Savings for Homeowners, Lower Drug Prices, Growing Our Workforce, and More: Courtney Votes to Pass Historic Build Back Better Act, an Investment in Eastern Connecticut

WASHINGTON, DC-This evening, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) voted to pass the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), a historic investment in American people and families that will create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs on a wide range of everyday costs for working families over the next ten years. In the wake of the pandemic, skyrocketing costs on childcare, health care, higher education, and housing have hurt families in Connecticut and across the U.S. As American families and workers continue to build back to full speed following unprecedented economic and public health challenges, the Build Back Better Act would deliver meaningful investments to help American families get ahead, grow, and go after new opportunities.

On September 10th, Rep. Courtney and his colleagues on the House Education and Labor Committee voted to advance their portion of the Build Back Better Act, which contained provisions to lower the cost of childcare, lower the cost of higher education, invest in workforce development and apprenticeships, and more. Now that the House has passed the Build Back Better Act, it will move on to the Senate for further consideration.

"The House's Build Back Better Act is the first step in a negotiation to finally re-invest in our own workforce, our own communities, and our own American families and American dreams," said Congressman Courtney. "The bill represents a truly historic and long-overdue reconciliation with the reality that average, middle-class Americans have not been getting the support they need to keep our communities healthy, growing, and vibrant. The cost of housing, education, and childcare have been skyrocketing for years, seniors are retiring only to find that they can't keep up with health care expenses, thousands are still looking to enter new careers following the pandemic, and that's all happening while we're still working to get our economy back up to full speed. Our bill would help young people and first-time homebuyers to put their roots down in the communities they love. It would dramatically lower the cost of childcare for young families, giving moms and dads more room to build wealth, or to decide that growing their family really is feasible. It would cut taxes for millions of middle class Americans, and create jobs by injecting new funding into workforce development and apprenticeship programs that have already proved successful here in eastern Connecticut. It would lower health care costs for families and seniors, especially in terms of drug costs. And it would help prepare our economy and our coastlines for the future, with long-overdue investments in clean energy technology that will keep our country competitive."

"Build Back Better is a comprehensive bill," Courtney continued, "there's a lot of ground to cover, but here's what we know-the House's bill would help families in eastern Connecticut grow and build wealth; it would support seniors and schoolchildren; and it would make serious investments in training and apprenticeship opportunities to grow our workforce and help people go after new opportunities. Passage in the House today was an important first step in delivering this support to Americans and to eastern Connecticut families, and I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get the job done."

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Moody's Analytics show employment will rise and unemployment will sharply fall under the House's Build Back Better Act, easing the financial burden of inflation on American families.

Click hereto read the latest report from Moody's Analytics on the Build Back Better Act

Read on below for more information on the historic investments included in the House's Build Back Better Act.

Lower Child Care Costs and Family Costs

The House's Build Back Better Act would give a serious boost to millions of American families. Specifically, the bill would:

• Lower Costs for Childcare-ensures most American families pay no more than 7% of their income on child care. The typical Connecticut family would save an estimated $174 on childcare each week under the bill.
• Increase Supply of Quality Child Care-supplies childcare providers with resources to raise wages for childcare workers, and expand the supply of quality care to serve more children and families-helping parents get back to work.
• Give a Tax Cut to American Moms and Dads-provides a tax cut to more than 35 million American families by extending the Biden Child Tax Credit. An estimated 69,000 Child Tax Credit monthly tax cuts were sent to families in CT-02 last month alone.
• Support Paid Leave for Families-establishes a universal and permanent paid family and medical leave program, providing four weeks of paid parental, family caregiving, and medical leave.
• Provide Free Pre-School for All Americans-expands the promise of free schooling in America with universal pre-school for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

Lower Health Care Costs

The Build Back Better Act would expand access to affordable health care for millions of Americans through 2025, and would help lower the costs of prescription medication, health insurance coverage, home health care, and more.

• Lower Drug Prices for Americans-the bill finally enable Medicare to negotiate with manufacturers for lower drug prices, ending the rubberstamp practice of charging Americans more than other countries for the same medicine.
• A Cap on Costs for Seniors-establishes a new out-of-pocket cap of $2,000 on what American seniors pay for their drugs in Medicare Part D.
• A Cap on Co-Payments for Insulin-caps co-payments for insulin at $35, which would also apply for private health plans
• Expanded Access to Home Health Care-expands access to quality home-based services and care for millions of seniors and Americans with disabilities
• Hearing Coverage for Seniors-starting in 2023, provide Hearing Coverage for seniors under Medicare, granting access to coverage on hearing screenings, assessments, and hearing aids.
• More Affordable Health Plans-expand the Affordable Care Act to make coverage more affordable for people who buy insurance on their own.
• Lower Premium Costs-dramatically lower premiums in the ACA Marketplace, with individuals seeing a reduction in their premiums of more than $800 per year.

Workforce Development and Supply Chain Security

Millions of Americans are looking to re-tool their skillsets as they re-enter the workforce, and the Build Back Better Act will help connect them with good-paying jobs through expanded apprenticeship opportunities that have already proven successful in eastern Connecticut.

Over the next ten years, the bill would invest in workforce development programs that allow workers to build new skills while earning a paycheck, including:

• Community College and Industry Partnership Grants ($5 billion)
• Industry Sector Partnership Grants ($5 billion)
• Youth Workforce Investment Activities ($1.5 billion)
• Registered Apprenticeships, Youth Apprenticeships, and Pre-Apprenticeships ($1 billion)
• Adult Worker Training ($1 billion)
• Direct Care Workforce Training Grants ($1 billion)

The bill would also help secure American supply chains:

• Shore Up Supply Chain Vulnerabilities-authorizes new funding for the Department of Commerce to monitor and identify critical manufacturing supply chain vulnerabilities, and to support domestic companies in closing those vulnerabilities.
• Port Infrastructure and Supply Chain Resilience-provides new funding to the Maritime Administration to support supply chain resilience, reduce port congestion, develop offshore wind resources, and to reduce the impact of ports on the environment.

More Affordable Housing

The House-passed Build Back Better Act would make investments to rehabilitate millions of affordable housing units in America, increasing the supply of affordable housing and bringing homeownership within the reach of millions of first-time buyers. It would make serious housing investments in rural communities, and promote first-generation homeownership.

• Invest in Rural Communities-the bill authorizes new funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to support affordable housing infrastructure, including allocations specifically for rural communities.
• Affordable Housing Investments-H.R. 5376 expands funding for the HOME program to preserve, create, or retrofit affordable homes for low-income families, to develop affordable housing for seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities, and to support investments in rural rental housing.
• Promote First-Generation Homeownership-The bill provides $10 billion in first-time, first-generation homebuyer downpayment assistance to help millions of Americans become homeowners and begin building wealth

Support for Veterans and Farmers

H.R. 5376 would help support renovations and upgrades at VA clinics across the country, and would invest in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs to help farmers grow their businesses with an eye toward sustainability-programs that have already been successful here in eastern Connecticut.

• Modernizing VA Health Care Facilities-the House's bill would authorize $5 billion over the next ten years to improve health care delivery for veterans by modernizing VA health care facilities, leasing medical facilities, and speeding up claims processing
• Helping Farmers Grow Their Business-the House's Build Back Better Act invests in programs that help farmers save money, grow their business, and become more sustainable, including $2 billion for the USDA's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). In eastern Connecticut, local farms like Judge's Farm in Old Lyme and Broad Brook Acres in Preston have already utilized REAP for projects like new solar arrays for the farm, and new energy efficient barns.
  

Lower Taxes for Middle Class Americans

The Build Back Better Act will slash taxes for millions of middle-class American families, and for thousands in eastern Connecticut:

• Raises the current $10,000 cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deductionthat was put into place by the 2017 Trump Tax Plan, which added to Connecticut's property tax burden. The House's Build Back Better Act would lift the $10,000 cap that is in place under current law to $80,000 for the years 2021 through 2030.
• Extends the Biden Child Tax Credit, providing a tax cut to more than 35 million American families with children.

Climate Resilience and Career Opportunities

The House's Build Back Better Act represents the largest effort to combat and adapt to climate change in American history. It would invest $555 billion over the next ten years in clean energy technology and deployment, coastal resilience, pollution reduction, and the workforce needed to get it all done.

• Reduce Climate Pollution-the bill authorizes a suite of new grant opportunities for states and local communities to reduce carbon emissions, greenhouse gas pollution, and methane pollution
• Promote the transition to clean vehicles-H.R. 5376 would invest in domestic manufacturing to boost the production of efficient electric vehicles and promote the transition to zero-emission
• Invest in Clean Energy Technology-it establishes new grant programs to support innovations in clean energy technology, provide communities with financial support for low-carbon investments, and to provide homeowners with direct support for home energy efficiency
• Clean Up Our Infrastructure-the bill authorizes new funding for the full replacement of lead service lines in drinking systems throughout the country, and new grants for community-led projects that address environmental harms related to pollution and climate change
• Invest in a Civilian Climate Corps-the bill funds public service opportunities and workforce development opportunities geared towards combatting climate change, preparing workers for good-paying jobs in emerging fields to help address the climate crisis

Now that the Build Back Better Act has passed in the House of Representatives, it will move to the Senate for further consideration.

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