House Passes Build Back Better Act

 

 

As expected (despite Qevin McCarthy's laughably lame efforts), the House just passed the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better human infrastructure bill:

The House of Representatives on Friday passed the largest expansion of the social safety net in decades, a $1.75 trillion bill that funds universal pre-K, Medicare expansion, renewable energy credits, affordable housing, a year of expanded Child Tax Credits and major Obamacare subsidies.

Now that it has cleared the House, President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act goes to the Senate, where it is likely to be revised in the coming weeks. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he aims to have the chamber pass the bill before Christmas. The House will need to vote on it again if the bill is altered. 

Here's what the act would accomplish:

• Universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds. In addition to helping millions of children prepare better for school, the benefit would enable parents of young children to return to the work force earlier.
• Capping childcare costs at 7% of income for parents earning up to 250% of a state’s median income.
• 4 weeks of federal paid parental, sick or caregiver leave.
• A year of expanded Child Tax Credits. During the past year, these credits have raised households with more than 3 million children out of poverty, and cut overall child poverty in America by 25%.
• Extended pandemic-era Affordable Care Act subsidies. So far this year, these subsidies have increased ACA enrollment by more than 2 million.
• New hearing benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, including coverage for a new hearing aid every five years.
• A $35 per-month limit on the cost of insulin under Medicare, and a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 per year.
• $500 billion to combat climate change, largely through clean energy tax credits. This represents the largest ever federal investment in clean energy.
• Raising the State and Local Tax deduction limit from $10,000 to $80,000.

The Congressional Budget Office released its scoring of the impact of the bill on the deficit (which no one cares about unless a Democrat is in the White House):

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on Thursday released its full cost estimate of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill, projecting the measure would add $160 billion to the national debt over the next decade.

The CBO reported the measure would raise more than $1.2 trillion in the form of increased IRS crackdowns on tax cheats, higher taxes and other increased revenues but that overall spending on a myriad of social and climate priorities would lead to a net cost. Covering the period from 2022 to 2031, the projection concludes that expenses would outweigh revenues by $367 billion but that beefed up IRS enforcement would bring in another $207 billion, leaving a deficit of roughly $160 billion.

The release of the CBO data is important to the House's vote on the measure, a massive package of Democratic social spending priorities, including free preschool, climate change initiatives and  expansion of affordable housing...

That $160 billion amounts to a couple of days of Pentagon waste.

The Senate is expected to make several changes (including eliminating or cutting back on the paid family leave provision -- thanks, Maserati Manchin!), which would then have to be voted on by the House for final passage through reconciliation.