold roadmap for something so basic: ensuring that everyone in the United States has the opportunity to access the internet at home.
Could RI Progressives & Trump Team Up to Cleanup Lead in Providence Water?
(5/27/2017) Published in GoLocalProv by GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle
"With elevated lead levels in Providence due to old water pipes: Democrats Kick Off Massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Campaign in Rhode Island & Congress," announced the grassroots Millions of Jobs Coalition along with Congressional Progressive Caucus members on Friday, unveiling 10 principles that they say "must be true of any jobs plan that passes into law."
The Progressive Democrats are pushing to ensure direct investment by the federal government -- and not privatization, which they say is at the heart of the Trump plan.
Trump, Congress head for fight over tolls
(5/28/2017) Published in The Hill by Melanie Zanona
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), in a warning about the impacts of Trump’s plan, introduced an alternative infrastructure proposal this week that would pour federal money directly into transportation projects.
Democrats' infrastructure proposal contrasts with Trump's plan, budget
(5/31/2017) Published in USA Today by Heidi M. Przybyla
According to a fact sheet included in Trump’s proposed 2018 budget, his plan would leverage private-sector spending to focus federal dollars on “transformative” projects that are priorities at both the federal and regional level. It is also likely to include a controversial provision for adding tolls to existing interstate roads.
Last week the Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced a resolution outlining the progressive alternative. “Our plan offers a path toward a fairer economy in which we can all thrive,” the coalition said in a statement. “It is proof that our country’s complex infrastructure challenges can be guided by a simple principle: public money should go toward the public good,” it said.
Contractors Associations Urge Adoption of Justice’s Roads Plan
(5/31/2017) Published in The State Journal by Rusty Marks
On May 25, U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-California, and 30 other representatives in the Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced House Concurrent Resolution 63 as an alternative to President Donald Trump’s proposed national infrastructure plan. Trump has not officially offered a plan to address the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, but based on a plan released during his campaign, the president would largely privatize infrastructure construction and allow tax credits to those who invest in infrastructure projects.
Washington Insider: New Infrastructure Funding Fight
(6/1/2017) Published in DTN's The Progressive Farmer
In addition, the tolling proposal could further add fuel to critics’ claim that the White House infrastructure initiative will amount to a “corporate giveaway” for wealthy private investors. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, in a warning about the impacts of Trump’s plan, “In reality, President Trump and Congressional Republicans are pushing a trillion-dollar corporate giveaway that would create tax incentives for Wall Street to privatize our roads, bridges, sanitation systems, and utilities, while raising tolls, fees, and bills — all through taxpayer subsidies,” the CPC outline says.
Organize Florida activists protest Trump infrastructure plan
(6/1/2017) Published in The Ledger by Christopher Guinn
The group of 20 activists said instead members of Congress and voters should back a $2 trillion infrastructure plan proposed by Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Interviews for Resistance: New Progressive Coalition Calls for “Millions of Jobs”
(6/1/2017) Published in In These Times by Sarah Jaffe
We need to get out in front of this. We need to put out an agenda that is pro-family, that is pro-worker, that is pro-community, and is pro-opportunity,” which is what we did. We worked with the Congressional Progressive Caucus to do just that.
Group endorses Congressional Progressive Caucus infrastructure plan
(6/1/2017) Published in ABC12 by Elisse Ramey
They want to see people support the Congressional Progressive Caucus' (or CPC) resolution.
It is a push for the "21st Century New Deal for Jobs," which supporters say would look out for the middle and lower class.
"He wants to give the private corporations the will and the...to profit off public interest and in doing that, you know, us working class Americans we will be left out and the wealthy will get richer," said Timothy Abdul-Matin, MADE's outreach director.
Trump’s Infrastructure Plans Are Empty Promises Not Backed By Money
(6/5/2017) Published in Common Dreams by Hunter Blair & Josh Bivens
This clear need is why we at EPI have been such enthusiastic backers of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) plan to boost infrastructure investment. The CPC investment plan is up to the scale of the problem, and it confronts the need to make these investments head-on, without accounting gimmicks or magical thinking about where the money for these investments will come from.
(6/5/2017) Published in The Washington Post by Amber Phillips
“I'm not expecting a lot, because you can just tell on the way he's framing this,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the author of a resolution of the 10 must-haves for an infrastructure plan Democrats would support. (I'll save you a click: Privatizing highways doesn't make the top 10.) “If his lead item is privatizing air traffic controllers, that tells me he doesn't have an infrastructure plan.”
Dems lose appetite for deal with Trump on infrastructure
(6/6/2016) Published in The Hill by Melanie Zanona
Several groups of Democrats have signaled that they would prefer to move ahead with their own infrastructure plans, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), which recently outlined a $2 trillion proposal in an effort to create a contrast with Trump.
“In reality, President Trump and Congressional Republicans are pushing a trillion-dollar corporate giveaway that would create tax incentives for Wall Street to privatize our roads, bridges, sanitation systems, and utilities, while raising tolls, fees, and bills — all through taxpayer subsidies,” the CPC outline says.