As President Biden’s Build Back Better Act winds its way through Capitol Hill, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is touting the legislation as a boon for her city.
The Democratic lawmaker said the bill contains the most significant investment in affordable housing in history, a major priority for the District.
“The landmark legislation creates good-paying jobs, invests in affordable housing, cuts middle-class taxes, and lowers the costs of health care, child care and family care — all fully paid for by requiring the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share,” Norton said.
“In particular, the bill empowers Medicare to negotiate lower drug costs for seniors, reduces the cost of childcare, addresses the climate crisis, lowers health care costs, and increases the cap on the state and local tax deduction,” she added. “The Build Back Better Act is not only the president’s signature legislative priority, but I also spoke on the House floor several times in support of the bill because of what it does for the District of Columbia.”
As the Senate contemplates the Build Back Better Act following passage by the House, many proponents said the bill lowers the costs of prescription drugs, health care and housing.
The White House said the measure “gets Americans back to work by providing child care and care for seniors so workers can get back on the job knowing their loved ones have the care they need.”
The bill cuts taxes for working families and the middle class — including extending the Child Tax Credit that is already helping the families of more than 61 million children and getting us closer to cutting child poverty in half this year.
According to the bill’s text, as passed by the House, the measure provides universal pre-kindergarten for every 3- and 4-year-old in America.
In addition, it aims to make education beyond high school more affordable, with what the Biden administration called historic investments in Pell Grants and historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and other minority-serving institutions, and tribal colleges and universities.
Norton said the Build Back Better Act contains several large victories for the District.
“For example, D.C. has some of the highest child care costs in the country, but the Build Back Better Act caps child care costs for most families,” the congresswoman said. “In addition, the bill empowers Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for seniors, addresses the climate crisis, lowers health care costs, and increases the cap on the state and local tax deduction, which is particularly important to the District.”