Build Back Better, the nearly $ 2 trillion-dollar plan that contains the Joe Biden administration’s major social and environmental priorities, was approved by the House after months of harsh controversy and negotiations. Before it can become law, it will now have to be considered by the Senate, where changes are expected that should impose a new passage between the deputies and delay a definitive launch of a few weeks.
230 versus 213
The vote in the House on the maxi-package of 1,850 billion, in the name of the controversies and the intense debate triggered by the ambitious legislation, was strictly party, with 220 deputies in favor, all Democrats, and 213 against, the republican opposition compact and a majority dissident, Maine Congressman Jared Golden. It only arrived at the end of a classroom marathon: conservative group leader Kevin McCarthy spoke on Thursday evening and night for over eight and a half hours, a record, postponing approval to Friday. In his speech he denounced the plan as a harbinger of “bankruptcy”, as “the most dangerous and irresponsible expense in the history of the country”. Instead, the Democrats have called for a “transformative” reform for a more equitable and sustainable future, the most important federal welfare intervention in 50 years – since the era of Lyndon Johnson’s Grest Society – and the largest ever on climate.
The decisive judgment of the CBO: the deficit will rise but only slightly
Unlocking the latest resistance, even among some moderate Democrats, was the judgment of the Congressional Budget Office (Cbo), the non-party studies office of Parliament, on the impact on public accounts: it found that, once expenditure is added up, increases of taxes and savings, only minimally aggravates the deficit, totaling 160 billion in a decade. To be exact, 367 billion, which is reduced to 160 with the capture of revenue from tax evaders and evaders. The White House is even more optimistic in its assessments: it expects it will eventually reduce its liabilities by more than a hundred billion. In 2017, the then Republican majority, the Democrats pointed out, launched a major economic plan of tax cuts despite calculations by the CBO which included an increase in the deficit of 1,500 billion.
Environment and welfare
Build Back Better first contains $ 550 billion in environmental and climate change measures, the largest investment ever made by the federal government against the greenhouse effect. Among the main chapters are aid to the energy sector for a transition and to renewable sources and incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles and the creation of a network of charging stations. In essential services, funds are also allocated for the rehabilitation of the aqueducts. Medicare. For families it introduces four weeks of paid leave from work for medical or family reasons, tax credits for dependent children, free crèche for all three and four year olds and other parental aid to cover care costs to children, significant expenditure in favor of social housing. The combination of measures promises to significantly reduce the number of Americans living in poverty.
Taxes and savings to finance it
To raise resources, no generalized tax increase: rather a minimum tax of 15% is triggered on large companies that report over a billion dollars in annual profits to shareholders – a measure that should concern 70 giants from Amazon to FedEx and Verizon according to a analysis by progressive senator Elizabeth Warren. Also prescribed increases in taxes on the richest taxpayers, a surcharge of 5% on those who have more than 10 million in income a year, further increased by 3% above 25 million. A 1% tax on corporate equity buybacks comes into effect. Revenue crackdowns in the hunt for tax evaders will generate revenue, even though the administration estimates it at 480 billion in ten years and the CBO at 207 billion – the main divergence between the two analyzes on the plan.