In February 2021, the month after President Joe Biden took office, unemployment was 6.3%, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that it would take until the end of 2023 for the nation to reach 4.6% unemployment. In March 2021, Congress passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to stimulate the economy, which had withered during the coronavirus pandemic. The plan extended unemployment benefits and provided stimulus payments to individuals. It increased food stamp benefits and significantly expanded the Child Tax Credit, putting money in parents’ pockets. It provided grants to small business and local, state, and tribal governments. It provided money for schools, housing, and healthcare.
I felt a huge sense of relief last night about the infrastructure bill, and excitement that there is agreement between the so called “warring” factions of Democrats to advance the Build Back Better bill. Thank you once again Heather for laying things out so clearly.
Now, it’s time to get Voting rights done! Pedal to the metal - all hands on deck!
Finally, thanks to you, Heather, I am seeing clearly the exaggerated drama in all the press coverage of Democrats. We need to be wary of the press’s addiction to drama. Slow and steady hard work does not make for great headlines, just for good legislation for our country!
The position of holier-than-coal Manchin, Later-Day-Saint Romney, and a few other senators that current Senate filibuster rules are sacrosanct is hooey. Most laughable is the argument that jiggling with the filibuster would open the door for future Republican manipulation. Huh? Were there in 2025 a Republican president and a turkey-chin McConnell Senate, the existing filibuster guidelines would be ‘Garlanded’ in an immediate turkey trot.
Phooey with this supercilious, unprincipled debate. Passage of the imperative John Lewis voting rights bill can be accomplished by a slight wiggle in the current filibuster rules—simply get a lockstep Democratic vote in the Senate that, as it relates to election voting rights, the filibuster does not apply. Protecting the right of Americans to vote demands no less.
The service for General Colin Powell this morning was a beautiful gathering of family and long time friends. It was great to see the Bidens, the Obamas, the Bushs, and Secretary Clinton on the other side of front row from the family. Described by his son as a great lion with a big heart. One euloger quote Gen. Powell: "We need to treat everyone with a little more kindness than we think they deserve because we never know what is going on." We need great examples of the best of humanity like Gen. Powell as role models for all of us in courage and decency.
Take a bow, Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer. Now, let’s get moving on voting rights and, as it appears to be necessary, getting rid of the filibuster once and for all.
My daughter just sent me an article by Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian titled "Why does the media keep saying this election was a loss for Democrats?" They have been talking about these Dem bills the same way. Then The NY Times has an article titled "Trapped in a pandemic funk: Millions of Americans can't shake a gloomy outlook." Maybe because the media is making things worse! Or at least making the wrong things bad and ignoring the truly bad things.
Coupled with the jobs report, the infrastructure bill being signed into law is huge. Build Back Better up next, it will pass in some form and then on to voting rights. All in FIRST YEAR of the Presidency. Whatever the former and his co-conspirators try to do, the passage of this legislation and it being signed into law starts a new momentum of having the sausage on our plates instead of the excruciating view of watching any link being made for months. Geez. I’m going to follow my promise of short efficient messaging going forward….
Yay! I’ll take another side on my plate for Thanksgiving dinner and then on to the fiesta of securing our voting rights and our vote counting. The filibuster is yet another grinch that will fail to deny. Pass the gravy, please.
Every member of congress and every person in this country who has worked for this, believes in this, should be shouting this news from the rooftops at the top of our lungs until we are to hoarse to shout. This is progress!! This is the role of the government. To get sh!t done! #thankyoubrandon
An honour to be first commenter. Makes up for not sleeping. Such good news for America. Now to get the second one passed but it sounds like something will get passed eventually. Awesome. Some possibility that the filibuster will at least be done away with for voting rights will help too.
Waking to the news that the infrastructure bill passed was very cheering. Reading this letter gave me another chuckle (#ThankYouBrandon!) because I always love when a mean moniker is adopted and appropriated by the victims to whom it is directed (gay being an obvious one). I am grateful for the 13 Rs that voted for it and all I can do is sigh about the 6 Ds who belong to the "gonna hold my breath until I turn blue" wing of the party. Maybe somewhere along the line they'll figure out that the media attention they are getting (and which, perhaps, they crave?) is deleterious to the health of the party to which they adhere. I admit that, the older I get, the more I see this kind of passion--as much as I applaud it--as a youth-related factor. What Manchin and Sinema are doing is far more nefarious than the happy-radicalism of the Progressives in the House, because they are clearly enjoying being able to muck up the works and I also suspect are raking in dark money into their PACs by doing so.
The states with R governors are going to do with this bill what they did with the For the People Act: they are going to claim it as belonging to THEM. They are going to claim that THEY are responsible for the jobs, economic pushes, and improved infrastructure in their states. And the ignoramuses who make up their electorate are going to believe them because they are allergic to the idea of thanking anyone for being generous and inclusive. It's what narcissists do. They expropriate and they don't feel generosity or thanks.
So maybe #ThankYouBrandon needs to be spread far and wide. And maybe Dems need to start contradicting their opponents more and holding back less. Which is a page from the Progressive handbook I would like to see.
Thank you for this post (and all you previous posts). This news rates as one of the 3 best stories in the past 12 months, right up there with Nov 7, 2020, when Pennsylvania was called for Biden, and Jan 20, 2021, when he was peacefully inaugurated as our 46th President. Your letter today highlights good news, not just for Joe Biden or for the Democratic Party, but for the American people. Way to go, Joe!!
#ThankYouBrandon indeed. Is that the big bold headline across U.S. media? Including Fox News? Forgive my brief flight of fancy. What we will definitely see soon are Republican members of Congress sending out news releases announcing that thanks to their hard work for constituents, long overdue road, bridge, and other projects costings millions of dollars have been funded. #ThankYouHypocrisy.
After a very tough and in some ways withering week, this is a nice coda to it. Thank you Heather. I hope the D's fist-pump and huzzah this appropriately and highlight the monies that flow to red-states and the jobs this will create there. While BBB is nationwide, it needs to be heralded in the states where NOTHING the former did helped their situation... I assume that is not a hard set of data-points to find and contrast...
I am impressed with the handful of R's that were clear-thinking enough to detangle this vote from their politics, but big boos and hisses to D's that found some bizarre reason to vote no. In many ways I consider MYSELF a progressive, but with our potentially-small window of getting shi* done: there is simply no excuse for not voting for progress in an ambitious agenda such as Biden's. It needs solidarity. It deserves solidarity.
Are these same 'leaders' going to object to Biden's appointments? Or is it just about money and fiscal-priorities? Tik-tok. It is not the time to make statement/obstruction votes on principles that simultaneously thwart whatever progress can be had. We all witnessed (tragically) how much sausage the R's could stuff into one term with a 'leader' who cared not-a-rip about policy: they were kids in a candy-shop and took EVERYTHING they could and worked hard to dismantle the State Department and the IRS and the Interior Department. We have the chore of putting Humpty back on the wall. There should be no conscientious objectors here.
Our democracy is safer today - not safe by any means, but safer. By passing an infrastructure bill using what sounds like good old fashion politics, Speaker Pelosi and President Biden have done what the do-nothing neo confederates feared the most: they passed a bill that will benefit all Americans, and so will influence their votes. Huzzah! Onward to BBB and voter's rights!
Happy dance and glory hallelujah…and the economy is recovering—who can ask for anything more?…I just want that energetic young woman who inspires from her kitchen table to be the Chief Democratic Strategist really soon. Someone offer her a great salary and all the resources she needs to commandeer the whole 2022 election year! 🙏
A big “thank you” to all our representatives who persisted and remained determined…and got the Infrastructure bill done. Congratulations!!! I think this legislative victory, and others that are sure to follow, will mark a major turning point for our country and our democracy. Well done! Keep going! The best defense of democracy is to prove that it works. Dr Richardson likes to say that “building things takes time”. So now we keep building. Pass the social infrastructure and Voting Rights bills and then do a good job implementing them. Again, these very significant achievements don’t come easily and much hard work remains but with patience, hope, trust and more effort… good things will happen that will unite our country and show the world what a truly great country is capable of accomplishing. Bravo!!!
I felt a huge sense of relief last night about the infrastructure bill, and excitement that there is agreement between the so called “warring” factions of Democrats to advance the Build Back Better bill. Thank you once again Heather for laying things out so clearly.
Now, it’s time to get Voting rights done! Pedal to the metal - all hands on deck!
Finally, thanks to you, Heather, I am seeing clearly the exaggerated drama in all the press coverage of Democrats. We need to be wary of the press’s addiction to drama. Slow and steady hard work does not make for great headlines, just for good legislation for our country!
The position of holier-than-coal Manchin, Later-Day-Saint Romney, and a few other senators that current Senate filibuster rules are sacrosanct is hooey. Most laughable is the argument that jiggling with the filibuster would open the door for future Republican manipulation. Huh? Were there in 2025 a Republican president and a turkey-chin McConnell Senate, the existing filibuster guidelines would be ‘Garlanded’ in an immediate turkey trot.
Phooey with this supercilious, unprincipled debate. Passage of the imperative John Lewis voting rights bill can be accomplished by a slight wiggle in the current filibuster rules—simply get a lockstep Democratic vote in the Senate that, as it relates to election voting rights, the filibuster does not apply. Protecting the right of Americans to vote demands no less.
The service for General Colin Powell this morning was a beautiful gathering of family and long time friends. It was great to see the Bidens, the Obamas, the Bushs, and Secretary Clinton on the other side of front row from the family. Described by his son as a great lion with a big heart. One euloger quote Gen. Powell: "We need to treat everyone with a little more kindness than we think they deserve because we never know what is going on." We need great examples of the best of humanity like Gen. Powell as role models for all of us in courage and decency.
Take a bow, Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer. Now, let’s get moving on voting rights and, as it appears to be necessary, getting rid of the filibuster once and for all.
My daughter just sent me an article by Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian titled "Why does the media keep saying this election was a loss for Democrats?" They have been talking about these Dem bills the same way. Then The NY Times has an article titled "Trapped in a pandemic funk: Millions of Americans can't shake a gloomy outlook." Maybe because the media is making things worse! Or at least making the wrong things bad and ignoring the truly bad things.
Coupled with the jobs report, the infrastructure bill being signed into law is huge. Build Back Better up next, it will pass in some form and then on to voting rights. All in FIRST YEAR of the Presidency. Whatever the former and his co-conspirators try to do, the passage of this legislation and it being signed into law starts a new momentum of having the sausage on our plates instead of the excruciating view of watching any link being made for months. Geez. I’m going to follow my promise of short efficient messaging going forward….
Yay! I’ll take another side on my plate for Thanksgiving dinner and then on to the fiesta of securing our voting rights and our vote counting. The filibuster is yet another grinch that will fail to deny. Pass the gravy, please.
Woohoo!
P.S. Nancy Pelosi is a force. She rocks.
Every member of congress and every person in this country who has worked for this, believes in this, should be shouting this news from the rooftops at the top of our lungs until we are to hoarse to shout. This is progress!! This is the role of the government. To get sh!t done! #thankyoubrandon
An honour to be first commenter. Makes up for not sleeping. Such good news for America. Now to get the second one passed but it sounds like something will get passed eventually. Awesome. Some possibility that the filibuster will at least be done away with for voting rights will help too.
Waking to the news that the infrastructure bill passed was very cheering. Reading this letter gave me another chuckle (#ThankYouBrandon!) because I always love when a mean moniker is adopted and appropriated by the victims to whom it is directed (gay being an obvious one). I am grateful for the 13 Rs that voted for it and all I can do is sigh about the 6 Ds who belong to the "gonna hold my breath until I turn blue" wing of the party. Maybe somewhere along the line they'll figure out that the media attention they are getting (and which, perhaps, they crave?) is deleterious to the health of the party to which they adhere. I admit that, the older I get, the more I see this kind of passion--as much as I applaud it--as a youth-related factor. What Manchin and Sinema are doing is far more nefarious than the happy-radicalism of the Progressives in the House, because they are clearly enjoying being able to muck up the works and I also suspect are raking in dark money into their PACs by doing so.
The states with R governors are going to do with this bill what they did with the For the People Act: they are going to claim it as belonging to THEM. They are going to claim that THEY are responsible for the jobs, economic pushes, and improved infrastructure in their states. And the ignoramuses who make up their electorate are going to believe them because they are allergic to the idea of thanking anyone for being generous and inclusive. It's what narcissists do. They expropriate and they don't feel generosity or thanks.
So maybe #ThankYouBrandon needs to be spread far and wide. And maybe Dems need to start contradicting their opponents more and holding back less. Which is a page from the Progressive handbook I would like to see.
Thank you for this post (and all you previous posts). This news rates as one of the 3 best stories in the past 12 months, right up there with Nov 7, 2020, when Pennsylvania was called for Biden, and Jan 20, 2021, when he was peacefully inaugurated as our 46th President. Your letter today highlights good news, not just for Joe Biden or for the Democratic Party, but for the American people. Way to go, Joe!!
Hallelujah! A good news night! Thank you, Heather for waiting until the votes were counted before writing to us. You're a star!
#ThankYouBrandon indeed. Is that the big bold headline across U.S. media? Including Fox News? Forgive my brief flight of fancy. What we will definitely see soon are Republican members of Congress sending out news releases announcing that thanks to their hard work for constituents, long overdue road, bridge, and other projects costings millions of dollars have been funded. #ThankYouHypocrisy.
After a very tough and in some ways withering week, this is a nice coda to it. Thank you Heather. I hope the D's fist-pump and huzzah this appropriately and highlight the monies that flow to red-states and the jobs this will create there. While BBB is nationwide, it needs to be heralded in the states where NOTHING the former did helped their situation... I assume that is not a hard set of data-points to find and contrast...
I am impressed with the handful of R's that were clear-thinking enough to detangle this vote from their politics, but big boos and hisses to D's that found some bizarre reason to vote no. In many ways I consider MYSELF a progressive, but with our potentially-small window of getting shi* done: there is simply no excuse for not voting for progress in an ambitious agenda such as Biden's. It needs solidarity. It deserves solidarity.
Are these same 'leaders' going to object to Biden's appointments? Or is it just about money and fiscal-priorities? Tik-tok. It is not the time to make statement/obstruction votes on principles that simultaneously thwart whatever progress can be had. We all witnessed (tragically) how much sausage the R's could stuff into one term with a 'leader' who cared not-a-rip about policy: they were kids in a candy-shop and took EVERYTHING they could and worked hard to dismantle the State Department and the IRS and the Interior Department. We have the chore of putting Humpty back on the wall. There should be no conscientious objectors here.
Our democracy is safer today - not safe by any means, but safer. By passing an infrastructure bill using what sounds like good old fashion politics, Speaker Pelosi and President Biden have done what the do-nothing neo confederates feared the most: they passed a bill that will benefit all Americans, and so will influence their votes. Huzzah! Onward to BBB and voter's rights!
Happy dance and glory hallelujah…and the economy is recovering—who can ask for anything more?…I just want that energetic young woman who inspires from her kitchen table to be the Chief Democratic Strategist really soon. Someone offer her a great salary and all the resources she needs to commandeer the whole 2022 election year! 🙏
A big “thank you” to all our representatives who persisted and remained determined…and got the Infrastructure bill done. Congratulations!!! I think this legislative victory, and others that are sure to follow, will mark a major turning point for our country and our democracy. Well done! Keep going! The best defense of democracy is to prove that it works. Dr Richardson likes to say that “building things takes time”. So now we keep building. Pass the social infrastructure and Voting Rights bills and then do a good job implementing them. Again, these very significant achievements don’t come easily and much hard work remains but with patience, hope, trust and more effort… good things will happen that will unite our country and show the world what a truly great country is capable of accomplishing. Bravo!!!