President Joe Biden proposes American families’ paid vacation plan

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will propose a comprehensive $ 1.8 trillion plan on Wednesday for paid national family leave, inclusive kindergarten, free community college and subsidized childcare in what could be a dramatic federal expansion of the social safety net for families and children. He is due to formally present the American families plan in his first speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. It is the second part of his “Build Back Better” economic agenda after the release of the $ 2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan released earlier this month, which was billed as “generational investments in our future” to compete outside of China and transform the American economy. . The families’ plan includes $ 1 trillion in spending over the next 10 years, according to senior administration officials who agreed to discuss the details on condition of anonymity. An additional $ 800 billion would cover targeted tax breaks for the middle class. More: “We Can’t Be Late”: Biden proposes $ 2 trillion in infrastructure and jobs plan funded by corporate tax increases by high-income taxpayers. Biden also wants to nearly double the capital gains tax from a rate of 20% to 39.6% for households earning more than $ 1 million, among other changes. The $ 225 billion for each paid national vacation and childcare plan – which is sure to be fiercely criticized by Republicans who already oppose his jobs plan – includes $ 225 billion for a national paid vacation and medical leave program. The workers will be offered partial employment assistance for a period of three months to be with a new child, to rehab from an illness, care for a disabled person, deal with a partner’s military deployment or handle emergencies. Up to $ 4,000 per month will be available on paid vacation for participating individuals, with a minimum of two-thirds of average weekly wages and an increase to 80% for lower-paid workers. More: Roads, bridges … and caregivers? Why Biden is pushing a “ paradigm shift ” to redefine infrastructure – an additional $ 225 billion will be earmarked to cover childcare costs for low-income parents and middle-class parents with children five or younger. This comes as more women left the workforce last year to care for young children during the coronavirus pandemic. A study cited by the White House found that $ 57 billion in lost profits and productivity due to a lack of childcare options, and the program will pay all childcare costs to families most in need. Those who earn 1.5 times their average state income will not pay more than 7% of their income to care for children. The plan would also set a $ 15 minimum wage for childcare workers – nine out of 10 women and four out of 10 of them. Of women of color. Pre-kindergarten for everyone regardless of household income, Biden proposes $ 200 billion to make kindergarten free for all children ages three and four regardless of their family’s income. This will mainly be achieved through “partnerships” with states, but the federal government will seek to work directly with nurseries in states that do not participate. The national prekindergarten expansion will benefit 5 million children and save the average family $ 13,000, according to More: Biden seeks to increase income taxes and capital gains for the wealthy to pay the $ 1.8 trillion “ family plan, ” and the plan also calls for $ 109 billion to make the community college In the United States it is free, allowing all new students and workers in participating countries to pay no money for two years at a community college to obtain a degree or accreditation. The program will be available to “dreamers” – illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States as children. Biden’s proposal comes after several states, including Tennessee, New York, Oregon and Rhode Island, have moved to a free community college. Like the Prekindergarten program, states must partner with the federal government to receive federal funding. If every state did, an estimated 5.5 million students would attend community college for free. The plan will extend the improved child tax credits passed in Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion US bailout through 2025 – and it falls short of the demands of many progressive Democrats to make the credits permanent. The plan will also give permanent tax breaks to the US bailout for families with childcare needs and childless workers. More: Biden expected to sign an executive order raising the minimum wage for federal contractors to $ 15 an hour, plan leaves Medicare expansion, proposal would not reduce Medicare’s age eligibility requirements to extend coverage or take steps to lower prescription drug prices – two other areas he paid Many congressional Democrats and liberal advocacy groups. White House officials said the president was still “fully committed” to negotiations to lower drug prices despite these being left out in the package. The primary care provision in the plan is $ 200 billion to make the healthcare premium cuts passed in the Affordable Care Act permanent. More: Democrats are pressing Biden to include Medicare expansion, prescription drugs in his PlanPell family grants, HBCUs, and targeted school lunches. The plan also takes steps to make the college more accessible to students of color, and allocates $ 85 billion to the Bell grants that would save $ 1,400. As an additional aid for low-income college students; $ 62 billion for a scholarship program aimed at improving university completion for low-income students; And 46 billion dollars for historically black colleges and universities. The latter includes at least two years of subsidized tuition for students enrolled with HBCUs for four years from families earning less than $ 125,000 a year. More: Historically black colleges are struggling for survival, reopening their doors again amid the Coronavirus pandemic, and other spending includes $ 45 billion extending free and reduced lunches during the summer for 29 million low-income children enrolled in the federal program; $ 17 billion to expand free meals for children in extremely poor areas through the Community Eligibility Program, and $ 9 billion to train teachers, address teacher shortages, and diversify the educational workforce. Republicans, such as the US Jobs Plan, have criticized it widely for expanding “infrastructure” to pay for programs such as caregiving for the elderly and the disabled, industrialization and tackling climate change. Senate Republicans last week proposed a counter-offer of $ 568 billion, just one – a quarter of the size of Biden’s package and would be limited to physical infrastructure such as repairing roads and bridges and expanding broadband. More: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos supports Biden’s infrastructure plan, and supports “ increasing the corporate tax rate, ” the White House did not say. Whether Biden would lump the two plans together – totaling more than $ 4 trillion – into one congressional bill or pursue multiple legislation. The jobs plan will be driven mainly by an increase in the corporate tax rate, and the president wants progress in Congress on the jobs law by the end of May and passage by summer, according to administration officials. And the jobs plan through the budget settlement, which would prevent any attempt to procrastinate and does not require votes from Republicans in the evenly divided Senate as long as all Democrats vote for them. The White House has not revealed its legislative path, reached out to Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.