The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 provides major reinvestments in our country through infrastructure, education, and wage growth to increase opportunity for all. The People’s Budget is a down payment on a brighter future for all Americans, ensuring every family struggling to make ends meet has a fair shot at the American Dream.
The People’s Budget commits $1 trillion in infrastructure spending overall to transform our country’s crumbling roads, bridges, and facilities into a 21st century network, creating jobs and improving economic opportunities in the process. This includes billions for water lines nationwide - and $765 million specifically for Flint, Michigan - to replace toxic pipelines and provide needed health, education, and other services for residents exposed to lead. Families should never have to worry about whether their water is safe to drink, or their roads are safe to drive on.
Access to equitable education opportunities is key to ensuring future generations are prepared for success. From pre-school through college, every student deserves the right to high-quality affordable education. The People’s Budget invests in our students by providing robust early learning opportunities, effective public schools for all students, and debt-free college.
Now is the time for Congress to remove the barriers that have held down wages for working Americans. The People’s Budget creates 3.6 million good paying jobs to push our economy back to full-employment, which will provide the necessary economic conditions to spur across-the-board wage growth for hardworking Americans. It empowers working families, protects collective bargaining, and seeks to close the pay equity gap. It also increases funding for worker protection agencies to crack down on wage theft, combat overtime abuses, and safeguard workers’ retirement savings.
Pentagon spending has doubled over the last decade at the expense of investments in working families. The People’s Budget responsibly ends operations in Afghanistan and brings our troops home. It is the only budget proposal that eliminates the Overseas Contingency Operations (war funding). It focuses Pentagon spending on modern security threats instead of Cold War-era weapons and contracts, reduces contracting out and invests in a massive job creation program that will help workers make a just transition into civilian work.
It reduces baseline military spending, down-sizes the Pentagon, requires a full Pentagon audit, invests in non-military manufacturing and decommissions our Cold War-era nuclear weapons infrastructure, while protecting veterans benefits.
The People’s Budget also increases investments in diplomacy, sustainable development, and humanitarian assistance to address the ongoing crises in Syria and Iraq.
Full Budget documents are below
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