Saying that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan didn’t go far enough, the White House on Wednesday released its American Families Plan, a $1.8 trillion bill designed to “invest” in education, childcare and offer paid family leave.
The American Families Plan will help “families cover the basic expenses that so many struggle with now, lowering health insurance premiums, and continuing the American Rescue Plan’s historic reductions in child poverty,” the White House said in a statement. “Together, these plans reinvest in the future of the American economy and American workers, and will help us out-compete China and other countries around the world.”
The plan, a combination of spending increases and tax cuts, will be paid for in 15 years, the administration claims, in part through higher taxes on America’s wealthy.
The American Families Plan calls for a $200 billion program offering universal pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds; $109 billion for tuition-free community college for any American who wants it; $85 billion to increase Pell Grants to benefit low-income and minority students; and over $4 billion in funding for larger scholarships, certification and support programs for teachers.
The plan would build upon provisions of the American Rescue Plan by extending the Affordable Care Act premiums tax credits indefinitely and make the earned income tax credit expansion for childless workers permanent. It would permanently make the child tax credit fully available to the lowest-income families, while extending other aspects of the expansion of the credit, such as the increase in the credit amount, through 2025.
The proposal also calls for the creation of a national paid family and medical leave program. The $225 billion investment would provide workers up to $4,000 a month if they require leave to care for a new child, a seriously ill loved one, deal with an illness or another serious reason.
Other measures Biden will call on Congress to pass include a $45 billion investment in meal programs for children and low-income families; unemployment insurance reform; $225 billion for investments in childcare that would include a $15 minimum wage for early childhood staff and expanded child care center accessibility. (The Hill)
Biden will discuss the details of the plan on Wednesday before a joint session of Congress.