Evans Votes for Historic Build Back Better Act

WASHINGTON (Nov. 19, 2021) – Congressman Dwight Evans (D-PA-3rd) voted for the Build Back Better Act, which would provide a historic investment in the social safety net and save thousands of dollars for many Philadelphia families.

"I'm proud to vote for this bill! It truly would keep the promise to build back BETTER after the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a once-in-a-generation bill that would change America for the better – with help that so many families need for child care, elder care or both – and a massive investment in affordable housing. It also includes major new funding to fight climate change, something Philadelphia experienced firsthand in the Hurricane Ida flooding that hit Manayunk and other neighborhoods in early September," Evans said.

"We're passing a strong version of the Build Back Better Act out of the House, and I urge the Senate to join us soon in delivering for the people with this bill."

Evans said highlights of the bill include:

• Child care and universal pre-K: Providing access to affordable child care for 737,791 Pennsylvania children ages 0 to 5, whose families' costs would be capped at 7 percent of their income. This would be available to families making up to 2.5 times the state's median income – for example, about $241,946 for a family of four. The package would also expand 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.

"Child care is absolutely vital for so many families – and for so many of them, the cost has been a huge burden. We're actually doing something about it! This would also help the economy by helping many businesses that haven't been able to fill jobs," Evans said.

• Affordable housing: More than $150 billion in funding for affordable housing, the single largest investment in affordable housing in the nation's history, including $65 billion to repair public housing, preserving and improving over 500,000 public housing units. The package would help 294,000 households afford their rent; build, upgrade, and retrofit over 1.8 million affordable housing units; and help close the racial wealth gap through the first-ever national investments in homeownership for first-time, first-generation homebuyers.

• Continue the Biden expansion of the Child Tax Credit: "I voted for the Child Tax Credit expansion in the American Rescue Plan in March, and that expansion is on track to cut child poverty in half," Evans said. The package would make permanent the "refundability" provision that has delivered the credit to families most in need, and would extend the expansion a full year through the end of 2022. Evans will continue pushing to make the expansion permanent. The credit now provides qualifying families with up to $300 per month per child under 6, or up to $250 per month per child ages 6 to 17.

• Prescription drugs: Starting in 2025, the federal government would negotiate prices for 10 brand-name prescription drugs beginning in 2025 and expanding to 20 by 2028. The legislation would also require group health plans and insurers to cap patients' cost for insulin at $35 per month in 2023, and cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs at $2,000 per year in 2024. With expanded subsidies for patients and Medicaid expansion in Pennsylvania and most states, most Pennsylvanians should be able to get covered at www.pennie.com or www.healthcare.gov. "I'd like to start help with drug costs even sooner if the opportunity becomes available," said Evans, who has been working for years to help with costs for prescription medications, including insulin. He released a report in 2019 to call attention to the high cost of insulin for residents of the 3rd District.

• Health job training grants: Evans championed the package's expansion of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program, which trains low-income Americans for health-care jobs that pay well and are expected to either experience labor shortages or be in high demand. The package would provide over $300 million per year for the program.

• Environmental justice tax credits: Evans co-led the package's advancement of environmental justice using $1 billion per year in tax credits for research and other academic programs. The legislation would provide a capped, competitive credit for university programs focused on the impacts of climate change on low-income communities and other at-risk communities. The credit would be higher for projects that include historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

• Climate change: Together withthe recently signed infrastructure bill,the legislation would provide nearly $1 trillion in clean energy and climate investments and move the country substantially closer to meeting U.S. greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals of at least 50 percent by 2030 and net zero no later than 2050. The investment is 10 times larger than the $90 billion in clean energy investments in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("Obama stimulus") that is credited for historic advancements in clean energy innovation over the past decade.

Evans has also repeatedly advocated for paid family and medical leave, which has been restored to the House version of the Build Back Better Act. He said resistance in the 50-50 Senate has kept the package from doing even more.

"There is more than a year left in this Congress and there will be additional opportunities to come back for more. What we are passing is historic in its size and amounts to major progress that would make a real difference in so many people's lives in Philadelphia and across the country. This would be massive change, and we can also build on it in the future," Evans said.

Evans represents Pennsylvania's 3rd Congressional District, which includes Northwest and West Philadelphia and parts of North, South, Southwest and Center City Philadelphia. During Evans' first four years in Congress, his office has helped to return to or save more than $6.5 million for Philadelphians from federal agencies such as the IRS, Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs. His website is evans.house.gov and his social media handle is @RepDwightEvans on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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