How Congress can support middle-class Americans: A conversation with Senator Mark Warner

Over the past year and a half, the Future of the Middle Class Initiative at Brookings (FMCI) has delved into what it means to be middle class. They spoke to middle-class Americans around the country before and during the pandemic in a series of focus groups and individual interviews. They launched the Middle Class Monitor, an interactive that compiles data on middle-class well-being over time. They even developed solutions to some of the reoccurring issues they heard in the focus groups and saw in the data in “A New Contract with the Middle Class.” In February, we heard from mayors on what they can do to help the middle class at the local level, and now we will hear a federal perspective.

On March 22, FMCI hosted Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) for a moderated discussion with Brookings Senior Fellow Camille Busette about how the middle class can be supported at the federal level. Warner and Busette explored some of the key issues and challenges facing policymakers and legislative efforts to help middle-class Americans.

Viewers submitted questions by emailing [email protected] or via Twitter using the hashtag #MiddleClassMonitor.

Request a free copy of “A New Contract with the Middle Class.”

Watch the other events in the series here:

• Event 1: “Reframing the narrative of the middle class: Real voices pre- and post-pandemic”
• Event 2: “How the American middle class is really doing: What the data tell us”
• Event 3: “Middle class well-being at the local level: What role can mayors play?”