[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 693 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 693

 Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to implement an agenda 
    to Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy 
                             (``THRIVE'').


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 15, 2020

  Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Booker, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Warren, Mrs. 
  Gillibrand, Mr. Udall, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Wyden, Mr. 
 Merkley, and Mr. Heinrich) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to implement an agenda 
    to Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy 
                             (``THRIVE'').

Whereas families and communities throughout the United States share similar 
        hopes and dreams of a good life that is free from worry about meeting 
        basic needs, with reliable and fulfilling work, a dignified and healthy 
        standard of living, and the ability to enjoy time with loved ones;
Whereas the United States faces the stress of multiple, overlapping crises--old 
        and new--that prevent the achievement of these fundamental human rights 
        and needs, in which the COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 180,000 United 
        States residents; tens of millions of United States workers remain 
        unemployed; rising economic inequality has made working families 
        vulnerable; tens of millions of individuals do not get the health care 
        they need; and intensifying climate change increases the threats to our 
        health, economy, and livelihoods;
Whereas these health, economic, and climate crises have magnified centuries-old 
        injustices, causing high rates of death and hardship among Black, Brown, 
        and Indigenous communities due to long-standing systemic racism--a fact 
        spotlighted by an emerging, multiracial movement to end violence against 
        Black people;
Whereas these crises are causing the inequitable workloads of women--
        particularly women of color--to grow, especially as women of color 
        overwhelmingly make up the essential workforce, bearing the weight of 
        the increased care needs of children, the elderly, and the sick;
Whereas, even before the COVID-19 crisis, many rural communities and independent 
        family farmers suffered from poverty, declining economic opportunity, 
        and alarming rates of farm bankruptcy, including loss of land from Black 
        farmers and the exploitation of Black, Brown, and Indigenous farmers 
        caused by predatory and racist public, private, and governmental 
        institutions and policies;
Whereas the root of our interlocking economic and environmental crises is 
        society's historical willingness to treat some communities and workers 
        as disposable;
Whereas it is necessary to counteract systemic injustice and value the dignity 
        of all individuals in order to address unemployment, pandemics, or 
        climate change and ensure the survival of the Nation and the planet;
Whereas the choices made in response to these crises will shape the United 
        States direction for the 21st century and beyond, offering an 
        opportunity to reshape our society to provide a good life for each of us 
        and for our children and grandchildren; and
Whereas the United States has the means to support fulfilling livelihoods for 
        millions of people--Black, Indigenous, Brown, Latinx, Asian/Pacific 
        Islander, White, immigrant, urban and rural, old and young, of many 
        faiths, genders, abilities, and talents--while working to heal harms, 
        protect communities, and invest in a future that fosters justice, not 
        crisis: Now therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to respond to 
        the crises of racial injustice, mass unemployment, a pandemic, 
        and climate change with a bold and holistic national 
        mobilization, an Agenda to Transform, Heal, and Renew by 
        Investing in a Vibrant Economy (``THRIVE'') (referred to in 
        this resolving clause as the ``Agenda''), to build a society 
        that enables--
                    (A) greater racial, economic, and gender justice;
                    (B) dignified work;
                    (C) healthy communities; and
                    (D) a stable climate; and
            (2) such Agenda shall be assessed upon its ability to 
        uphold its foundational pillars, including--
                    (A) creating millions of good, safe jobs with 
                access to unions by--
                            (i) investing in projects including--
                                    (I) upgrading our broken 
                                infrastructure to expand access to 
                                clean and affordable energy, 
                                transportation, high-speed broadband, 
                                and water, particularly for public 
                                systems;
                                    (II) modernizing and retrofitting 
                                millions of homes, schools, offices, 
                                and industrial buildings to cut 
                                pollution and costs;
                                    (III) investing in public health 
                                and care work, including by increasing 
                                jobs, protections, wages, and benefits 
                                for the historically unpaid and 
                                undervalued work of caring for 
                                children, the elderly, and the sick;
                                    (IV) protecting and restoring 
                                wetlands, forests, and public lands, 
                                and cleaning up pollution in our 
                                communities;
                                    (V) creating opportunities for 
                                family farmers and rural communities, 
                                including by untangling the hyper-
                                consolidated food supply chain, 
                                bolstering regenerative agriculture, 
                                and investing in local and regional 
                                food systems that support farmers, 
                                agricultural workers, healthy soil, and 
                                climate resilience; and
                                    (VI) developing and transforming 
                                the industrial base of the United 
                                States, while creating high-skill, 
                                high-wage manufacturing jobs across the 
                                country, including by expanding 
                                manufacturing of clean technologies, 
                                reducing industrial pollution, and 
                                prioritizing clean, domestic 
                                manufacturing for the aforementioned 
                                investments;
                            (ii) prioritizing the mobilization of 
                        direct public investments, while excluding 
                        false solutions that--
                                    (I) increase inequality;
                                    (II) privatize public lands, water, 
                                or nature;
                                    (III) violate human rights;
                                    (IV) expedite the destruction of 
                                ecosystems; or
                                    (V) decrease union density or 
                                membership;
                            (iii) driving investment toward real full 
                        employment, where every individual who wishes 
                        to work has a viable pathway to a meaningful 
                        and dignified job with the right to form a 
                        union, including by establishing new public 
                        employment programs, as necessary; and
                            (iv) subjecting each job created under this 
                        Agenda to high-road labor standards that--
                                    (I) require family-sustaining wages 
                                and benefits, including child care 
                                support;
                                    (II) ensure safe workplaces;
                                    (III) protect the rights of workers 
                                to organize; and
                                    (IV) prioritize the hiring of local 
                                workers to ensure wages stay within 
                                communities to stimulate economic 
                                activity;
                    (B) building the power of workers to fight 
                inequality by--
                            (i) reversing the corporate erosion of 
                        workers' organizing rights and bargaining power 
                        so that millions of new clean energy jobs, as 
                        well as millions of existing low-wage jobs 
                        across the economy, become the family-
                        supporting union jobs that everyone deserves, 
                        including by--
                                    (I) passing the bipartisan 
                                Protecting the Right to Organize Act;
                                    (II) repealing the ban on secondary 
                                boycotts;
                                    (III) requiring employer neutrality 
                                with regard to union organizing;
                                    (IV) ensuring that ``franchising'' 
                                and other corporate structures may not 
                                be used to hinder collective bargaining 
                                on a company-wide, regional, or 
                                national basis;
                                    (V) advancing sectoral bargaining 
                                in certain economic sectors; and
                                    (VI) ensuring that no workers are 
                                misclassified as ``independent 
                                contractors;''
                            (ii) expanding union representation for all 
                        workers; and
                            (iii) creating ladders of opportunity, 
                        particularly for women and people of color, to 
                        access registered apprenticeship and pre-
                        apprenticeship programs in communities of all 
                        sizes across the country;
                    (C) investing in Black, Brown, and Indigenous 
                communities to build power and counteract racial and 
                gender injustice by--
                            (i) directing at least 40 percent of 
                        investments to communities that have been 
                        excluded, oppressed, and harmed by racist and 
                        unjust practices, including--
                                    (I) communities of color;
                                    (II) low-income communities;
                                    (III) deindustrialized communities; 
                                and
                                    (IV) communities facing 
                                environmental injustice;
                            (ii) ensuring that investments in these 
                        communities enable--
                                    (I) the creation of good jobs with 
                                family-sustaining wages;
                                    (II) economic ownership 
                                opportunities that close the racial 
                                wealth gap;
                                    (III) pollution reduction;
                                    (IV) climate resilience;
                                    (V) small business support;
                                    (VI) economic opportunities for 
                                independent family farmers and 
                                ranchers; and
                                    (VII) the expansion of public 
                                services;
                            (iii) ensuring that affected communities 
                        have the power to democratically plan, 
                        implement, and administer these projects;
                            (iv) prioritizing local and equitable 
                        hiring and contracting that creates 
                        opportunities for--
                                    (I) people of color;
                                    (II) immigrants, regardless of 
                                immigration status;
                                    (III) formerly incarcerated 
                                individuals;
                                    (IV) women;
                                    (V) LGBTQIAP+ individuals;
                                    (VI) disabled and chronically ill 
                                individuals; and
                                    (VII) marginalized communities; and
                            (v) providing access to quality workforce 
                        training, including through registered 
                        apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships to 
                        ensure real pathways to good careers, including 
                        those that have historically been inaccessible;
                    (D) strengthening and healing the nation-to-nation 
                relationship with sovereign Native Nations, including 
                by--
                            (i) making systemic changes in Federal 
                        policies to honor the environmental and social 
                        trust responsibilities to Native Nations and 
                        their Peoples, which are essential to tackling 
                        society's economic, environmental, and health 
                        crises;
                            (ii) strengthening Tribal sovereignty and 
                        enforcing Indian treaty rights by moving 
                        towards greater recognition and support of the 
                        inherent self-governance and sovereignty of 
                        these nations and their members; and
                            (iii) promulgating specific initiatives 
                        that reflect the nuanced relationships between 
                        the Native Nations, including--
                                    (I) the confirmation by Congress 
                                that Tribal nations can exercise their 
                                full and inherent civil regulatory and 
                                adjudicatory authority over their own 
                                citizens, lands, and resources, and 
                                over activities within their Tribal 
                                lands;
                                    (II) the codification of Free, 
                                Prior, and Informed Consent as it 
                                relates to Tribal consultation; and
                                    (III) the implementation of the 
                                United Nations Declaration on the 
                                Rights of Indigenous Peoples, without 
                                qualification;
                    (E) combating environmental injustice and ensuring 
                healthy lives for all, including by--
                            (i) curtailing air, water, and land 
                        pollution from all sources;
                            (ii) removing health hazards from 
                        communities;
                            (iii) replacing lead pipes to ensure clean 
                        water is available to all;
                            (iv) remediating the cumulative health and 
                        environmental impacts of toxic pollution and 
                        climate change;
                            (v) ensuring that affected communities have 
                        equitable access to public health resources 
                        that have been systemically denied, which 
                        includes--
                                    (I) upgrading unhealthy and 
                                overcrowded homes, public schools, and 
                                public hospitals;
                                    (II) ensuring access to healthy 
                                food, mental health support, and 
                                restorative justice; and
                                    (III) investing in universal 
                                childcare, care for individuals with 
                                disabilities, senior care, and a robust 
                                care workforce; and
                            (vi) focusing these initiatives in Black, 
                        Brown, and Indigenous communities that have 
                        endured disproportionately high death rates 
                        from COVID-19 due to higher exposure to air 
                        pollution and other cumulative health hazards 
                        as a result of decades of environmental racism;
                    (F) averting climate and environmental catastrophe, 
                including by--
                            (i) contributing to a livable climate and 
                        environment for today and for future 
                        generations, including by--
                                    (I) staying below 1.5 degrees 
                                Celsius of global warming;
                                    (II) building climate resilience to 
                                keep communities safe; and
                                    (III) ensuring sustainable resource 
                                use;
                            (ii) deploying investments and standards in 
                        the electricity, transportation, buildings, 
                        manufacturing, lands, and agricultural sectors 
                        to spur the largest expansion in history of 
                        clean, renewable energy, emissions reductions, 
                        climate resilience, and sustainable resource 
                        use;
                            (iii) transforming the power sector in 
                        order to move the country, by not later than 
                        2035, to carbon pollution-free electricity that 
                        passes an environmental justice screen to 
                        prevent concentrating pollution in Black, 
                        Brown, and Indigenous communities;
                            (iv) prioritizing materials and parts that 
                        meet high labor, environmental, and human 
                        rights standards throughout the supply chain;
                            (v) supporting sustainable, domestic 
                        production of healthy, nutritious food that 
                        pays independent farmers and ranchers a fair 
                        price for their land stewardship; and
                            (vi) ensuring that funding under this 
                        Agenda goes to workers and communities affected 
                        by the economic and environmental crises, not 
                        to corporate fossil fuel polluters;
                    (G) ensuring fairness for workers and communities 
                affected by economic transitions by--
                            (i) guaranteeing that workers and 
                        communities in industries and regions in 
                        economic transition due to COVID-19, climate 
                        change, and other economic shocks receive--
                                    (I) stable wages and benefits, 
                                including full pension and healthcare;
                                    (II) early retirement offerings;
                                    (III) crisis and trauma support; 
                                and
                                    (IV) equitable job placement; and
                            (ii) investing in transitioning areas to 
                        support--
                                    (I) economic diversification;
                                    (II) high-quality job creation;
                                    (III) community reinvestment;
                                    (IV) retooling and conversion;
                                    (V) reclamation and remediation of 
                                closed and abandoned facilities and 
                                sites;
                                    (VI) child and adult care 
                                infrastructure; and
                                    (VII) funding to shore up budget 
                                shortfalls in local and State 
                                governments; and
                    (H) reinvesting in public sector institutions that 
                enable workers and communities to thrive by--
                            (i) rebuilding vital public services and 
                        strengthening social infrastructure in cities 
                        and counties, healthcare systems, schools, the 
                        postal service, and other services;
                            (ii) investing in equitable public 
                        education opportunities, including career and 
                        technical education pathways that prepare 
                        youth--especially girls; Black, Brown, and 
                        Indigenous students; students with 
                        disabilities; students from low-income 
                        families; and other students from marginalized 
                        groups--for high-quality jobs of the future, 
                        and state of the art technology and schools, so 
                        that from the beginning students are prepared 
                        to transform society and preserve democracy;
                            (iii) investing in the workers who provide 
                        care to children, the elderly, and communities 
                        burdened by neglect;
                            (iv) creating new public institutions, 
                        inspired by and improving upon New Deal-era 
                        institutions, to ensure universal access to 
                        critical resources and to strategically and 
                        coherently mobilize and channel investments, in 
                        line with the above priorities, at the scale 
                        and pace that these times require; and
                            (v) coupling this institutional renewal 
                        with democratic governance and accountability 
                        to correct the systemic misallocation of 
                        resources and representation that prevents 
                        families and communities from meeting 
                        fundamental human needs and pursuing fulfilling 
                        lives.
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