What is the Build Back Better Legislation and How Will it Benefit Union Carpenters?

No one should have to choose between working and caring for their family. Or choose between their prescription meds or food. The Build Back Better initiative addresses these issues and many more challenges facing today’s middle class. The framework will help the U.S. meet its climate goals, create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, and grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out. And, it will level the playing field and make corporations and the wealthiest pay their fair share, so that middle class families can finally get some breathing room.

THE BUILD BACK BETTER PLAN:

• Will create good-paying union jobs, grow our economy, and give American workers, businesses, and families the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century.
• Will build an economy that rewards work, not wealth by lowering costs for working people and easing the burden on the middle class -- all paid for by making the ultra- wealthy pay their fair share.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR AMERICANS:

• More good-paying union jobs to rebuild roads and bridges, to modernize our energy grid and invest in clean energy and clean water
• Tax cuts for working families, with a tax cut for more than 90 percent of households with children.
• Lower costs for working families by providing family and medical leave, lowering energy bills, and making essentials affordable like healthcare, prescription drugs, child care, pre-K, college, and long-term care for the elderly. 

HOW WE PAY FOR IT:

• No one making under $400K pays a penny more in taxes, including 97 percent of small businesses. The plan will lower costs for working- and middle-class families while creating long-term growth for our economy.
• The Build Back Better Agenda will build an economy that rewards work, not wealth by making the ultra-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share and closing tax loopholes.

Check out BuildingBackTogether.org for a full summary of the BBB plan.

BBB At a Glance

A MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUT

A historic tax cut for tens of millions of middle class families, including giving 39 million families a major tax cut by extending the expanded Child Tax Credit and cutting taxes for 17 million low-wage workers by extending the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.

AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE

Two years of free preschool for more than six million children. Affordable childcare so that no middle-income families pay more than 7% of their income. Affordable, high-quality care for older Americans and people with disabilities in their homes, while supporting the workers who provide this care.

AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE

The biggest expansion of affordable health care in a decade reduces premiums for more than 9 million Americans and delivers health care coverage to up to 4 million uninsured people in states that have locked them out of Medicaid.

AFFORDABLE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Americans struggle to afford prescription drugs. Yet Medicare is currently prohibited from negotiating prescription drug prices to get the best deal for American seniors. President Biden and Congressional Democrats rolled their sleeves up in recent days to produce a compromise plan to end this unfair prohibition and reduce the costs of prescription drugs, while ensuring we continue to reward innovation and breakthrough new treatments. Learn more about this program by reading this brief from the White House.

CLIMATE ACTION

The largest effort to combat climate change in history that will ensure that we can meet our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions between 50-52% below 2005 by the year 2030.

TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES

The Build Back Better Act will improve the lives of everyday Americans in countless ways, including by investing in our transportation and infrastructure. This legislation will make transportation more accessible and affordable, create good-paying union jobs, and help tackle the climate crisis by reducing carbon pollution from transportation and building more resilient infrastructure. For information on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, please click here.

• T&I: Build Back Better Act Section by Section 
• T&I: Build Back Better Act Fact Sheet

State-by-State Facts

The framework will help the U.S. meet its climate goals, create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, and grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out. And, it will level the playing field and make corporations and the wealthiest pay their fair share, so that middle class families can finally get some breathing room. Here's how it will benefit the five SECRC states:

Alabama: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Alabama_BBB-State-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Georgia: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Georgia_BBB-State-Fact-Sheet.pdf

North Carolina: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/North-Carolina_BBB-State-Fact-Sheet.pdf

South Carolina: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/South-Carolina_BBB-State-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Tennessee: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Tennessee_BBB-State-Fact-Sheet.pdf