Biden’s Build Back Better plan has been getting a lot of attention recently. The Biden Administration has made promises throughout the past year to rebuild the middle class and make it so that it’s not just the top 1% benefitting from America’s economic system. The overall goals of the plan are to combat climate change, create millions of well-paying jobs, and enable more Americans to join the labor force.

Democrats view this plan as the most transformative investment in children and caregiving in American history — and it’s easy to see why. First of all, the plan provides 39 million households up to $3,600 in tax cuts per year per child. Second, the plan offers universal and free pre-school to all 3 and 4-year-olds. Third, the plan provides affordable, high-quality care for older Americans, as well as supporting caretakers. Altogether, the plan saves most American families more than half of their spending on child care.

“We, this Democratic Congress, are taking our place in the long and honorable heritage of our democracy with legislation that will be the pillar of health and financial security in America,” said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Additionally, the plan is seen as the United States’ largest effort ever in combating climate change. The plan would deliver customer rebates and tax credits to people who are switching to renewable energy. It also ensures that clean energy technology would be created domestically, in turn creating thousands of jobs. On top of all this, the plan will invest in coastal restoration, forest management, and soil conservation. With growing concerns over the deadline to act on climate change, this plan provides much-needed hope for the future of this planet.

This plan also tackles one of America’s long-held problems in health care. Prescription drug costs would cost significantly less than they used to, most notably for insulin. Insulin would now cap at $35 per month. A month supply used to be priced at $375 even though a manufacturer’s cost is at $10. The plan would strengthen the Affordable Care Act and reduce premiums for 9 million Americans. Additionally, it would expand Medicaid so that 4 million uninsured people become insured. 

“Biden’s plan is probably one of the biggest things that I’m hoping work out in the future,” said William Lin ’22.

However, Republicans make several arguments against the plan, mostly at its cost. One of the arguments is that the plan has a flawed cost estimate because it is the largest non-emergency spending bill since the 1960s and Democrats may be underestimating the cost of the child tax credit by 2 trillion pushing the actual cost past $4 trillion. Additionally, the plan might actually reduce economic growth, specifically the GDP by 2.8 percent, wages by 1.5 percent, work hours by 1.3 percent, and even expand government debt by 25 percent.

Although both sides of the table agree that something needs to be done for the American people to thrive rather than just survive, this bill’s passing seems to either spell disaster or the best thing that could have happened to America.

“We, this Democratic Congress, are taking our place in the long and honorable heritage of our democracy with legislation that will be the pillar of health and financial security in America,” said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.