Advertisement

OnPolitics: What's actually in the Build Back Better Act?

The Biden administration's Build Back Better social spending bill started at $3.5 trillion. It's now down to $1.75 trillion.
The Biden administration's Build Back Better social spending bill started at $3.5 trillion. It's now down to $1.75 trillion.

Good Thursday afternoon, OnPolitics readers.

We’re following all the news out of Capitol Hill as Democrats are once again hashing out details on the Build Back Better Act.

Thursday began with President Joe Biden visiting the Hill to pitch House Democrats on the $1.75 trillion social and climate spending package. Biden hailed the deal as a "historic economic framework" in a speech following his visit.

There's just one tiny problem: Biden may not have the votes to pass the framework along with a separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

"No one got everything they wanted, including me. But that's what compromise is. That's consensus," Biden said in remarks describing the scaled-back framework deal.

However: The president expressed confidence that the White House’s proposed framework will pass both chambers of Congress but key members who've fought over what the package should entail have yet to explicitly endorse the proposal.

It's Amy and Mabinty, with top political news of the day.

Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Sign up for OnPolitics newsletter here.

What's in the bill (so far)

IN: The plan would provide free preschool for more than 6 million children, expand Medicare coverage to cover hearing and raise Pell grants to help offset college tuition. The framework also would impose a minimum 15% tax on corporations, new levies on high-earning Americans, $100 billion for immigration reform and enhancements to the asylum process such as expanding legal representation for individuals and addressing processing backlogs.

Biden’s framework also proposes $150 billion for affordable housing and $320 billion to expand tax credits over the next decade for utility and residential clean energy, clean passenger and commercial vehicles, and clean energy manufacturing.

OUT: The framework does not include several key programs Biden and congressional progressives have been pushing for such as free community college, paid family leave, and a mechanism that would have punished utilities for not converting to clean energy sources fast enough.

The head of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said members of Congress get paid time off when they are sick, but that many Americans do not. “Isn't it unfortunate that will not be the case for the American people?” DeLauro asked.

The United States is just one of six countries with no national paid leave program

Real Quick: stories you'll want to read

Charleston church shooting victims, DOJ reach $88M settlement

The Justice Department announced an $88 million settlement Thursday with victims' families and survivors of a 2015 church shooting in which an avowed white nationalist killed nine people during an evening service at the iconic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The 14 plaintiffs filed civil cases against the FBI over accusations the agency was negligent in failing to prohibit the sale of the firearm Dylan Roof used in the massacre inside Mother Emanuel AME Church.

How much did the victims' families receive? The settlements range from $6 million to $7.5 million for people who were killed, and $5 million for survivors, according to the Justice Department.

“The mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church was a horrific hate crime that caused immeasurable suffering for the families of the victims and the survivors,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “Since the day of the shooting, the Justice Department has sought to bring justice to the community, first by a successful hate crime prosecution and today by settling civil claims.”

Sentencing of the shooter: Dylann Roof was convicted and sentenced to death for killing nine congregants during a Bible study program June 17, 2015.

Today is #NationalFirstRespondersDay. Thank you to all of those who bravely work to keep us safe and healthy. We appreciate you! — Amy and Mabinty

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden unveils $1.75 trillion social and climate spending package