American Families Plan

This article is part of a series about Joe Biden
Political positions Electoral history Early life and career Eponyms Family Honors Overview Public image show U.S. Senator from Delaware Senate Judiciary Committee Supreme Court hearings Robert Bork Clarence Thomas 1994 Crime Bill Violence Against Women Act Senate Foreign Relations Committee show 47th Vice President of the United States Transition Tenure Obama administration first inauguration second inauguration Economic policy Great Recession response 2010 Tax Relief Act 2011 debt-ceiling crisis response fiscal cliff response Foreign policy Task forces Gun Violence Protect Students from Sexual Assault Women and Girls 46th President of the United States Incumbent Presidency timeline Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board Inauguration Executive actions proclamations Trips international 2021 Geneva summit COVID-19 pandemic Impeachment efforts Appointments Cabinet Ambassadors Federal judges Executive Office U.S. Attorneys Policies COVID-19 WH Response Team Economy 2021 Rescue Electoral/ethics Environment Foreign policy Afghanistan withdrawal Immigration U.S.–Mexico border crisis Infrastructure BBB, Jobs, Families Social issues cannabis show Presidential campaigns 1988 primaries 2008 primaries 2020 primaries sexual assault allegation convention debates election endorsements primary U.S. representatives state and territorial representatives organizations vice presidential selection show Vice presidential campaigns 2008 selection convention election 2012 convention election Published works Promises to Keep Promise Me, Dad
v t

The American Families Plan is a proposal by U.S. President Joe Biden to significantly increase federal spending in areas related to childcare, paid leave, pre-kindergarten, community college and healthcare, funded by increased taxes on high-income Americans.^[1][2] It is the third part of Biden's three-part "Build Back Better" agenda, with the first being the American Rescue Plan and the second the American Jobs Plan.^[3][4] It was unveiled on April 28, 2021.^[1]

History[]

The plan is the third in a series of proposals by U.S. President Joe Biden, collectively called "Build Back Better", to overhaul the American economy.^[3] The first of those was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a stimulus bill that was signed into law in March 2021. The Biden administration promoted that bill as emergency pandemic aid to combat the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The second is the American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion infrastructure proposal.

On May 17, seven Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee signed a letter to the president asking him to prioritize both enhanced unemployment insurance and direct payments (in the style of those included in the U.S. federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related recession). The letter cited Biden's promised to include the former adjusted to "economic conditions", but further that the latter also "served as [a lifeline] to families and workers that have had their lives upended by the pandemic".^[5] Previously, on March 31, 21 Senate Democrats had sent Biden a similar letter, and in April the Economic Security Project reported that two additional direct payments could keep 12 million Americans out of poverty, in addition to those already liberated.^[6]

By mid-July 2021, most provisions of the Families Plan had been rolled into a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which is being pursued alongside a $579 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill.^[7][8] The infrastructure bill is largely seen as a push by Biden and moderate Democrats to signal that bipartisan cooperation is possible,^[9] while the reconciliation bill is meant to include nearly all other Democratic spending priorities, including nearly all of the American Families Plan, infrastructure provisions from Biden's American Jobs Plan that are not included in the bipartisan bill, and several other policies like adding vision and dental insurance to Medicare.^[8][10]

Provisions[]

The plan contains $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits (both over ten years).^[11] This includes:

• >$200 billion in spending on childcare,
• ~$200 billion to make pre-kindergarten universally available for free,
• >$200 billion towards government-subsidized paid family and medical leave,^[12]
• ~$300 billion towards making community college free for all Americans, and
• ~$200 billion on health insurance subsidies available through the Affordable Care Act healthcare exchanges.^[2][4][13]

It would extend the boost to the child tax credit made in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which effectively turned the credit into a child allowance.^[14][15] It would also revoke a federal restriction on people with felony drug convictions from obtaining food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).^[16]

It would be at least partially funded by a number of tax hikes on high-income Americans and investors,^[2] including restoring the top marginal income tax rate to its pre-2017 level of 39.6% and nearly doubling the capital gains tax for people earning more than $1 million, as well as eliminating a provision in the tax code that reduces capital gains on some inherited assets, like vacation homes.^[4][11] It would also raise revenue by boosting the budget of the Internal Revenue Service by $80 billion (distributed over ten years), which the White House estimates could raise over $700 billion in revenue that otherwise would have been lost to tax evasion.^[17][18]

References[]

External links[]

• Fact Sheet: The American Families Plan — Official fact sheet released by the White House
• Build Back Better Official Site — The official White House website detailing Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda