Here's what's been crafted on Build Back Better, from the White House:
- Universal Preschool for all 3- and 4-year Olds:
Expand access to free high-quality preschool for more than 6 million
children. This is a long-term program, with funding for six years.
- Affordable High Quality Child Care:
Limit child care costs for families to no more than 7% of income, for
families earning up to 250% of state median income. It enables states to
expand access to about 20 million children. Parents must be working,
seeking work, in training or taking care of a serious health issue. This
is a long-term program, with funding for six years.
- Affordable,
High-Quality Care for Hundreds of Thousands of Older Americans and
People with Disabilities in Their Homes and Communities:
Strengthening an existing program through Medicaid and ending the
existing backlog and improving working conditions for home care workers
- Expanded Child Tax Credit:
Extend for one year the current expanded Child Tax Credit for more
than 35 million American households, with monthly payments for
households earning up to $150,000 per year. Make refundability of the
Child Tax Credit permanent.
Investments in Clean Energy and Combatting Climate Change
- Clean Energy Tax Credits ($320 billion):
Ten-year expanded tax credits for utility-scale and residential clean
energy, transmission and storage, clean passenger and commercial
vehicles, and clean energy manufacturing.
- Resilience Investments ($105 billion):
Investments and incentives to address extreme weather (wildfires,
droughts, and hurricanes, including in forestry, wetlands, and
agriculture), legacy pollution in communities, and a Civilian Climate
Corps.
- Investments and Incentives for Clean Energy Technology, Manufacturing, and Supply Chains ($110 billion):
Targeted incentives to spur new domestic supply chains and
technologies, like solar, batteries, and advanced materials, while
boosting the competitiveness of existing industries, like steel, cement,
and aluminum.
- Clean Energy procurement ($20 billion):
Provide incentives for government to be purchaser of next gen
technologies, including long-duration storage, small modular reactors,
and clean construction materials.
Affordable Care for Millions of Hardworking Americans
- Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credits:
Extend the expanded Affordable Care Act premium tax credits through
2025. Experts predict that more than 3 million people who would
otherwise be uninsured will gain health insurance. Also make Affordable
Care Act premium tax credits available through 2025 to 4 million
uninsured people in uncovered states.
- Allow Medicare to cover the cost of hearing. Establish a hearing benefit in Medicare, a crucial benefit to our seniors for a reasonable cost.
Bringing Down Costs, Reducing Inflationary Pressures, and Strengthening the Middle Class
- Housing: $150 billion investment in
housing affordability and reducing price pressures, including in rural
areas. Funds go towards building, preserving, and improving more than 1
million affordable rental and single-family homes, including public
housing, plus rental and down payment assistance.
- Education Beyond High School and Workforce Development:
Reduce costs and expand access to education beyond high school by
raising the maximum Pell grant, providing support to Historically Black
Colleges & Universities (“HBCUs”), Hispanic Serving Institutions
(HSIs), Minority Serving Institutions (“MSIs”), and Tribal Colleges and
Universities (“TCUs”), and investing in workforce development, including
community college workforce programs, sector-based training, and
apprenticeships.
- Earned Income Tax Credit for 17 Million Low-Wage Workers: Extend for one year the current expanded Earned Income Tax Credit for childless workers.
- Equity and Other Investments: Other targeted investments including maternal health, community violence initiatives, Native communities, disadvantaged farmers, nutrition, pandemic preparedness, supply chain resilience, and other areas.
It totals $1.75 trillion, with an additional $100 billion for improving the immigration system thru the Senate's reconciliation rules.
Clean energy and climate investments represent the largest single outlay at $555 billion.
Here's the video of President Biden announcing the framework.
Now, pass the damn bill (and the $1.2 trillion hard infrastructure bill)! If the Democrats do, it will be transformational, even if not everything everybody wanted. Let's hold the House and get at least 2 more Democratic Senators in 2022 and go for the rest!
