r/ezraklein

Encouraged by the momentum gathering behind a permitting overhaul, the Build America Caucus is rolling out its agenda for the next Congress.

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>Energized by progress on permitting and housing legislation this term, an “abundance”-inspired caucus is rolling out a detailed agenda for next term.

>Reps. Josh Harder(D-Calif.) and Celeste Maloy(R-Utah) launched the bipartisan Build America Caucus in 2025 with the goal of cutting red tape to build “faster, better, and cheaper,” specifically in housing and energy permitting. Congress overwhelmingly passed a sweeping housing affordability package in June, and senators announced a bipartisan permitting deal last week.

>“It’s clear that this has become — even beyond our caucus — a real governing philosophy, uniting factions across both parties all over the country,” Harder said in a Wednesday interview.

>Now the approximately 40-member caucus is rolling out a 95-page package of proposals, first shared with POLITICO, that outlines abundance-oriented proposals touching on health care, transportation, child care and research. On artificial intelligence, for example, the agenda proposes standardizing federal data sets in a format that is ready for AI-driven analysis.

>Whether the caucus will actually lead on legislation next term remains to be seen. Control of the House is still weeks from being determined in the midterms, but a wide-ranging bipartisan agenda is a rarity on an increasingly polarized Capitol Hill.

>The caucus is split evenly between Democratic and Republican members, who are primarily but not exclusively moderates. Maloy explained in a Thursday interview that the caucus is releasing its agenda before the midterm results are known to ensure that neither party sought an upper hand during negotiations.

>Liberal New York Times commentator Ezra Klein and Atlantic writer Derek Thompson proposed the “abundance” philosophy as a response to Democratic Party’s 2024 political woes. While it has faced some criticism from progressives and labor groups, the call to cut red tape has picked up momentum with several high-profile politicians, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a left-wing Democrat, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a GOP moderate.

>Maloy said she sees a role for the approach to governing in Republican politics, too.

>“I just think we need to get out of the mindset that all of the good ideas have already happened, and now we’re just fighting over the crumbs,” Maloy said. “I know ‘abundance’ is kind of a buzzword right now, but I do think we need to have an abundance mindset. I mean, in the United States, that’s how we always solve problems. We think big.”

What do you think about these proposals? What would Ezra Klein think about these proposals? Will any of these proposals become law? Exactly how influential is that abundance book going to turn out to be?

This is the list:

Bad Friends

Behind the Bastards

Call Her Daddy

Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

Crime Junkie

Dateline NBC

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Love Trapped

Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast

Morbid

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Pardon My Take

Pod Save America

Revisionist History

Rotten Mango

SmartLess

Stuff You Should Know

The Bill Simmons Podcast

The Daily

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Megyn Kelly Show

The Mel Robbins Podcast

The Shawn Ryan Show

The Toast

The Tucker Carlson Show

This American Life

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von

Am I going crazy ???

Relevance: Ezra often discusses how impordent houssing is. This article is about a particular form of high density houssing that may also help ameliorate Americans' social atomization.

I am about to finish Abundance. While I don’t agree with everything, I definitely found it thought-provoking. I appreciate all the effort that went into that research.

I am interested in finding other books that tackle the same issue: how to create a richer and healthier society for all of us. What are your recommendation?