This week, Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) sat down with the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) Director of the Center for Funding America’s Future Ben Ritz and Policy Director for PPI’s Center for New Liberalism Jeremiah Johnson for a Twitter Spaces livestream to discuss the new Inflation Action Plan released by the New Democrat Coalition. During the event, Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) joined the conversation to applaud Congressman Peters and PPI for their work on the blueprint.
“Clearly people are struggling with inflation. It’s something that every elected is hearing about, and we know about… We’re New Dems, we actually want to take these challenges on and do something about it so I decided to help constitute an inflation working group. We first brought in some people to hear about what was causing this problem … you know, we’re not going to solve this problem tomorrow, but we got a lot of ideas about what to do to go forward and make some progress,” said Rep. Peters.
“I think part of the part of the challenge has been that because we didn’t take those suggestions [from the New Democrat Coalition during the drafting of the American Rescue Plan], and some of the policies we put in place weren’t quite calibrated to the moment, which helped contribute to the situation we’re in now. And so I think that it’s a lesson that we should have listened to the New Dems in the past when we could, but it’s not too late to take their recommendations now to get the problem under control and put us in a better place for the future.” said PPI’s Ben Ritz.
“I just really appreciate both PPI’s efforts and Congressman Scott Peters’ efforts on this and the New Dems as well, which I used to be a Vice Chair of when I was in Congress,” said Governor Polis.
With inflation continuing to rise at a historically rapid pace, the New Democrat Coalition released a 24-page action plan to tackle inflation and address supply chain issues that would provide much-needed relief for Americans. The plan would strengthen global supply chains and increase price competition by reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade, while also helping expand domestic supply by cutting onerous regulations that increase costs and making critical investments in scientific research and clean energy. In addition, the blueprint urges Congress to pass a reconciliation bill that reduces future budget deficits and presents ideas to make fiscal policy more responsive to macroeconomic needs.
Listen to the Twitter Space here:
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
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Media Contact: Tommy Kaelin; tkaelin@ppionline.org