The Build Back Better Act

The Build Back Better Act, as described on The White House’s official website, “is an ambitious plan to create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs for working families – all paid for by making tax code fairer and making the wealthiest and large corporations pay their fair share.” Briefly put, the Bill, according to a summary by Congress, includes items such as:

Providing Funding to:

• Management of the National Forest System
• Job placement and career services
• Safe drinking water, energy-efficiency, and weatherization projects
• Electric vehicles and zero-emission, heavy-duty vehicles
• Public health infrastructure and supply chain resiliency
• Housing, rental, and homeowner assistance programs
• Cybersecurity programs
• Tribal infrastructure, housing, environmental, and health programs
• Wildfire prevention, drought relief, conservation efforts, and climate change research
• Small business assistance and development
• Transit services and clean energy projects in low-income communities
• Infrastructure and administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs

Establishing programs to provide:

• Up to six semesters (full-time or part-time) of free community college
• Free child care for children under the age of six
• Free universal preschool services
• Health benefits for eligible individuals who reside in states that have not expanded Medicaid

And includes provisions that:

• Establish a methane fee for certain petroleum and natural gas facilities
• Expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision care
• Provide certain aliens with a path to permanent resident status (e.g., those who entered the United States as minors)
• Provide up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave
• Restructure and increase the tax rates for certain corporations and high-income individuals (e.g., individuals with income over $400,000)
• Require the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate maximum prices for certain brand-name drugs under Medicare

From the listing above and the official outline located on the White House’s website, The Build Back Better Act is truly an ambitious one. It tackles a wide array of issues from cutting expenses to the American family to creating jobs that can help take on climate change. The Build Back Better Act is a bold piece of legislation that has goals in many of the issues at the forefront of American society.

The specifics of The Build Back Better Act include a number of plans to help decrease the financial burden on American families. Decreasing the cost of child care for families is one such plan. It also projects on making the required amount of payment for childcare to be a maximum of seven percent of the family’s income. Nation-wide free preschool is also outlined in the bill. Advanced education will also be tackled with free two years of community college for Americans. As housing has become increasingly expensive across the nation, the act plans on curbing the amount Americans pay to landlords through the use of government subsidies and tax credits. Healthcare and prescriptions are also outlined to be reduced in cost. With the burden of these costs being alleviated, it is estimated that it will save working American families thousands of dollars.

Lowering the amount of taxes paid by American families is a major portion of the Build Back Better Act. For families that have a child or multiple children, a tax credit will be offered of $2000 to $3600 depending upon the child’s age. A cut in the amount of taxes paid by working individuals without children is also on the act’s agenda. This tax cut has the potential to save between $543 and $1,502. These tax cuts will help millions of Americans work to achieve financial stability.

Beyond the tax cuts working Americans and families are planned to receive, the creation of jobs for those in need of work is another item on the agenda of the Build Back Better Act. Increases in resources and funding for the labor pool to promote improved job training are a major portion of the act. The jobs planned on being created will take place in the clean energy sector and will be a part of a workforce union. Another prominent piece of the act is increasing the number of teachers in schools and general educational infrastructure improvements.

As the Build Back Better Act currently stands, it will most likely not make it to the White House. Various individuals within the Democratic party have called for the act to be decreased from its current size, as it’s seen as a complex and significantly impactful document that will be difficult, if not nearly impossible, to agree upon by the parties all at once- especially during a global crisis that leaves many immediate needs uncertain of being resolved or remedied. Democrats expect to cut portions of at least a trillion dollars from the act for it to appease other members of the party. Numerous debates on the ways to downsize the act are under scrutiny. Cutting back on certain aspects of the act to keep the entire vote of the Democratic party will be necessary.