IFPTE Urges House Passage of Infrastructure Bills That Will Make Historic Investments in American Jobs and Communities
As the House of Representatives prepared to consider the Build Back Better Act and the Senate-passed bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, IFPTE urged Representatives to vote yes on the “complementary bills that meet the needs of working people, support good-paying union jobs, strengthen our economy’s competitiveness and resiliency, and address immediate and future challenges that climate change presents.”
IFPTE’s letter to the House points to out that the Build Back Better Act, the budget reconciliation bill that has been negotiated in Congress over the last three months, includes IFPTE priorities because it “takes necessary federal action for clean energy and for domestic supply chains, invests significantly in childcare and early education, expands affordable housing, ensures year-round nutrition security for children, updates monetary penalties for labor law violations, protects immigrants who are a vital part of our communities and economy, and provides hearing benefits and affordable prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, and so much more.” The bill also includes progressive taxation policies that require corporations and the very high-income individuals to pay their fair share and provides tax relief for Americans by allowing the state and local tax (SALT) deduction for the middle class.
The letter also highlights the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act makes long-overdue investments in public infrastructure by including “a significant $550 billion in new infrastructure funding and includes necessary re-authorizations for surface transportation, water, and energy infrastructure.“
IFPTE’s letter also affirms support for allowing working people to use after-tax conversions into Roth employer-sponsored retirement accounts, a retirement savings option utilized by thousands of IFPTE members which would be eliminated under the current draft of the Build Back Better Act. While the wealthiest individuals should not be allowed to misuse this retirement savings option to avoid taxes, IFPTE will continue to work in the Senate to ensure this retirement savings option is not eliminated for IFPTE members and working Americans who want to ensure their retirement security.