Listeners, every Thursday night during President Biden's first hundred days in office, I'm hosting a series of call-in specials called America, Are We Ready?

And we've been having such good discussions with our guests and with callers from across the country that we want to share them with you on this podcast feed.

So here's this past Thursdays, America, are we ready?

I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my Daily Politics Podcast from WNYC Studios. This is a Saturday special.

America, are we ready to build back better? That, again, is the Biden catchphrase for how he wants to restore the economy.

You've probably heard that before. He says build back better. And not just to pre-COVID levels, as the pandemic eventually eases, but better than before, he says, with more economic justice than before.

But can he and his policies really do it?

There is debate within the Democratic Party, and there is debate between Democrats and Republicans, of course.

Front and center right now is President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, as most of you know,

now being debated in Congress, and we'll talk about that.

But we'll go beyond that, too, to the larger structural inequalities that have been plaguing our country for a long, long time.

We have a very special guest to take your phone calls for the first half of the hour, and we'll bring them on right now. He is Congressman John Yarmouth of Kentucky,

Louisville, to be specific, and he is the chairman of the House Budget Committee, which, as

its name suggests, works on how much money the federal government will take in in taxes and how much it will spend.

So, Congressman, thanks for making yourself accessible to the public like this, and welcome to America.

Are we ready?

Thanks, Brian. Good to be with you tonight.

And Congressman, as some calls are coming in, I see you tweeted yesterday, a tale of two recoveries is emerging, but with the president's

American rescue plan, that's the COVID relief bill, we can create a stronger, more equitable

recovery.

So before we get to the president's plan, can you describe the tale of two recoveries that you

were referring to there?

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