President Joe Biden made another push to get his spending plan passed on Capitol Hill Thursday, hours before heading out on an overseas trip. The larger part of the plan comes in the form of a $1.75 trillion spending bill. That price tag is higher than the $1.5 trillion key Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin wants. However, it’s half of the original $3.5 trillion the White House originally asked for.
“After hearing input from all sides and negotiating in good faith with Senators Manchin and [Kyrsten] Sinema, Congressional Leadership, and a broad swath of Members of Congress, President Biden is announcing a framework for the Build Back Better Act,” the White House announced Friday morning. “President Biden is confident this is a framework that can pass both houses of Congress, and he looks forward to signing it into law.”
According to a White House fact sheet, the $1.75 trillion will be split up between the following.
- Childcare and preschool ($400 billion)
- Home care ($150 billion)
- Child tax and earned income tax credits ($200 billion)
- Clean energy and climate investments ($555 billion)
- Affordable Care Act credits ($130 billion)
- Medicare hearing ($35 billion)
- Housing ($150 billion)
- Higher education and workforce ($40 billion)
- Equity and other investments ($90 billion)
“The Build Back Better Act will create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, spur long-term growth, reduce price pressures and set the United States on course to meet its clean energy ambitions,” the White House said. “It will fundamentally change the lives of millions of people for the better,” Biden added.
Thursday’s announcement did not include a timeline for getting the spending plan passed, with the White House only saying Biden “calls on Congress to take up this historic bill – in addition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – as quickly as possible”. The framework now appears to be in the hands of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“This is all in the hands of the House right now,” Manchin said Thursday.
President Biden leaves Washington on Thursday to attend two major summits with world leaders in Rome and Glasgow, the second foreign trip of his presidency.
