The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is keeping up the pressure on President Biden and Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act and voting protections to save our democracy from coordinated attacks across the country.
The largest investment in people by the U.S. government in a generation is on the line in Washington, DC with the reconciliation package. The Build Back Better (BBB) Legislation is nowhere near what we need to fully address poverty and low-wealth in this nation. But it is an important step and will result in a massive investment in the people.
Yet a couple of Senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, are obstructing finalization of the BBB Legislation, and President Biden has not responded to requests for a meeting with representatives of the Poor People’s Campaign. Watch this powerful short video of members of the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign reading aloud a letter to President Biden asking him to meet with them and other members of the Poor People’s Campaign.
On November 10, Poor People’s Campaign leaders across the country held press conferences at Senate offices to challenge our Senators to invest in the people and hold the line by making sure that all of the lifesaving elements and programs are included in the plan:
- 6 million 3- & 4-year-olds will benefit from universal pre-K
- 4 million people get health insurance by expanding Medicaid
- Extends Child Tax Credit for millions of parents
- $250 million saved by giving government power to negotiate drug prices
- 4-week paid family and medical leave
On November 15, Poor People’s Campaign leaders and partners from a number of states went to Washington, DC to greet returning members of Congress with a Moral Monday: Build Back Better From the Bottom Up! rally in front of the Supreme Court followed by a nonviolent direct action.
This is a critical period for our movement and this country, and we can have an impact through a coordinated, strategic arc of actions which will show our power and make a critical, final push to hold the line for some of our Senators, and to call on other Senators to not obstruct the will and needs of the people.
The recent actions are building toward the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington that will take place on June 18, 2022. This event is envisioned by Poor People’s Campaign National Co-Chairs Rev. William Barber II and Rev. Liz Theoharis as “a declaration, not a demonstration” and “a generationally transformative moment”.
United for Peace and Justice is excited to be a national mobilizing partner with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. With organizing committees in 45 states, the Poor People’s Campaign is building a moral fusion movement to address the five interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism and a distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. Sign up for the Poor People’s Campaign and find your State Committee here.
Forward Together; Not One Step Back!
