Joe Biden unveils $1.75 trillion plan to change lives of millions

United States President
Joe Biden declared on Thursday that he has reached a “historic economic framework”
with Democrats in Congress while announcing at $1.75 trillion social spending
plan. The hard-fought yet dramatically scaled-back deal was announced hours
before the US president departed for summits overseas. “It will fundamentally
change the lives of millions of people for the better,” Biden said of the plan.

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President Biden made
the declaration at the White House right before he travelled to Capitol Hill to
make the case to House democrats for the robust domestic package meant to fund
climate change and social security programmes. Biden’s renewed attempt comes
after his failure to secure a vote in Congress where democrats hold a
wafer-thin majority.

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Biden was eager to have
a deal in hand before departing for the G20 (Group of 20) Summit, according to
a report in the Associated Press. However, the manner in which the package has
been revised has not sat well with several Democrat lawmakers with some
believing that significant portions of the original plan have been left out.

Following Biden’s
address, the White House said Biden will layout a compromise outline of
legislation pouring $1.75 trillion into education, childcare, clean energy and
other social services, reports AFP.  

Paid family leave and
efforts to lower prices of prescription drugs have been given a miss from the
package, senior administration officials say. However, the revised bill will
still include free prekindergarten for all youngsters, expanded healthcare
programmes and $555 billion dollars to tackle climate change. The expansion of
healthcare programmes includes the launch of a $35 billion new hearing aid
benefit for people with Medicare.

The plan also includes
a one-year extension of childcare tax credit that was introduced during the
COVID-19 rescue and new child care subsidies. Nearly $100 billion will be spent
on bolstering immigration and border processing system could boost the package
to $1.85 trillion if it clears Senate rules.

For the plan to go
through, Biden will need the support of the progressive caucus among Democrats.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash, the leader of the progressive caucus
said that unveiling the new framework “will show tremendous momentum. But we
want to see the actual text because we don’t want any confusion or
misunderstandings.”   

(With inputs from Associated Press)