President Biden is going full speed ahead
So much for the “sleepy Joe” moniker. President Joe Biden has been nonstop since he was sworn into office on January 20. He reached his goal of 100 million vaccines in 100 days and will surpass that goal since he reached it before the expiration of 100 days. He and Vice President Kamala Harris hit the road to personally deliver the benefits of the American Rescue Plan, which passed with no Republican support, and it is already benefitting the American people. Has President Biden been out golfing or on vacation? Absolutely not. He continues his push to make life better for the American people.
According to the New York Times, the next big issues the Biden administration plans to tackle are infrastructure, education, child payments/paid family leave, and healthcare. Axios calls it “re-engineering America, quickly,” and if it successfully passes, this plan promises to bring additional benefits to the American public. The Times reported that Biden is “breaking precedence” with this big-ticket item. In the past few presidencies, the focus has been on taxes and health care, but President Biden and his advisers are working on proposals aimed at reshaping the economy. The Times believes that if these plans pass, they “will almost certainly have a more lasting effect on people’s lives” than the American Rescue Plan.
Though the full plan has not yet been completed and has not yet been released, the Times compiled a list of what this plan will most like include.
Infrastructure: This legislation will provide money for roads, bridges, broadband access, energy-efficient housing, and electric cars. It will also begin the transition to lower carbon emissions.
Education: President Biden wants to increase funding for education, ultimately expanding pre-K to ages 3 and 4 and providing two years of college.
Child payments/paid leave: The American Rescue Plan included this benefit, but it will expire. The new plan will extend a monthly payment that starts at $250 per child and will expand paid family leave.
Health care: Expansion of Obamacare will provide two-year extensions on the American Rescue Plan and will cut costs for families to secure coverage. It may also include a limit on how much pharmaceutical companies can charge Medicare recipients for drugs, which would ultimately lower drug costs across the board. As with any plan that provides benefits, the money for this plan must come from somewhere.
According to the Times, lower prescription costs will amount to $3 to $4 trillion in 10 years, covering some of the plan. The biggest payment, however, will come from increasing income taxes on people making $400,000 and above per year, something President Biden repeatedly promised to do during the campaign. Business Insider recently reported that the top 1% earners are already hiding their money from the IRS through offshore bank accounts and pass-through business, and some are simply under-reporting their income. President Biden will have to find a way to get around those issues to tax those in this income tier. Republicans, of course, will not go along with any tax increases on their personal constituents, so it will be interesting to see how all this pans out.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years