Today, after months of negotiations, President Biden announced a framework for the Build Back Better Act.
President Biden promised to rebuild the backbone of the country – the middle class – so that this time everyone comes along. He also campaigned on a promise to make government work for working people again. The Build Back Better framework does just that.
This framework is a transformative investment in climate, care and kids that will lower the costs of things families depend on, help people get back to work, and grow the economy.
Specifically, the framework delivers:
AFFORDABLE CARE: The most transformative investment in children and caregiving in generations, delivering:
Two years of free preschool for more than six million children. The last time America added years of free schooling was more than 100 years ago.
Affordable child care so that no middle-income families pay more than 7% of their income on child care.
Affordable, high-quality care for older Americans and people with disabilities in their homes, while supporting the workers who provide this care.
CLIMATE ACTION: The largest effort to combat climate change in history that will ensure that we can meet our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions between 50 and 52 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030.
A MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUT: A historic tax cut for tens of millions of middle-class families, including giving more than 35 million families a major tax cut by extending the expanded Child Tax Credit and cutting taxes for 17 million low-wage workers by extending the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.
AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE: The biggest expansion of affordable health care in a decade, reducing premiums for more than 9 million Americans by extending the expanded Premium Tax Credit, delivering health care coverage to up to 4 million uninsured people in states that have locked them out of Medicaid, and helping older Americans access affordable hearing care by expanding Medicare.
Build Back Better will improve our immigration system consistent with the Senate’s reconciliation rules.
And, the framework will reduce the deficit. Build Back Better is paid for by rewarding work, not wealth – and ensuring that the super-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share and can’t cheat on their tax bills. No one making less than $400,000 will have their taxes raised.
Along with the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, which makes historic investments in equity and in tackling the climate crisis, Build Back Better will create millions of good-paying jobs, ensure that American workers, businesses, and farmers can compete and win in the 21st century, and save middle-class families money. President Biden’s agenda will grow the economy so that everyone gets ahead.
President Biden is confident this is a framework that can pass both houses of Congress, and he looks forward to signing it into law. He calls on Congress to take up this historic bill – in addition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – as quickly as possible.
Passing the Build Back Better Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will be the fuel Democrats need to win up and down the ballot in 2022 and beyond. Voters know who delivers for the American people: Democrats. We won in 2020 because we put the American people first, and this is how we’ll win in 2022.
