Still awaiting Senate passage is the “social” or “human” infrastructure bill, the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376). The House of Representatives passed the BBB on 11/19/21 and many coalition partners support some or all of the provisions of the BBB.
It includes $1.75T in investments including universal pre-kindergarten, covers the costs of child care above 7% of income, extends the expanded child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, adds Medicare coverage of hearing services, provides $150B in housing aid toward housing programs,, adds $150B for home and community-based services, includes $270M to assist states in phasing out use of 14(c) certificates and to assist in building community employment opportunities for adults with disabilities at or above minimum wage, permanently extends Money Follows the Person and Medicaid spousal impoverishment protections, makes multiple health care and Medicaid changes, and includes $1B for the direct support workforce and innovations in recruitment and retention.
To pay for these programs, the package levies a new 15% tax on profitable companies with income over $1B, adds new 1% tax on stock buybacks, imposes a surtax of 5% on individuals with adjusted gross income over $10M and an additional 3% on aggregate gross income over $25M, and increases funding for IRS enforcement efforts. Additional negotiations will occur in the Senate to achieve 50 votes and may lead to the removal of some of the House provisions. It remains unclear when the Senate will vote. Detailed summaries and fact sheets of the BBB are available from National Council of Nonprofits, the White House’s Illinois-specific summary and additional statements on how the BBB helps Black, Latino/a/x, AAPI, Native American, and LGBTQI+ Communities, the Democratic Staff of House Rules Committee’s section-by-section summary, Center on Budget Policy and Priorities’ recent statement plus how BBB reduces disparities, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute summary, and Independent Sector’s Summary organized by topic.
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