While not a traditional State of the Union message, President Biden's speech to a pandemic- limited portion of Congress tonight (9 p.m. EDT) will be historic nonetheless.
First, consider the visual of having two women -- Vice President Harris and Speaker Pelosi -- seated behind the President, representing a power shift at the highest level of government.
Second, consider the seismic shift in the conception of the role of government, following decades of shaving principles and goalpost- moving to accommodate Republicans. Having already signed the American Rescue Plan to help bring us back from the pandemic and with ramifications for sharply reducing child poverty, tonight's speech will feature two more pieces of his transformational agenda: the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. Here are some facts about the latter:
Add at least four years of free education. Investing in education is a down payment on the future of America. As access to high school became more widely available at the turn of the 20th Century, it made us the best-educated and best-prepared nation in the world. But everyone knows that 12 years is not enough today. The American Families Plan will make transformational investments from early childhood to postsecondary education so that all children and young people are able to grow, learn, and gain the skills they need to succeed. It will provide universal, quality-preschool to all three- and four- year-olds. It will provide Americans two years of free community college. It will invest in making college more affordable for low- and middle-income students, including students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and institutions such as Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs). And, it will invest in our teachers as well as our students, improving teacher training and support so that our schools become engines of growth at every level.
Provide direct support to children and families. Our nation is strongest when everyone has the opportunity to join the workforce and contribute to the economy. But many workers struggle to both hold a full-time job and care for themselves and their families. The American Families Plan will provide direct support to families to ensure that low- and middle-income families spend no more than seven percent of their income on child care, and that the child care they access is of high-quality. It will also provide direct support to workers and families by creating a national comprehensive paid family and medical leave program that will bring the American system in line with competitor nations that offer paid leave programs. The system will also allow people to manage their health and the health of their families. And, it will provide critical nutrition assistance to families who need it most and expand access to healthy meals to our nation’s students – dramatically reducing childhood hunger.
Extend tax cuts for families with children and American workers. While the American Rescue Plan provided meaningful relief for hundreds of millions of Americans, too many families and workers feel the squeeze of too-low wages and the high costs of meeting their basic needs and their aspirations. At the same time, the wealthiest Americans continue to get further and further ahead. The American Families Plan will extend key tax cuts in the American Rescue Plan that benefit lower- and middle-income workers and families, including the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. In addition to making it easier for families to make ends meet, tax credits for working families have been shown to boost child academic and economic performance over time. The American Families Plan will also extend the expanded health insurance tax credits in the American Rescue Plan. These credits are providing premium relief that is lowering health insurance costs by an average of $50 per person per month for nine million people, and will enable four million uninsured people to gain coverage.The Administration proposes funding these investments through reforms to the tax system to ensure that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. Everything is spelled out in detail at the link above.
This is a smart, progressive government already taking shape in the first 100 days. The policies are wildly popular. How popular?
Americans broadly back the big-ticket spending proposals that have defined President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office, a variety of recent polls show.
Surveys show many more Americans approve than disapprove of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill Biden signed into law in March — by far his most significant legislative victory to date.
Polls also find Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan is already popular with majorities or pluralities of respondents.
As he turns the page on his first 100 days on Thursday, Biden is gearing up to unveil yet another massive spending package, this one aimed at addressing family-related issues.
The momentum needs to keep going.
