Rep. Norcross: America needs to build back better | Opinion
NJ.com
August 23, 2020
COVID-19 continues to rage, our economy is officially in a recession and across the nation people are standing up to injustice and crying out for change. Clearly, America needs new leadership. Our country must have a comprehensive strategy to not only defeat COVID-19, but address the economic crisis and growing racial disparities. Joe Biden has a plan to do it, which is why he and Kamala Harris are the steady, principled leaders that this moment demands.
Even if the Coronavirus “magically disappears,” the systemic racial, social and economic inequalities that the pandemic has exposed will continue to drag us down until we take action. That’s why Biden, as the Democrats’ presidential nominee, has put forward a “Build Back Better” plan to restart the economy and address directly the defining issues of our times. It starts by unifying Americans in our shared fight against COVID-19, then mobilizes workers in service of four great national challenges: reclaiming our manufacturing base, investing in a clean energy infrastructure, building a caregiving and education workforce, and ensuring racial equity throughout the economy.
The plan is designed to create millions of good-paying jobs, address inequalities and provide American workers with the tools they need to emerge from today’s crises stronger and more resilient. These are big, bold ideas. We can look to Congress to see what they are likely to mean in practice. I’ve been working with my colleagues to lay the groundwork for them so a Biden administration can hit the ground running.