August 11, 2021
CONTACT Adam Beddawi, ABeddawi@accesscommunity.org
Washington, D.C. – On Monday, the Senate released a $3.5 trillion budget resolution complete with its priorities for the upcoming budget reconciliation process. The resolution provides for several areas of interest for the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), including investments in health equity and pandemic preparedness, small business access to credit, investment, and markets, community development funds, environmental justice investments, and a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants.
The Senate will now work to turn this resolution into legislative text and pass the bill over to the House, where it will be considered along with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Over the next few weeks, NNAAC looks forward to working with our Congressional and coalitional partners on solidifying a bill that sets our nation on course to offer a stable and prosperous future for all.
Statement of Adam Beddawi, the D.C. Policy Manager of NNAAC, in response to the Senate passage of the budget resolution:
“For the National Network for Arab American Communities, this budget reconciliation affords a tremendous opportunity to articulate the policy interests of the Arab American and broader Middle Eastern and North African community. For too long, the MENA community has been left out of these policy discussions, which disparately impact the health outcomes, small business and entrepreneurial successes, and environmental conditions of our community. We look forward to working with our partners in Congress and civil society to ensure that the toplines provided for in this resolution offer our country and its people a stable and prosperous future”
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The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), a project of ACCESS, is a national consortium of independent Arab American community-based organizations. Established in 2004 as a project of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), NNAAC currently has 27 members in 11 different states. Our mission is the development of Arab American community-based nonprofit organizations that understand, meet the needs, and represent the concerns of Arab Americans at a local level, while also collectively addressing those issues at a national level. Our vision is to foster economic, cultural, social and political empowerment of Arab Americans. We are committed to working collaboratively to support the
development of strong and effective Arab American community-based organizations that mobilize locally and nationally to empower the Arab American community.