Congress returns to funding, Build Back Better attempt

Jan 31, 2022
Talk of a Supreme Court nomination is on everyone's lips these days, but Congress has an economic laundry list to address.
With Congress back in session, Democrats will want another try at passing at least portions of the Build Back Better agenda.
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Eli Lilly announced a cap on insulin costs. But why is insulin so expensive in the first place?

Jan 28, 2022
In other developed countries, affordability is far less of an issue.
One in four diabetics has rationed insulin because of its cost.
Photo illustration: Julia Schiff/Marketplace. Photo: Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

Why it's so hard to pass climate crisis legislation in the U.S.

Jan 27, 2022
The American political system makes it easier to block change than to create it, explains Shannon Osaka of Grist.
The Build Back Better Bill is stalled, but it's not the first time that legislation aimed at tackling climate change has been sidelined.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

One year in, Biden's clean energy and climate agenda are in the balance

Jan 19, 2022
The bipartisan infrastructure bill’s passage was a win for the administration’s climate agenda, but many think Biden's commitment to climate policy lies at the feet of the Build Back Better bill.
President Joe Biden speaks during the World Leaders' Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on Nov. 1, 2021.
Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images

The increased child care tax credit has ended — for now

Jan 17, 2022
The payments typically came through about this time, but not this month. Some families had come to depend on that extra money.
A protestor and child in Brooklyn urge Congress to make the expanded child tax credit permanent in July.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for ParentsTogether

Apparent death of Build Back Better has climate scientists searching for a solution

Dec 20, 2021
"We don't really have a plan without the Build Back Better Act to stop the warming," a UC Santa Barbara professor says.
The Build Back Better bill includes more than $550 billion in environmental initiatives, like tax credits for companies and consumers that install solar panels.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

How government spending can affect inflation

Dec 20, 2021
What's the link between government funding for aid and new programs and that 6.8% inflation rate?
Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said Thursday that he had agreed to support the Biden administration's climate change package.
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Congress' budget gurus may slow down Biden’s Build Back Better plan

Nov 11, 2021
Zach Moller talks about what a Congressional Budget Office score is and how it affects legislation.
Roosevelt Forward CEO Felicia Wong says President Biden and congressional Democrats may be able to implement their economic priorities through laws they already passed, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.
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