FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 22, 2021

PRESS CONTACT: [email protected] 

ON-THE-GROUND IN WISCONSIN: BUILD BACK BETTER AGENDA WOULD CREATE JOBS, LOWER COSTS FOR WISCONSIN FAMILIES

Washington, D.C. — Together, the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will deliver critical investments Wisconsin families need to build our economy and our communities back better than ever. The President’s full legislative agenda will invest in our nation’s future by lowering costs of essentials such as child care and prescription drugs for working families, fixing our nation’s broken infrastructure, tackling the climate crisis, cutting taxes for 50 million working and middle class families nationwide, and creating millions of good-paying jobs. 

Wisconsinites are united in the need to get the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal across the finish line: 

“These bills put working people first by creating millions of good-paying union jobs, building stronger roads and bridges, better transit, and making it easier for workers to join a union,” said John Schmitt, President/Business Manager, Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council. “We are organizing every day to ensure Congress sends this legislation to the President’s desk, so that we can finally build back better for working people in Wisconsin.”

“We know our state is stronger when everyone has the opportunity to work and care for themselves and their family,” said Angela Lang, Executive Director of BLOC. “Wisconsinites strongly support the Build Back Better Agenda, which will provide direct support for millions of Wisconsin children and their families, cut costs of essentials like child care, and create thousands of good-paying jobs through investments in our care economy.”

“We are in a situation where a lot of the old industries that we thought we could rely on are just not there, and we need to create new jobs and new opportunities,” said Jeremy Gragert, Wisconsin Outreach Consultant National Wildlife Federation, Eau Claire City Council Member. “The renewable energy sector building these solar panels in Wisconsin and in the United States, actually building wind turbines here, actually producing that energy here, that is going to be such an important part of it. We need to pass a bold, equitable Build Back Better Act because there are a lot of people left behind by our economy right now and the state of our environment and climate change is really a huge problem that affects so many people and affects so many industries and communities. The impacts of climate change are slowly eating away at our economy and our health and our environment. We need to act now.”

Key highlights of how the Build Back Better Agenda would boost working and middle class families in Wisconsin:

• Ease the burden on the middle class by lowering the costs of everyday essentials:
  • Save the average Wisconsin family with two children $7,931 a year on child care.
  • Cut prescription drug costs for Wisconsinites by up to 55 percent for some drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies.
• Create millions of good-paying jobs nationwide, including:
  • Create more than 80,000 clean energy jobs in Wisconsin.
  • Create 24,401 home care jobs in Wisconsin.
• Build an economy that rewards work, not wealth:
  • Extend the increased Earned Income Tax Credit for 320,000 low-wage workers in Wisconsin.
• Tackle the climate crisis while bringing down utility costs for Wisconsinites
  • Invest $5 billion in energy efficiency in Wisconsin.
  • Save the average Wisconsin family $500 a year on their energy bills by 2030.
• Make historic investment’s in Wisconsin’s infrastructure:
  • Deliver $5.2 billion for federal-aid highway apportioned programs and $225 million for bridge replacement and repairs to address the over 1,949 miles of highway and 979 bridges in poor condition in Wisconsin.
  • Improve healthy, sustainable transportation options, including by investing $592 million in public transit and $79 million to expand Wisconsin’s network of EV charging stations. 
  • Bring high-speed internet access to the at least 318,000 Wisconsinites who lack access to broadband.
  • Invest $841 million in Wisconsin to eliminate lead pipes and provide clean drinking water to Wisconsinites who lack it.
• Ensure families with children can make ends meet:
  • Provide a tax cut to the families of 1,158,000 Wisconsin kids who benefit from the expanded Child Tax Credit.
  • Establish paid family leave for Wisconsinites.
• Expand access to quality, affordable health care:
  • Expand Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing coverage for the 649,000 Wisconsin seniors currently enrolled in Medicare.
• Expand Medicaid and provide health insurance coverage to 31,000 Wisconsinites who were not previously eligible for coverage.
• Provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrant families, including:
  • For the 75,000 undocumented immigrants living in Wisconsin.

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