The Build Back Better Act is Great for Families and Great for America
As Latter-day Saints, we long for public policy that supports children and families, providing everyone with the opportunity to achieve self-reliance and to live in safety and peace. Last year, a record percentage of Latter-day Saints supported Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — including a plurality of LDS voters under 40 — because we knew that for too long middle and working class families and families in poverty have been asked to do more with less. The Build Back Better framework President Biden announced today turns the page, moving us to a country that rewards work, not wealth. Most notable are:
- The investments in early childhood education. Much of Utah is a childcare desert but 50% of all of Utah’s children under 6 have every available parent in the workforce.
- The investments in community college and technical training, including the expansion of the Pell Grant on which so many young Latter-day Saint families depend. As the work of the Perpetual Education Fund shows, even small investments in adult education can make a large difference in creating lifelong opportunities.
- The investments in climate protection, local power generation, and clean air. Those of us who live along the Wasatch Front are all-too-familiar with the consequences of “inversion days” and across the country we’ve faced the devastation caused by severe weather. These investments, which not only enable an expansion of clean, local power generation and create a Civilian Climate Corps but also expand domestic production of solar panels and wind turbines, creating good, middle-class jobs right here at home.
- The investments in home care. Many of us are caring for elderly relatives, and being able to afford quality help is a significant struggle.
- The tax cuts and “hand up” approach for the working class through an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit and the investments in affordable housing.
- Requiring the largest corporations and the wealthiest individuals to invest back in our country through a corporate minimum tax, a tax on corporate buybacks of stock, and increased enforcement against people trying to defraud our country.
These measures are so important we call on the House of Representatives to pass the Build Back Better Act as soon as possible and before it takes up the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. We also want to see Congress take up paid family and medical leave as a standalone measure this term. Finally, we note that Republicans on Capitol Hill — including Senators Romney, Lee, and Crapo and Representatives Owens, Curtis, Stewart, Moore, Biggs, and Simpson — have actively opposed these measures designed to “maintain and strengthen the family” and encourage our friends and neighbors to vote accordingly in the upcoming midterm elections.
