What is Build Back Better Act? How will it affect you?

US President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act was passed 220 to 213 in the House of Representatives on Friday. It covers a wide range of social spending priorities including taxation, health care, energy, climate change, family services, education and housing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the the measure as “historic, transformative and larger than anything we have ever done before.”

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“We are building back better. If you’re a parent, a senior, a child, a worker. If you’re an American, this bill is for you,” she had said before the vote

Here is what the Build Back Better Act covers: (as per White House) 

1) The Build Back Better Act lowers the costs of prescriptions drugs — so if you’re one of millions of Americans with diabetes, sometimes paying $1,000 a month for insulin — the cost is capped to $35 a month.

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2) This bill will lower the cost of child care so working families don’t pay more than 7% of their income on care for their youngest children, which will help millions of parents get back to work.

4) The Build Back Better Act improves access to education by providing universal preschool for every 3-and 4-year old in America and increases Pell Grants for working families and apprenticeship programs for education beyond high school.

5) The Build Back Better Act will lower the costs of elder care, health care, and housing.

6) Taken together with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Build Back Better Act is the most significant investment in our fight against the climate crisis ever.

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Friday’s vote came after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the package would worsen federal deficits by $160 billion over the coming decade. The agency also recalculated the measure’s 10-year price tag at $1.68 trillion, though that figure wasn’t directly comparable to a $1.85 trillion figure Democrats have been using.

The 2,100-page bill’s initiatives include bolstering child care assistance, creating free preschool, curbing seniors’ prescription drug costs and increasing efforts to slow climate change. Also included are tax credits to spur clean energy development, bolstered child care assistance and extended tax breaks for millions of families with children, lower-earning workers and people buying private health insurance.

With inputs from the Associated Press