Build Back Better Plan

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on Build Back Better, this week, Democrats are continuing to make important progress toward finalizing President Biden's Build Back Better plan, and we remain confident that a final deal is within reach.

When Democrats first set out to pass historic legislation to boost our economy and invest in everyday Americans, we knew that the task wouldn't be easy. The challenges that our country faces are manifold and they are severe--from the hardship of raising a family to securing a good-paying job, to affording something as basic as healthcare and the cost of prescription drugs.

Tackling these issues head-on was sure to be an immense challenge. Doing big things in Congress is always hard. But we didn't choose elected office just to pursue the easy things. We came here to do the hard things, the important things, the things that will impact Americans--working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, those struggling to get into the middle class and those struggling to stay there--that will impact those people for generations.

That is what these negotiations have been about: doing the hard work to deliver something big for the American people.

Nobody--nobody--is going to get everything they want, but we all know we need to keep our promise to the American people.

We need to tackle the climate crisis head-on, and the programs we are trying to enact will empower us to meet the President's emission goals.

We need to help working parents and give every child in America a chance to succeed in school and in life, and programs being discussed will help improve countless of lives.

And we need, I believe, to strengthen vital services, like Medicare-- relied on by millions of Americans--and to make healthcare more affordable. I believe this is so important, and we are working to get it done.

Democrats will continue fighting until we are able to pass this transformational legislation. The progress of last week illustrated how, if we stick together, work towards finding that legislative sweet spot, then we can succeed.

That is worth a few hard days. In fact, it is worth many hard days. We have some more work to do, but we remain committed to forging ahead until we reward the trust the American people have placed in us.

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