The big question we had was how does the THRIVE (Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy) Agenda, compare to President Biden’s American Jobs Plan?
The answer? It’s far bigger and better! Tell your legislators! Tell Joe!
Activists, and even Sen. Manchin (!!!) have stated that Biden’s plan falls short of the revolutionary change that needs to take place to “build back better.” While the Washington Post reported that Biden proposed spending $2.25 trillion on the first part of his jobs and infrastructure plan—with the two-part package possibly topping $4 trillion—the THRIVE Act announced Monday by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and other progressives would invest $10 trillion over a decade. Ben Beachy, director of the Sierra Club’s Living Economy Program stated “To match the scale of the crises we face, piecemeal solutions won’t suffice. By investing $1 trillion per year, we can end the unemployment crisis by putting over 15 million people to work in projects that deliver cleaner air, healthier homes, and a down payment on racial, economic, and climate justice.“
Action #1: Call your legislators
Minimal script to Reps. and Senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen.[___] to know that I want [him/her] to support the [Rep.-H.Res.104 /Sen.-S.Res.43] – the THRIVE Agenda to ensure a bold, inclusive recovery, and democracy reform which includes legislation such as H.R. 1 and H.R. 51, removing the filibuster as necessary. (Add anything that makes this legislation personal for you, your family or friends, if you can.)
[Rep. check here. Brownley and Carbajal have NOT signed on yet. Senator-check here. Padilla IS a cosponsor, Feinstein hasn’t signed on yet.]
Contacts
- Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
- or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email.(CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
- Senator Feinstein: email, DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
- and Senator Padilla: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (310) 231-4494, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 981-9369, SD (619) 239-3884
- Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com
Action #2: Contact Joe
Minimal script to President Biden: Dear President Biden, thank you for creating a bipartisan alliance with the American people, and not the GOP legislators, who no longer even pretend to care about democracy or our best interests. The American Jobs Plan is exciting, but we need you to go bolder. Instead of restoring us to where we were before COVID-19, we need a recovery package that is as big and interconnected as the crises we face. The THRIVE agenda can take our country past our historic inequities towards a green economic recovery that will positively reshape America’s future, long after this pandemic is forgotten. (Add anything that makes this legislation personal for you, your family or friends, if you can.)
Contact our president here.
Action #3: Share this information far and wide. #TimeToThrive
Downloadable tweets with graphics, sample texts, images for instagram, shareable videos and talking points, all here for your use.
Deeper Dive
(Indivisible) “The COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 460,000 people and resulted in tens of millions of people out of work. Additionally, rising economic inequality has made working families more vulnerable, and the intensifying climate crisis has compounded threats to our health, economy, and livelihoods.
With the climate crisis continuing to worsen, the economy entering a deep recession, and the need for racial justice and healing being felt as acutely as ever, the case for Green New Deal-style policymaking is stronger than ever before. We need a bold new vision to create millions of good jobs, repair and revive our economy, and address the overlapping crises of mass unemployment, racial injustice, public health, and climate change. The THRIVE Resolution demands that the recovery fight be grounded in eight pillars — from creating millions of union jobs while averting climate catastrophe to investing in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities — THRIVE’s top priorities are the families and communities who share the dream of a good life: free from worry about meeting basic needs, with reliable and fulfilling work, and a dignified and healthy standard of living.“
(Indivisible) “Biden’s Recovery proposal, the American Jobs Plan, has clearly been influenced by THRIVE. The scope of AJP is THRIVE! This is a direct result of constituents calling their MOC, who in turn have pressured Biden to put out a plan to match THRIVE.
While the scope of Biden’s AJP is very similar to THRIVE it falls short in two important ways:
- The AJP must be bigger! The size of AJPs investment is not nearly big enough; we need big, bold investments in order to create the jobs needed to address mass unemployment, racial injustice, a public health crisis, and climate change and the AJP falls deeply short of this goal. The AJP must meet the size of THRIVE by investing $1 trillion a year for the next decade.
- The AJP must move fast! We must pass recovery quickly, both because it is urgently needed and because there is a short political window during which we can pass bold legislation. We know that Biden likes to talk about bipartisanship, in fact he did it during his Recovery speech, and there is a real danger that Democrats fall into this trap. It is our job to remind Democrats that not one single Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan. We absolutely cannot waste time negotiating with Republicans who will never vote for final passage of a Recovery bill and will only waste time at the expense of the American people who are suffering. We must let Congress know that you want recovery now!
Along with the recovery bill, democracy reform must be our first priority. Without a functional democracy in which everyone is included and represented, we can’t achieve any of our other progressive goals. All the issues we care about deeply, including health care, immigration, racial justice, climate change and more, cannot be addressed until we have a democracy that is responsive to the people, not the powerful and wealthy. This issue is even more urgent as Republican state legislatures seek to circumvent federal laws and pass anti-democracy voter suppression laws across the country. While the House has already passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, Democrats must pledge to pass H.R. 51, the D.C. Statehood bill, as quickly as possible.“
The THRIVE Agenda.
(here)(fact sheet)(Bill summary)(Economic Impacts report)(Sierra Club: 10-year plan to build back better)(Sierra Club – Executive Summary)(Sierra Club – Economy-wide investment)(Sierra Club – Env., labor and equity)(Sierra Club – Why Standards matter – Jobs breakdown)(Data for Progress – Voters Support the THRIVE Agenda)(Videos)
- Pillar One: Creating millions of good jobs with access to unions. We must invest in the following to create jobs that ensure safe workplaces, family-sustaining wages, and protection of workers’ rights to organize:
- Millions of secure jobs with healthcare benefits
- Upgrading our broken infrastructure
- Building clean and affordable public transit
- Replacing lead pipes for clean water
- Expanding wind and solar power
- Increasing jobs, wages, and benefits for the work of caring for children, the elderly, and the sick
- Modernizing buildings to cut pollution and costs
- Protecting and restoring wetlands, forests, and public lands
- Supporting family farmers, agricultural workers, and rural communities
- Creating high-skill, high-wage manufacturing jobs by expanding manufacturing of clean technologies
- Pillar Two: Building the power of workers to fight inequality.
- It’s time to give all workers access to unions and penalize employers that try to stop union organizing.
- We must expand union representation for all workers, particularly women and people of color.
- THRIVE ensures that millions of new clean energy jobs, existing low-wage jobs, and frontline jobs become the family-supporting jobs that everyone deserves.
- Pillar Three: Investing in Black, Brown and indigenous Communities
- The THRIVE Agenda calls for 40 percent of investment to go to communities that have been excluded, oppressed, and harmed by unjust practices to support job creation, pollution reduction, and climate resilience.
- Investments will be focused on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities; working-class communities; and communities facing environmental injustice.
- It’s key that the most affected communities have the power to democratically plan, implement, and administer these projects.
- Pillar Four: Strengthening and healing the nation-to-nation relationship with sovereign Native Nations
- It is long past due that the United States government recognized the sovereignty of Native Nations.
- The THRIVE Agenda calls for strengthening Tribal sovereignty and enforcing Indian treaty rights.
- THRIVE includes the codification of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent so that Indigenous peoples can determine the outcome of all decision-making that affects them.
- Pillar Five: Combating environmental injustice and ensuring healthy lives for all.
- No one should have to live in a community marred by toxic air, polluted water, or the associated health hazards.
- Everyone deserves clean water. Everyone deserves clean air. These are not controversial ideas, and yet Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working-class communities across the country have consistently been denied these basic rights and sacrificed to the fossil fuel industry.
- We must curtail air, water, and land pollution; replace lead pipes; and address the health and environmental impacts of toxic pollution.
- Under the THRIVE Agenda, communities affected by environmental injustice will receive the vital health and mental health resources they need, as well as access to healthy food, schools, hospitals, child care, senior care, and care for individuals with disabilities.
- Pillar Six: Averting climate and environmental catastrophe.
- The plan will keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid increasing climate disasters and build climate resilience to keep communities safe.
- New investments will spur the largest expansion in history of clean, renewable energy, emissions reductions, climate resilience, and sustainable resource use.
- We will transform the agriculture sector so that family farms and farming communities are fairly paid for sustainable, domestic production of healthy, nutritious food.
- Pillar Seven: Ensuring fairness for workers and communities affected by economic transitions.
- Workers impacted by the pandemic, climate change, and other economic shocks will receive guaranteed pay and benefits, including full pension, healthcare and early retirement, and equitable job placement in new industries.
- Communities impacted by economic transitions will not be left to wither but will be reinvigorated with investment in economic diversification; high-quality job creation; retooling and conversion of factories; and reclamation and remediation of closed facilities.
- Pillar Eight: Reinvesting in public institutions that enable workers and communities to thrive.
- The THRIVE Agenda will create new public institutions to strategically mobilize investments that tackle the interlocking crises of racial, economic, and climate injustice.
- As we rebuild vital public services and strengthen social infrastructure, new public institutions will help ensure universal access to critical resources.
- Democratic governance and accountability in these new public institutions will ensure equitable access to the investments of the THRIVE Agenda.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 