WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) voted to pass the “Build Back Better Act” in the U.S. House of Representatives. This historic legislation will rebuild the American middle class by creating new jobs, cutting taxes, and lowering costs for essential goods and services. The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 220-213 and now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

“America has reached a positive turning point,” Garamendi said. “Right now, we have an opportunity to create the largest expansion of the middle class in a generation and show the American people that their government works for them—not just those at the top. That’s why I voted to pass the ‘Build Back Better Act’ today in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation fulfills the core promises in President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda and delivers real relief and support for working Americans. This legislation will provide much-needed resources to lower health care costs, cut taxes for the middle class, cut child poverty in half, and so much more.”

The “Build Back Better Act” will:

Lower Health Care Costs

· Finally allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug costs for seniors and halts Big Pharma’s outrageous price hikes for all Americans.

· Ensuring Americans with diabetes don’t pay more than $35 per month for their insulin.

· Creating a new, out-of-pocket cap of $2,000 on what seniors pay for their drugs in Medicare Part D.

· Expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to make coverage more affordable for those who buy insurance on their own. Dramatically lowers premiums in the ACA Marketplace, with individuals seeing a reduction in their premiums of more than $800 per year. Expands the ACA to cover those in the states that have refused to adopt the Medicaid expansion.

· Helps older Americans access affordable hearing care by expanding Medicare.

Lower Childcare, Education, and Family Care Costs

· Cuts childcare costs for middle class by half, which ensures the vast majority of families will pay no more than 7 percent of their income for child care.

· Expands the basic promise of free schooling in America for the first time in 100 years with universal pre-school for all 3-and 4-year-olds.

· Establishes a universal and permanent paid family and medical leave program, providing four weeks of paid parental, family caregiving, and medical leave.

· Gives more than 35 million middle class families the largest tax cut they’ve ever received by extending the Child Tax Credit. On average, this bill would provide a $2,785 tax cut to working families.

· Expands access to high-quality home care for older adults and people with disabilities.

· Expands access to affordable education by increasing the maximum Pell Grant by $550 for more than 5 million students. Garamendi led the effort to include this provision in the legislation.

· Invests $150 billion to build over one million new affordable housing units.

· Extends the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 17 million working Americans to help them make ends meet.

· Supports children’s health and expands free school meals to 8.7 million children.

Combat the Climate Crisis

· The “Build Back Better Act” is the largest effort to combat climate change in American history, investing $555 billion over 10 years in clean energy and climate investments.

· Establishes green tax credits that will save the average American family hundreds of dollars per year in energy costs.

· Ensures clean energy technology – from wind turbine blades to solar panels to electric cars – will be built in the United States, creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs here at home.

The “Build Back Better Act” is paid for by finally requiring the very largest corporations and wealthiest Americans—who often avoid paying any taxes at all—to finally pay their fair share. No one making under $400,000 will pay a penny more in taxes under this legislation.

“All of this is supported without costing the middle class a single penny. No public school teacher, nurse, or first responder should pay a higher tax rate than a billionaire. Yet that has been the case in America for far too long. The ‘Build Back Better Act’ rights this wrong and uses the revenue it generates to provide tax cuts, jobs, lower healthcare costs, and affordable housing for the middle class,” Garamendi continued.

“The ‘Build Back Better Act’ is also our best shot to attack the climate change and protect the air, water, and land we all rely on for our children and grandchildren’s generations. With the ‘Build Back Better Act,’ we will finally unlock the green energy economy of the future we so desperately need,” Garamendi continued.

“The ‘Build Back Better Act’ is the result of months of negotiations and compromise. I am proud to support it and will work tirelessly until it becomes law, and its critically important relief is delivered to the American people,” Garamendi concluded.

A comprehensive summary of the “Build Back better Act” from the White House is available here.