The Time is now to Build Back Better

President Biden’s Build Back Better Plan will be voted on by the House very soon, as soon as today, but few people really understand what is included in the bill. 

For the time being, here is what is in the bill:

Universal free preschool for all 3 and 4-year-olds. It will be the largest expansion of universal and free education since public high school was established. The average cost of preschool is $8,600 a year, something millions of Americans cannot afford. Universal pre-K will have lifelong educational and economic benefits. Parents can also choose the setting they send their kids to public schools, childcare providers, or Head Start.

Expanding access to childcare, 9 in 10 families will be covered, a total of 20 million children. No family will have to pay more than 7% of their income on childcare. Childcare increases the likelihood parents are employed or enrolled in education or training beyond high school (especially women).

Provide affordable care for older Americans and people with disabilities at their homes. Americans pay $5,800 a year for just 4 hours of home care a week on average, and there are 800,000 older Americans and people with disabilities on state Medicaid waiting lists. This bill would provide care for them.

The bill has Expansion of the Child Tax Credit to almost 90% of children for the next year. It will permanently extend for families that don’t earn enough to file a tax return. This past year has had the largest one-year reduction in child poverty in history, due in part to the American Rescue Plan.

A huge part of the bill pertains to climate change. The bill offers consumer rebates and tax credits to reduce the cost of transitioning to clean energy and electrification. Existing home energy and efficiency tax credits are being expanded. It will lower the cost of electric vehicles made in America with American materials and union labor by up to $12,500. It will also create a diverse Civilian Climate Corps that aims to conserve public lands, strengthen community resilience and address climate change. The bill provides resources to farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners to expand their efforts to reduce emissions.

In terms of healthcare, the plan would reduce the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, would strengthen the Affordable Care Act, and close the Medicaid coverage gap. It would also extend Medicare to cover hearing benefits. Medicare would be able to negotiate the price of up to 20 drugs that have been on the market for a while every year. Companies that refuse to negotiate would face an excise tax, and there would be a tax penalty for raising prices faster than inflation. There would also create a $2,000 a year cap on how much seniors and people with disabilities have to pay for drugs. It would reduce premiums for 9 million Americans and cover 4 million people currently uninsured. Perhaps one of the biggest provisions would lower insulin prices to no more than $35 a month.

The bill would constitute the largest and most comprehensive investment in affordable housing. Over 1 million affordable homes would be built, rehabilitated, or improved. The bill also includes expansion of rental assistance vouchers, down payment assistance for first-generation homeowners, redevelopment projects in historically under-resourced neighborhoods, the removal of lead paint from homes, and incentives for state and local zoning reforms.

The Earned Income Tax Credit would be expanded for 17 million low-wage workers, specifically those without children that have been taxed into poverty. Many of these workers are essential workers.

While the bill does not include free community college, it does help increase access to affordable education beyond high school. It would increase the maximum Pell Grant and expand access for Dreamers. It would also invest in HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and minority-serving institutions. It would help create sector-based training opportunities and invest in Registered Apprenticeships and programs that support underserved communities.

It would provide for nutrition security year-round by expanding free school meals to 8.7 million during the school year and providing $65 per child per month to families of 29 million children to buy food during the summer.

 It would also invest in immigration reform consistent with Senate reconciliation rules. This would reduce backlogs, expand legal representation, and make the asylum system and border processing more efficient and humane.

The bill is paid for by savings from repealing Trump’s rebate rule, imposing a 15% minimum tax on the profits of large corporations that made more than $1 billion, a 1% tax on corporate stock buybacks, a 15% minimum tax on foreign profits of US corporations, a 5% tax rate on income of over $10 million and 3% more on income over $25 million, closing loopholes used by wealthy taxpayers. No one who makes under $400,000 will pay more in taxes.

It also, for the moment, includes four weeks of paid family and medical leave.

Notably, this bill does not include the initial 12 weeks of paid family, and medical leave proposed. It does not include dental or vision benefits, free community college, or the Billionaires Income Tax. It cut back on Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices.

 But it does a lot for a lot of people. And the best way to get all the things that were taken out of the bill passed is to expand the Democratic majority in the House and Senate, so we aren’t so reliant on the assent of a few next time around.

If you believe that this bill will make life better for millions of Americans, take the time to call your Representative and encourage them to vote yes. Get on social media and show your support. And when the time comes, vote for representatives that support this bill and want to move this country forward, not backward.  Rideshare2Vote starts our work now for the 2022 midterms to put wheels to democracy to elect Democrats up and down the ballot.  We welcome you to join us.

by Betsy Zalinski