Dear Joe Manchin: Think Build Back Better Is Expensive? Wait Till You Hear the U.S. Defense Budget.

The main objection to President Biden’s Build Back Better plan by Republicans and so-called “moderate” Democrats is the price tag—$1.75 trillion over 10 years. If that sounds like a lot of money, it is—until you compare it to the boys and their toys.

We don’t need a rocket scientist to tell us why women’s jobs aren’t recovering: a lack of childcare and universal pre-kindergarten, a lack of paid family leave. The Build Back Better Act would go a long way toward fixing that.