Major bills passed by the Biden Administration and a Congress with a very small Democratic majority:
- American Rescue Plan (COVID-19 Stimulus Package) (2021)— $1.9 trillion for stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefits to keep people afloat during the pandemic recession.
- Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill) (2021) — $550 billion for roads, bridges, broadband, clean water, and electric grid infrastructure improvements.
- CHIPS and Science Act (2022)— $52 billion for research on semiconductors and other scientific research.
- Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022): Expands background checks for purchasers under 21, funds state crisis intervention programs, further criminalizes arms trafficking and straw purchases, and closes the “boyfriend loophole”.
- Honoring our PACT Act (2022) — $300 billion for healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.
- Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — $739 billion to extend healthcare subsidies for 3 years and support efforts to address climate change; also, enables Medicare to negotiate some drug prices, increases enforcement of income taxes (especially on the rich), imposes a 15% minimum tax on corporations, imposes a 1% tax on stock buybacks, and reduces the national budget deficit.
All of these bills will help ordinary Americans immensely.
These major bills were passed despite lock-step opposition from virtually every Republican and very small Democratic majorities in Congress. None of this would have happened without winning those two Georgia Senate seats in January 2021. And a lot more could happen if Democrats win Senate seats this November in PA (John Fetterman), OH (Tim Ryan), WI (Mandela Barnes), NC (Cheri Beasley), and FL (Val Demmings) and we are able to keep a reasonable Democratic majority in the House. We could improve and extend these bills as well as enact election reform, justice and police reform, etc.
Besides the Democratic Party, here are a few national groups working on voter registration and getting voters to turn out to vote:
These two lists were originally posted as comments. Thanks to cminus and John Rudden for suggesting I put them in a regular post.