The House of Representatives was poised to vote on the Build Back Better Act, the $1.9 trillion social spending and climate package that is a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
The vote was delayed when Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader, led the Republican opposition, made a speech from his floor that lasted over two hours. He used his filibuster-like opportunity to attack the White House and criticised Democrats for reckless spending.
“America has had enough,”He stated.
Democrats claimed that they are close to passing the necessary legislation to expand social safety. This will increase productivity and provide a lifeline for working families.
“We simply cannot go back to the way things were before the pandemic,”Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, said the following:
The legislation provides funding for universal preschool and child care subsidies, as well as an extension to the child credit and four weeks paid family and medical leaves. It would cover more Medicare beneficiaries, expand Medicaid coverage to four millions people, reduce prescription drug costs, and lower premiums under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). It includes hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change. This includes an increase in tax credits for solar energy and home, as well as other provisions to reduce the cost of electric cars. An immigration provision would protect millions of undocumented immigrant from being deported.
Read the bill’s cost breakdown from the Congressional Budget Office here.
The inclusion of a tax credit to local media outlets that employ journalists is of particular interest to them. Each employee would receive a credit equal to $25,000 to cover employment taxes for the first year. The next four years will see $15,000 credits. It would cover 50% up to $50,000 of compensation in the first year, and 30% over the next four.
The bill would pay for itself via a surtax of the richest Americans and 15% minimum tax on corporations reporting at least $1 million in profits to shareholders. The legislation will provide some relief to taxpayers living in cities and states with high taxes. It will increase the maximum tax deduction for state and local income taxes from $10,000 to $80,000.
The House’s ability to move forward on the bill hinged on the release of a Congressional Budget Office estimate of the legislation’s impact on the deficit. Moderates wanted to delay a vote until the CBO analysis had been released. It revealed that the bill would increase deficit by $367 billion in a ten-year period. This figure does not include the other aspect of legislation: increasing IRS enforcement. While the Treasury estimates that it will generate $400 billion in additional revenue each year, the CBO analysis is less.
The legislation should pass across party lines. Even if it does, there is a possibility that it will be trimmed as it moves to Senate. It’s likely no Republican senator will support the bill, leaving Democrats with no votes to spare. Sen. Joe Manchin (D–WV) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, (D–AZ), both criticized aspects of the legislation but have not yet given their support. Payed family and medical leave are two of the most controversial provisions.