Rep. Demings Votes to Build Back Better

ORLANDO, FL - Rep. Val Demings (FL-10) today voted for one of the largest middle class tax cuts in U.S. history as part of a fiscally-responsible plan to create new jobs and reduce the cost of essential services including health care, child care, senior care, education, and housing.Said Rep. Demings, "Here's what you need to know: Build Back Better will cut your taxes, reduce your household costs, and create new jobs for Floridians, and it is fully paid for with no new taxes for middle class families. Our mission is clear: to put money in the pockets of working families, dramatically reduce the cost of things that keep Floridians up at night, and get people back to work. No new middle class taxes. No deficit increase. Just long overdue changes to make our economy fair for people who have to go to work every day.

"During the debate over this legislation, I thought of my parents, who played by the rules and worked hard as a maid, janitor, and in other odd jobs nearly every day of their lives. I thought of my own journey to become the first in my family to go to college, keeping track of every dollar and working fast food jobs to pay my way. That American Dream story is becoming out of reach for millions of Floridians. We need to rebuild an economy where hard work actually gets you ahead, not one where health care, child care, senior care, housing and education take every dollar you make.

"Our plan targets job creation and our supply chain, because working Floridians need an economy that works for them. It creates universal pre-k and will save most American families more than half of their current spending on child care. Build Back Better would significantly reduce health care costs, including reducing your premium by up to $800 per year, giving Medicare the power to cover hearing for the first time ever, covering hundreds of thousands of Floridians for the first time, giving Medicare new powers to negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and adding new out of pocket caps for prescription drugs, saving Floridians thousands of dollars.

"I have fought for months to secure the inclusion of $0 premium health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Floridians in the Medicaid gap. I have personally appealed to House, Senate, and administration leaders and made it clear that Floridians cannot continue to suffer and die due to lack of affordable health care. I am proud to take today's vote to help Florida families make ends meet, and I will keep fighting for passage through the Senate."

In addition to meetings and advocacy with colleagues in Congress, Rep. Demings led and joined numerous letters, press conferences, events, social media, and op-eds (Medicaid, immigration) calling for the inclusion of Medicaid coverage, immigration reform, and affordable housing support, and prescription drug price negotiation, all of which were successfully included in the Build Back Better plan.

The legislation also includes several provisions from legislation the Congresswoman introduced this weekthat will help stabilize the National Flood Insurance Program and make insurance more affordable for Florida homeowners.

Background

This week,economists and analysts in leading rating agencies announced that the Build Back Better plan "[will] not add to inflation pressures, as the policies help to lift long-term economic growth via stronger productivity and labor force growth, and thus take the edge off of inflation."Open letter from Nobel Laureatesin support of economic recovery agenda: "Because [The Build Back Better Agenda] invests in long-term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease longer-term inflationary pressures.

Build Back Better

• Cut Taxes:Democrats have already made sure 40 million American families received a tax cut through the Child Tax Credit. The Build Back Better Agenda doubles down on those investments:
  • One of the largest tax cuts for middle class Americans ever
  • Expands the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 17 million workers
  • Extends the American Rescue Plan's expanded Child Tax Credit, providing monthly payments to the parents of nearly 90 percent of American children for 2022 - $250-$300 per month per child.
• Lower Costs:The Build Back Better Plan will cut costs for the things that keep Americans up at night. It includes:
  • Significantly reduces prescription drug prices
    • Gives Medicare the power to negotiate down prescription drug prices
    • Bans big pharma from outrageous prescription drug price hikes above the rate of inflation
    • New $2,000 cap on prescription drug out-of-pocket costs for seniors, and $35 monthly cap on insulin for all Americans.
  • Significantly reduces the cost of health care
    • Expanded access and lower costs for to high-quality home care for older Americans and people with disabilities.
    • Hearing coverage through Medicare for the first time
    • $0 premium health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Floridians and millions of Americans.
    • Dramatically lowers premiums in the ACA Marketplace, with individuals seeing a reduction in their premiums of more than $800 per year.
    • Permanently authorizes The Children's Health Insurance Program (which Congressional Republicans allowed to lapse for nearly 4 months)
    • Replenishes the September 11th World Trade Center Health Program
  • Significantly reduce the cost of long-term care for seniors and Americans with disabilities
  • Significantly reduce the cost of child care
    • Universal free preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds
    • Saves most families more than half their current spending on child care, ensuring the vast majority of families will have to pay no more than 7 percent of their income for child care
    • Enables states to expand access to about 20 million children.
  • Port Infrastructure and Supply Chain Resilience to address supply chain issues and reduce inflation
  • Cuts the cost of postsecondary education, including increasing the maximum Pell Grant.
  • Establishes a universal and permanent family and medical leave program for the first time in U.S. history, making it easier for people to keep their jobs and get back to work.
  • Affordable housing investments and rental assistance
  • Green tax credits will save the average American family hundreds of dollars per year in energy costs
  • The bill will ensure that the same Social Security benefits are provided in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and territories as in all 50 states
• More Jobs:Together, the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Act will create an average of 2 million jobs each year over the course of the decade. This is also the largest effort to combat climate change in American history and will give our kids cleaner air and water while creating high-quality jobs. Meanwhile, investments in children and families - in particular universal free pre-K and coverage of child care costs - will unlock the full economic potential of our workforce. In addition, the plan includes:
  • Small business loans
  • Community economic development
  • Investments to create resiliency for extreme weather events
  • Improving the quality of caregiving jobs
  • Expanded job training
  • Clean Energy Tax Credits
  • Investments in Clean Energy Technology, Manufacturing, and Supply Chains
  • Reducing the cost of college and workforce training programs
  • Stops rewarding corporations for shipping jobs overseas
• Wealthy & Big Corporations Pay Fair Share: The Build Back Better Plan will deliver this progress for families and the middle class while being fully paid for and reducing the deficit. No one making under $400,000 will see an increase in their taxes from this bill. Instead, families will see massive tax cuts. Our action to advance tax fairness and enforcement is widely popular: 72 percent of Americans support crackdowns on tax evasion by corporations and the wealthy.
  • Stop large, profitable corporations from paying zero in tax and tax corporations that buyback stock rather than invest in the company.
  • Stop rewarding corporations for shipping jobs and profits overseas.
  • Small new surtax on the income of multi-millionaires and billionaires.
  • Catch tax cheats with incomes over $400,000.

In addition, the legislation provides important temporary status to immigrants who arrived prior to January 1, 2011, including DREAMers, TPS recipients, and essential workers, allowing them to legally get back to work.

Other investments include cybersecurity and homeland security, reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program (cosponsored by Rep. Demings), scientific research, Coast Guard infrastructure, teachers and education, debt relief for framers, lead pipe replacement, broadband internet, consumer protection, veterans medical facilities, investments in HBCUs, preventing child hunger, maternal health, community violence prevention, NASA, and pandemic preparedness.

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