Biden’s Next Stimulus Bills: American Jobs Plan & American Families Plan

President Biden Unveils New $2.7 Trillion & $1.8 Trillion Proposals – Here’s What They Include

President Biden recently unveiled two new stimulus plans that he hopes to see passed in the House and Senate: the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan.

These two proposals come after Biden signed his first big piece of legislation into law, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. Technically, however, the ARPA is the third major stimulus bill aimed at providing COVID-related relief to struggling Americans. The first stimulus package was the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which was signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020. The second major stimulus bill was the $908 billion COVID-Related Tax Relief Act, which was signed into law by President Trump on December 27, 2020.

RELATED: $1.9 Trillion “American Rescue Plan Act” Signed Into Law

The American Jobs Plan

Specifically, President Biden’s proposed American Jobs Plan will aim to accomplish the following:

• Fix highways, rebuild bridges, upgrade ports, airports and transit systems.
• Deliver clean drinking water, a renewed electric grid, and high-speed broadband to all Americans.
• Build, preserve, and retrofit more than two million homes and commercial buildings, modernize our nation’s schools and child care facilities, and upgrade veterans’ hospitals and federal buildings.
• Solidify the infrastructure of our care economy by creating jobs and raising wages and benefits for essential home care workers.
• Revitalize manufacturing, secure U.S. supply chains, invest in R&D, and train Americans for the jobs of the future.
• Create good-quality jobs that pay prevailing wages in safe and healthy workplaces while ensuring workers have a free and fair choice to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively with their employers.

The American Jobs Plan includes $2.8 trillion in infrastructure investments and various federal programs. It will spend $621 billion on transportation infrastructure, $213 billion on building and retrofitting affordable housing, $111 billion on clean drinking water initiatives, $100 billion on digital infrastructure (i.e. high-speed broadband Internet service), $100 billion on building a power grid, $50 billion on improving infrastructure resilience, and more. The American Jobs Plan also seeks to increase the corporate tax rate to 28%, enact a 15% minimum tax on large corporations, eliminate tax breaks for oil and natural gas,

According to the White House’s official website, “Like great projects of the past, the President’s plan will unify and mobilize the country to meet the great challenges of our time: the climate crisis and the ambitions of an autocratic China. It will invest in Americans and deliver the jobs and opportunities they deserve. But unlike past major investments, the plan prioritizes addressing long-standing and persistent racial injustice. The plan targets 40 percent of the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities. And, the plan invests in rural communities and communities impacted by the market-based transition to clean energy.”

Along with the American Jobs Plan, President Biden is planning on releasing a “Made in America Tax Plan” to make sure that corporations pay their “fair share” in taxes and to try to encourage job creation at home.

RELATED: How Does the New Stimulus Bill Affect Unemployment Benefits?

The American Families Plan

President Biden’s American Families Plan will focus on growing the middle class, expanding the benefits of economic growth to all Americans, and making the United States more competitive. This proposal will:

• Add at least four years of free education – It will provide universal preschool to all 3- and 4-year-old children. It will also provide Americans with 2 free years of community college, make college more affordable for low- and middle-income students, and invest in teacher training and support programs.
• Provide direct support to children and families – It will try to ensure that low- and middle-income families spend no more than 7% of their income on childcare. It will also create a national comprehensive paid family and medical leave program, as well as nutrition assistance to families that need it.
• Extend tax cuts for families with children and American workers – It will extend key tax cuts from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that benefit low- and middle-income households. This includes the Child Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and health insurance tax credits that provide premium relief.

The American Families Plan consists of $1.8 trillion in investments and tax benefits. It will cost approximately $225 billion for paid family leave, $200 billion for universal preschool, $109 billion for free community college, and $800 billion for child/dependent tax credits. The proposal seeks to increase the top federal income tax rate to 39.6%, increase the Medicare tax on higher-income workers, and end capital gains tax breaks.

The official website for the White House states, “The American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan are once-in-a-generation investments in our nation’s future.  The American Jobs Plan will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s physical infrastructure and workforce, and spark innovation and manufacturing here at home. The American Families Plan is an investment in our children and our families—helping families cover the basic expenses that so many struggle with now, lowering health insurance premiums, and continuing the American Rescue Plan’s historic reductions in child poverty. Together, these plans reinvest in the future of the American economy and American workers, and will help us out-compete China and other countries around the world.”

RELATED: Tax Credits for Families With Children and/or Dependents

Will There Be More Stimulus Checks?

Lawmakers are discussing a fourth round of stimulus checks, however, there is no guarantee that we will see more stimulus money to individuals. President Biden’s latest spending proposals do not include a provision for another round of direct payments.

>> Check the Status of Your Stimulus Payment

Given that the worst of the COVID-19 crisis seems to be behind us as more states begin to lift lockdown mandates, it may be unlikely that the federal government authorizes a fourth stimulus check. But as we know, things can always change – and updates will be published here.

RELATED: What You Need to Know About Stimulus Checks & Your 2020 Taxes

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