1. Build Back Better
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The House passage of President Biden’s Build Back Better investment agenda is a historic cause for thanks. (Read our statement about it here.) Many millions will benefit for years to come, with better jobs, care, education, housing, and protection from disaster. So celebrate – and then get back to work getting it through the Senate! Tweet this.
Tweet this. |
2. The Expanded Child Tax Credit
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Congress must act to keep it going beyond this year – but the Child Tax Credit expansion included in the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in March has lifted millions of children out of poverty and helped millions of Americans put food on the table. |
3. Tenacity
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Advocates for paid family and medical leave, including the National Partnership for Women and Families, saw their long-sought initiative dropped from the Build Back Better package. They fought back, tenaciously and effectively. It’s back in the House bill. They’re not the only tenacious ones (see item 4 below). There may be more ups and downs, but we are so grateful for their unflagging work – the future lies with them.
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4. Immigrant Advocates
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Too many groups to mention individually, but they are brave, tireless, well-informed, effective, and generous. It is a privilege to learn from them and to support their efforts to build a more just, more creative, and more prosperous America. |
5. Care Workers
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Whether caring for children, the aging, or people with disabilities or illness, millions work at low pay, often with no benefits. Home care workers often cannot get enough hours to earn an adequate wage. Their work is essential, and they offer it with skill and a generous spirit. We’re grateful for them, and for the extra pay they will start getting when Build Back Better is signed into law. |
6. Together for Thanksgiving
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More than 53 million Americans are expected to travel for this year’s holiday. That’s a 13 percent increase compared to last year – the largest one-year increase since 2005. That’s a far cry from last year, when COVID-19 forced many of us to stay home for a “Zoomgiving.” |
7. Miracle of Modern Medicine
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As of this writing, 193 million Americans have been fully vaccinated – that’s 53.4 percent of all Americans. There are new drugs that appear to offer success in treating COVID. And experts say the pandemic could be evolving into an endemic – something we’ll still have to deal with for years to come, but without the high level of hospitalizations and deaths. |
8. Justice for January 6
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As of this writing, 126 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol, injuring hundreds of police officers, have pleaded guilty to their crimes. More importantly, a select House committee investigating the insurrection is delving deeper and deeper into what the Trump Administration knew and when it knew it. Meanwhile, a special grand jury recently empaneled in Atlanta reportedly will investigate whether former President Trump illegally pressured Georgia election officials to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election in that state. (It’s a democracy if you can keep it!) |
9. More than 500,000 letters
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Advocates from across the nation have been sending emails to their representatives and senators all year – urging votes for affordable housing, the expanded Child Tax Credit, immigration reforms, child care, paid leave, health care, and more. They’ve called and demonstrated too. They are making a difference. (It’s a democracy if you can keep it!) |
10. You
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We at CHN are grateful for the member groups that comprise and define our Coalition and the work they do, the hundreds of local, state, and national organizations that are part of our Save for All campaign, our COVID 19 Policy Group, and the hundreds of thousands of individuals who support CHN through their actions, petitions, signatures, calls and emails to Congress. We are also truly thankful for your generous donations. Some come anonymously through Donor Advised Funds, so we can’t thank you directly. But please know how grateful we are. We could not take on this important and monumental work without this amazing variety of support. |
