Dear Neighbor,

I’m writing with the excellent news that the House of Representatives has passed the Build Back Better Act. This is historic and sweeping legislation at the scope of the New Deal and the Great Society, that will establish universal pre-K for all three- and four-year-olds, cut taxes for working families, lower health care costs for millions of Americans, cover hearing tests and hearing aids to Medicare recipients and address the civilizational threat of climate change. Along with the recently signed Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, this once-in-a-generation investment in America will target top-bracket tax dodgers and ensure that big multinational corporations pay their fair share.

As you know, I’ve been fighting for years to pass many of these provisions—like green energy investments, universal pre-k and affordable childcare, and fair taxes. I was moved to cast my vote for the Build Back Better Act, which now heads to the Senate for passage before both chambers of Congress approve a final version of the law.

I hope you’ll check out the summary of the Build Back Better Act shared below. As always, I encourage all 8th District residents to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. If you need help with a federal agency and want to request my assistance, please complete the online request form here, and my District Office will be in touch.

All Best,

The Build Back Better Act

An Historic Investment in Our Children, Seniors and Families

• Free, Universal Preschool: Provides free, universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds, expanding access for more than six million children each year.
• Affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Caps childcare costs and expands access to nearly 20 million children. The Build Back Better Act will ensure that no working family making under 2.5x of the state median income spends more than seven percent of their income on childcare.
• Affordable, High-Quality Care for Seniors and People with Disabilities: Improves Medicaid coverage for home care services for seniors and people with disabilities, making high-quality care more affordable and accessible, and improves working conditions for home care workers.
• Extends the Child Tax Credit: Extends the enhanced Child Tax Credit—up to $300 monthly for each child under 6 and $250 monthly for each child age 6-17—through 2022 and ensures that it is fully refundable.
• Paid Family & Medical Leave: Establishes a universal paid family and medical leave program, providing four weeks of paid parental, family caregiving, and medical leave.
• Making College More Affordable: Helps make higher education more accessible and more affordable by investing $20 billion in higher education, increasing the maximum Pell Grant and providing funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions.
• Expansion of Workforce Development Programs: Invests $20 billion in programs to help workers secure good-paying jobs by strengthening apprenticeships, improving enforcement of labor law violations and providing assistance to states working to phase out subminimum wages for workers with disabilities.
• Historic Investment in Affordable Housing: Provides more than $150 billion for affordable housing – the single largest investment in affordable housing in our nation’s history. Launches a major housing initiative to build and improve more than 1 million affordable rental and single-family homes, including public housing, and provide rental assistance and down-payment assistance for first-time, first-generation homebuyers.

Largest Investment in U.S. History to Address the Climate Crisis

• Foundation of the Green Economy: The Build Back Better Act is the largest effort to combat climate change in American history, funding $555 billion over 10 years in clean energy and climate investments to cut our carbon footprint, bolster clean energy manufacturing, make our communities and infrastructure more climate resilient, improve energy efficiency and more.
• Green American Jobs: Incentivize U.S. manufacturing of clean energy technologies, such as wind turbine blades and solar panels, creating new high-paying jobs for American workers.
• Clean Energy Tax Credits: Green tax credits will save the average American family hundreds of dollars per year in energy costs.

Lowering Health Care Costs and Expanding Coverage

• Lower Costs for Prescription Drugs: For the first time, Medicare will be allowed to directly negotiate lower prices for some of the most expensive prescription drugs. The Build Back Better Act also limits seniors’ out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D to $2,000 annually and requires drug companies to pay penalties for unfairly raising drug prices.
• Medicare Hearing Coverage: Expands Medicare to cover hearing services and hearing aids for the first time.
• Cap the Cost of Insulin: Sets a maximum cost of $35 per month for insulin for Americans who have diabetes.
• Closes the Medicaid Gap: The Build Back Better Act expands health care coverage to an estimated 4 million uninsured Americans living in states that have locked their people out of Medicaid.

Funding Our Priorities Through a Fairer Tax Code

• Hold Huge Corporations Accountable: Establishes a fifteen percent minimum tax on  U.S. corporations earning more than $1 billion in annual profits, including profits made overseas.
• Close Tax Loopholes for the Wealthy: Closes a loophole that allowed some wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying Medicare taxes on their earnings.

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