Congressional Record, Volume 167 Issue 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)

[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H6056-H6064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

{time} 1945
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kahele). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 4, 2021, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I wish a good evening to all of my
colleagues and certainly members of the Congressional Black Caucus. It
is my privilege to be part of the Special Order series of the
Congressional Black Caucus as a coanchor with Congressman Torres from
New York, and we thank him for his leadership. We thank, in particular,
the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Joyce Beatty, who has been
an enormous leader on any number of issues that are crucial to the
American people and to African Americans.
The one thing I say about the Congressional Black Caucus representing
millions and millions of Americans is that we represent a diverse
population of Americans. I am very proud to, as well, represent those
African-American descendants of freed slaves.
In fact, we rise today to emphasize the cruciality of the Build Back
Better Act for moving the Nation forward and particularly moving
forward those whom the Congressional Black Caucus represents. So I am
very pleased this evening to be joined by my outstanding colleagues,
who will include Congresswoman Adams from North Carolina, Congresswoman
Bonnie Watson Coleman from New Jersey, Congressman Dwight Evans from
Pennsylvania, and Congressman Steve Horsford from Nevada. There are
others, such as Congresswoman Gwen Moore from the great State of
Wisconsin. Other Members may come.

General Leave

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear and refute a
statement that I just recently heard on the floor. Nothing is ignorant
in the Build Back Better bill and/or the bipartisan infrastructure
bill. In fact, ignorance is stamped out by these bills. One, they are
fully paid for as we are working the final edges of that, and, number
two, they are doing things that are long overdue for America.
Who are we as President Biden stands at the G20 and now at the
climate change conference? Who are we? We are leaders of the free
world. In fact, we are the leader.
Although there are debates on the status of Russia and the
competitive nature of China, all that has a basis in facts. But at the
same time, as these facts are present, the United States continues to
grow and to move and to ensure opportunity for its citizens. It is not
our creed to randomly snatch people off the street and lock them up. It
is not our focus to ensure that voices are not heard or that people of
different religions are treated differently, arrested, isolated, and
brutalized even. It is not our basic creed to enact laws that would
help us take very important proprietary information from others.
We are a democracy, and we are aided by the laws of that principle.
So I take no back seat to whether or not Russia and China are
competitive or are proposed world powers. What I say is that the United
States has all the elements of continuing her posture of leadership,
and one of those elements will be the successful passage of the Build
Back Better Act and BIF, the bipartisanship infrastructure bill. This
is the kind of legislation that is not seen even amongst our European
friends of late nor of China or Russia.
We are standing on the precipice of history, and I am very grateful
for the

[[Page H6057]]

leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus that has been at the
forefront of these matters. Again, working with so many of our
colleagues, we lead as full committee chairs having input into this
bill.
Let me very quickly indicate that we are strongly supporting the
$1.75 billion Build Back Better Act conceived and advanced by the
President and House Democrats. We are grateful that we have had moments
of negotiations with our other caucuses. Those caucuses are likewise
ensuring that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted.
Mr. Speaker, what is wrong with that? When we finally bring a bill,
we want to make sure that it is vetted, and that is what so many of our
members of the CBC were able to do, to be part of the vetting.
It is also important in 2021, this 21st century, that we go big. It
is often said that the Federal budget is an expression of the Nation's
values and that the investments made to build back better are, in fact,
a clear declaration of congressional Democrats, of the Congressional
Black Caucus, to ensuring that our government, our economy, and our
systems work for the people.
We have always been the voice of the vulnerable. We have always been
the conscience of the Congress. So these are long-overdue investments.
The Build Back Better Act makes transformative investments, as our
chairwoman has often said. We need to continue growing our economy and
lower costs for working families. This $1.75 trillion--which, by the
way, I refute the statement of ignorance because the statement was
ignorant because they were speaking of $3.5 trillion, which was paid
for, but we have come to a conclusion and a compromise of $1.75
trillion.
Are the American people worth this? Are vulnerable communities worth
this? Are children who suffer from lead pipes and water from those
pipes worth it?
The Congressional Black Caucus feels it is the case. That is why we
have supported the improvement in education, healthcare, and childcare.
Childcare, in particular, will particularly help those of our community
who have for too long either gone without childcare and suffered or
paid more than half of their income.
Childcare is an important element of our work, and so I have the
Gingerbread Childcare Center husband and wife who made the sacrifice to
help vulnerable parents have childcare, parents who had to leave in the
middle of the night, people who worked at night, essential workers,
parents who worked for a period of time and, of course, did not have
the kind of childcare that the Gingerbread--a wonderful daycare--
allowed us to have.

We hope that these resources will help these kinds of entities in our
community: $40 billion in education to specifically improve Pell grants
and, as well, to work with historically Black colleges. I know we will
hear that from my colleague, but it is extremely important that we have
never left our HBCUs. They have been at the forefront of funding since
President Biden has come into office. Through the years of the
Congressional Black Caucus, and the voices of our members joined with
our chairwoman of the HBCU Caucus, Congresswoman Adams, we have them
included again in this legislation.
I will be discussing as we go forward healthcare, which is extremely
important. We are excited about getting aid to those in the 12 States,
including Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina, among others, that
did not opt in to the Affordable Care Act-expanded Medicaid. We left so
many families along the highway of despair. Thank goodness we found a
way to bring them now under the Affordable Care Act, to give them
subsidies.
Help is on the way, Houston. Help is on the way, Texas, with the
highest number of uninsured, 766,000. Now, with Build Back Better, we
will have a pathway for them to get healthcare. I can hear the noise of
shouting now down in Houston, Texas, and I can hear the noise of
helping families with children have healthcare, which they did not.
We will talk about that more extensively and, as well, childcare, as
I have mentioned, to be able to ensure not only childcare with only 7
percent of your income but, again, universal and free preschool for all
3- and 4-year-olds.
That is something to say to China, Russia, and others, that America
recognizes what its priority is, and it is our children.
You will hear, Mr. Speaker, just a long litany of how lives will be
helped, how we will rebuild families, home care, giving dignity to
those essential workers, taking care of people in the latter part of
their lives, ensuring dignity and income but also ensuring the
opportunity for these individuals to be able to be cared for at home.
I will be discussing further the affordable housing that is very
important. Then, of course, is a major element of all of this, as the
President stands in front of the tens upon tens of countries, leading
on climate change, for which we gave him a standing ovation when he
left for his European meetings.
Mr. Speaker, you will hear more about this as we go forward this
evening. I am delighted that the Congressional Black Caucus played such
an instrumental role in dealing with the Federal Medicaid problem and
solving childcare, HBCUs, climate change, and dealing with maternal
issues for African-American women and many others.
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield to the gentlewoman from North
Carolina (Ms. Adams).
Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas
for her stellar leadership, for coanchoring tonight, and for all the
support that she has continued to give, and the leadership of the CBC.
Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to speak about the importance of
passing the Build Back Better Act, legislation nothing short of
transformational for Black America.
It extends the child care tax credit for a year, cutting child
poverty in half. In North Carolina, that is a lifeline for hundreds of
thousands of children who go to bed hungry every night.
It puts $150 billion toward affordable housing, which has been
described as the single largest and most comprehensive investment in
affordable housing in history. In Charlotte and so many other
communities across the country, that is real progress on our affordable
housing crisis and real relief for over half a million Americans who
don't have a roof over their heads.
As the chair of the CBC HBCU Caucus and cofounder of the
Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus, I am proud to say that this
package provides approximately $10 billion specifically for
historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving
institutions, including $3 billion for research and development grants
at these institutions and $6 billion for increased Pell grants and
institutional support to lower the cost of college.
Universal childcare and pre-K will prepare children to receive the
education that they need to succeed in school and be admitted to
college.
As the cofounder and co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus
with Representative Underwood, I am also proud to say that the Build
Back Better Act includes all eligible provisions of our Momnibus
legislation and permanently expands yearlong postpartum Medicaid and
CHIP coverage in every State.

The maternal health and morbidity crisis in this country is
unacceptable, but the Build Back Better Act gets us closer to the day
when every parent who enters the maternity ward and every child born in
America makes it home safe.
Finally, I would like to take a point of personal privilege to
recognize the hard work of our Congressional Black Caucus chair, Joyce
Beatty, and all the members and committee chairs on this legislation.
I believe that promises made must be promised kept, and this package
keeps our promise to all Americans. I implore my colleagues to pass the
Build Back Better Act and the bipartisan infrastructure framework
together. This is Our Power, Our Message.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North
Carolina for her words. Again, I emphasize her commitment, dedication,
and work on historically Black colleges, and she is absolutely right:
$10 billion. But more importantly, that is layered upon the dollars out
of the American Rescue Act, out of the CARES Act, and the debt under
President Joe Biden that has been effectively worked on in this
congressional session. We know

[[Page H6058]]

that we are doing better by our students because we have done better by
them as it relates to education.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson
Coleman), who chairs the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime
Security of the Committee on Homeland Security and has been committed
to improving the lives of young African-American women and, of course,
those dealing with mental health issues as well.

{time} 2000

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas
for spearheading this Special Order hour and for giving me an
opportunity to share a few of my remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today optimistic, optimistic that our country is
on the verge of taking a historic step forward for all of our
communities. The Build Back Better Act is a once-in-a-generation
investment in our country as a whole and in Black Americans,
specifically. For too long, our country's institutions have been
apathetic and even adversarial toward Black people. Four hundred years
of slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, and other forms of systemic
violence have trapped Black Americans in a vicious cycle from which it
can be nearly impossible to break.
The Build Back Better Act will not instantly remedy four centuries of
that pain and hardship, but it is a crucial starting point. Through
revitalizing infrastructure and funding essential social services, the
President's agenda will set the next generation of Black Americans up
for success.
Building back better means directly confronting the Black mental
health crisis. This bill would fund universal childcare and pre-K,
allowing Black mothers to return to the workforce while giving Black
children the early childhood care that they need.
Building back better means giving those same Black children safe
places to grow up, to learn, and to thrive. We will do that by making
the single-largest housing investment in our Nation's history.
Building back better means ensuring those very same children have
long, successful lives. That is why the bill invests billions of
dollars into historically Black colleges and universities. This is new
money on top of our annual funding of HBCUs.
Many of us in this Chamber today, myself included, wanted more out of
the Build Back Better Act. No, this bill is not perfect, and much more
work will remain to be done after its passage. This does not change the
fact, however, that the Build Back Better Act represents monumental
progress for our country; progress for everyday Americans; progress for
elder Americans; progress for children in America; progress for working
Americans; and, yes, progress for African Americans and other
minorities.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my wonderful colleagues to support the
Build Back Better Act.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much for
recognizing that this will be transformative, but as well, that it will
do and improve in areas that we have not done in the history of the
United States of America.
Mr. Speaker, I am now delighted to yield to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans), from Philadelphia, who has been instrumental
in dealing with issues of taxation and the empowerment of small
businesses.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to first thank my colleague from
the great State of Texas for yielding. Since I have been here, I have
watched her relentless passion for Black people, and she has not let
anybody stand in the way, and I am proud to stand with her and also the
chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Chairwoman Beatty. She, too,
has led this Caucus, and I am honored to be here just to add my voice
to this discussion this evening.
President Biden's Build Back Better framework would bring down costs
that have held back families in Pennsylvania for decades. It would do
this by cutting taxes and making childcare, home care, education,
healthcare, and housing more affordable.
Let me repeat that, Mr. Speaker. President Biden's Build Back Better
framework would bring down the costs that have held back families in
Pennsylvania for decades. It would do this by cutting taxes and making
childcare, home care, education, healthcare, and housing more
affordable. These investments will provide new learning opportunities
for children, help parents--and especially working parents--make ends
meet, and it positions the economy for a stronger growth for years to
come.
As the Congresswoman said from the great State of Texas: This is
transformational. And that is why I am happy to be a part of this
discussion. The framework will create good-paying jobs for
Pennsylvanians, combat climate change, give our kids cleaner air and
water, and make America the leader in global innovation and 21st
century manufacturing, which means jobs and opportunities, which means
a sense of hope and optimism.
Mr. Speaker, this is a moment for all of us and we must not sit back.
And the Congressional Black Caucus, by what is taking place here, is
demonstrating that it is there. As the late John Lewis used to say: If
you see something, do something. And the Congressional Black Caucus is
following that lead.
We all recognize, as the late John Lewis used to say: If you think
things haven't changed, just walk in my shoes.
I want to focus tonight on childcare, which is so vital to our
families and putting our economy back on track. It is a major reason
why many Americans have not been able to go back to work. In
Pennsylvania, the average yearly cost of childcare centers for a
toddler is over $11,000. That means a Pennsylvania family with two
young children, on average, spends 22 percent of their income on
childcare for 1 year.
The lack of affordable options also contributes to the 15 percent
gender gap in workforce participation between mothers and fathers; 15
percent. That is outrageous. That should not be accepted.
The Build Back Better framework is the way to go. President Biden has
shown the kind of leadership and vision that is necessary. That is why
the Congressional Black Caucus stands so proudly to join this effort
with the rest of our colleagues who are ready to lead.
This is just that kind of moment. We want to be at the right place at
the right time. The building back framework would enable Pennsylvanians
to provide access to childcare for more than 737,000 young children
ages 0 to 5 per year from families earning under 2.5 times the State
median income. I want to repeat that. The building back framework would
enable Pennsylvania to provide access to childcare for more than
700,000 young children ages 0 to 5 per year from families earning under
2.5 times the median income, and it would ensure these families would
pay no more than 7 percent of their income on high-quality childcare.

This is something that is extremely important. This is something,
when the President talks about building back better, it puts us all in
the right position. It is something that needs to happen. It is
something that is long overdue. We in the Congressional Black Caucus
are prepared to join with the President and to send a message that
building back better is in the interest of America.
The President realizes that. He understood a long time ago about the
needs that we have. So I compliment him in joining with our chairperson
and joining with our colleague from the great State of Texas and their
leadership, and all of us joining with him tonight to show that we are
prepared to help lead this battle; that no one can do it by themselves,
but we need to be prepared.
We made a promise to build back better after the pandemic and this
framework would do just that. Mr. Speaker, this is an opportunity for
all of us. This is an opportunity for us to stand tall, to raise the
issue about building back better. We all recognize this. This entire
package, Build Back Better and the infrastructure package together,
will make a huge difference in our economy.
It is something that we all have worked on and we all understand the
importance of it. So I share with you as one member of this Caucus,
proudly of the Congressional Black Caucus, proudly of Pennsylvania,
proudly a citizen of the United States, that I am ready for this. And I
thank my colleague Sheila Jackson Lee for her leadership and all that
she has done.

[[Page H6059]]

As I have watched her, even though she hasn't noticed it, she has
been in the forefront. She hasn't missed a fight, and I am glad to be a
part of every effort.
So with the Congressional Black Caucus I stand proudly on the
President's Building Back Better framework, and I am ready to vote for
it.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania
for recognizing that a vital part of the lives of families is
childcare.
As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I know that he was
extremely engaged in this very vital aspect of the President's Build
Back Better, and, again, we thank the wisdom of the President of the
United States, President Biden and Vice President Harris, for their
wisdom about helping American families.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), the
first vice-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and someone who
worked extensively on work training issues, extensively on healthcare,
and of course, on issues like childcare, as well.
Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my coanchor, my
distinguished colleague Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for her
tremendous leadership and for anchoring this Special Order hour, and,
of course, our chairwoman, Joyce Beatty, for her tremendous leadership
in leading the Congressional Black Caucus, which represents more than
17 million Black constituents across this great country. We represent
not only Black Americans, but all Americans, diverse Americans. And
what those Americans have been telling me in my district back home in
Nevada's Fourth District, it is time for us to build back better and to
do it in a more equitable and inclusive way.
Tonight, we are here to bring attention to the fact that we are
standing at a crossroads of history. With the bipartisan infrastructure
deal and the Build Back Better Act, Congress has the opportunity to
finally rebuild our economy to deliver huge tax cuts to the middle
class and to lower the cost of living for families on everything from
childcare to healthcare.
The question is: Will our colleagues on the other side of the aisle
work with us to deliver these important investments on behalf of the
American people? Now, we have seen transformative legislation like this
before when Congress worked to rebuild the American society in the wake
of the Great Depression, but never, and I mean never, have people of
color benefited like they could under the Build Back Better Act.
I think it is our majority whip, Jim Clyburn, who has talked about
the history of these other measures and how they actually left entire
communities out. They left women out. They left communities of color
out, and we are still dealing with the systemic issues of being left
out of those policies for far too long.
So I want to again thank our leadership because it wasn't just this
bill and the drafting of this bill and, yes, President Biden wrote this
bill, he wrote it with the support of his team at the White House, but
with a whole lot of good input from colleagues over here in the
Capitol, including here in the Congressional Black Caucus.

{time} 2015

I know that there are colleagues of mine who have been working on key
elements of this bill for a very long time. I know that they, like
myself, are ready to act on behalf of the American people.
So I look forward to having a little bit of a colloquy with my
colleague from Wisconsin. I believe that it is so important, Mr.
Speaker, that we talk about what is in this bill. For far too long,
people have been focused about a top-line number, about the process,
about the personalities here on Capitol Hill and whether certain
factions are with the bill or working on the bill. With all due
respect, I want to talk about policy and the policy that affects
people, the people in my district, in Nevada's Fourth District, and the
people all across this country.
Why? Because the Build Back Better Act will cut childcare costs. For
families that are eligible under this bill, they won't pay more than 7
percent of their household income to cover childcare, something that
women and communities of color desperately need as we talk about the
workforce shortage and the inequities that are in our workforce.
What sense does it make when someone who has to work--I will give you
an example--Ms. Rosetta, who is a constituent of mine, is a home care
worker. I had a roundtable with her and some other home care workers.
She shared with me that when she started her job several years ago, she
got paid $9.50 an hour. Today, she makes just over $10 an hour. Think
about that.
For several years, this woman, who is a home care worker, who goes
into elderly citizens' homes to take care of them, to make sure that
they are fed, that they are bathed, that literally she changes their
diapers, she is their companion, she hasn't been given a raise of more
than 50 cents over the course of several years. That is unconscionable.
Under the Build Back Better Act, we are actually investing in home
care workers, not only to help make that profession what it should be,
an honorable one that pays them what they are worth, but also equips
them with the support that they need for their own families. Why is it
okay for them to take care of other people's families and then not even
have the resources and the means to take care of their own?
It also gives every child a head start with universal pre-K for 3-
and 4-year-olds. Mr. Speaker, we have talked a lot about how we help
young people get the start they need in life, and we know that by
investing in their early success, it improves academic skill
attainment, allowing them to read at an early age. Reading is essential
to every other subject that they have to learn. It will ensure that
they improve their graduation rates, which improves their life chances
of success.
To my colleagues on the other side, when you say that we are spending
too much in this package, are we spending too much for that home care
worker, for Rosetta, and so many other people like her? Are we spending
too much to give working families the support they need to be able to
afford childcare? Are we spending too much so that every child in our
country has a good start through universal prekindergarten? These are
but just a few of the benefits.
Now, before I go on and I yield to my colleague here, I want to talk
about one other important element. We have spent a lot of time on the
Build Back Better Act, but I am also for the bipartisan infrastructure
deal. Why? Yes, it is going to create millions of good-paying, union
jobs. Yeah, I have no problem saying ``union'' here in this body,
because it is the unions that helped build the middle class. If we are
going to build this country back better, we need to do it with unions
at the center of it.
Not only does it do that, it expands broadband access, providing
broadband connectivity in our households in rural communities and in
urban areas.
My district covers 52,000 square miles. I have parts of Las Vegas and
North Las Vegas that need broadband, but I have six rural communities
throughout Nevada, many of them that do not have adequate broadband. In
fact, it is a broadband desert throughout certain parts of my rural
communities. They need the investment.
It also makes the largest Federal investment in public transit in
history. Mr. Speaker, maybe more Members of Congress should have to
ride the bus, and they would understand the investments that are in
this bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Yet, the minority leader on the other side is literally trying to
whip votes against this bipartisan infrastructure bill, a bill that 19
Senate Republicans voted for, along with every Democrat. Now, it is our
turn to vote for it, and they won't work with us to deliver the largest
investment in public transit in history?
You have constituents that rely on public transit. That is the only
way some veterans can get to their doctors' appointments. Seniors,
college students, working people. This has direct implications on the
climate crisis as well. When people have to stand outside for hours in
order to catch a bus, that affects their exposure to everything from
heat to snow in Wisconsin. We don't have that in Vegas.
Finally, it will remove lead from the water our children and other
vulnerable populations drink. These are just three of the very
important provisions that are in the bipartisan infrastructure deal.

[[Page H6060]]

I am ready to vote for these bills, Mr. Speaker. I wish we could
schedule the vote tomorrow, because these are investments that people
in Nevada's Fourth District are depending on. They sent me to Congress
to solve problems and to make their lives better. These two bills do
that, and they do it in very significant and meaningful ways. In fact,
it is probably the largest investment in people in a generation, and we
have a chance to do it. It is the Congressional Black Caucus, among
others, that are leading.
I want to yield to my colleague, Congresswoman Moore. Let me ask you,
because I know as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, you have
been a champion on the racial equity. You have been a champion for the
poor, particularly women, women of color, who have been
disproportionately affected by this pandemic and its recession on our
economy. So what is it in this bill that makes you so excited to vote
for it, and how will other communities benefit, beyond just some of the
things that I have touched on?

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman so very,
very much for that question. It really has been a joy working with him
on the Ways and Means Committee. It has been an education, and it has
also been an opportunity to do those things that he has indicated that
are close to my heart, and that is to create some equities for women
and children.
I want to just thank Representative Sheila Jackson Lee for anchoring
this extremely important conversation with the American people today.
One of the things that has been disturbing me about this entire
debate is that people seem to really want to make some sort of bright-
line demarcation or differentiation between the bipartisan
infrastructure bill--which will create economic opportunities, get rid
of those darned lead pipes, expand broadband, create good union jobs,
help create some great jobs for guys--and the Build Back Better
initiative, as if that is some sort of welfare, a giveaway. Social
spending is what it is referred to, a safety net.
So what I wanted to seek from you, a clarification from you, Mr.
Horsford, particularly since you were appointed by the Committee on
Ways and Means, along with our colleagues, Representatives Sewell and
Gomez, to look at our racial equity issue. Of course, we know that
African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be poor, have a
greater wealth gap, and lack of educational opportunities, so that when
we think that we are investing in their improvement, that somehow it is
welfare.
But I would sort of want you to take up the argument where you left
it with regard to some of the economic problems that we are
experiencing. There are major complaints in our country about a
slowdown in economic growth. What good is it to just grow the economy
when only the people at the top get it and it doesn't, excuse me,
trickle down to Rosetta, who is making $10.25 an hour doing the hardest
work on earth there is?
How does the earned income tax credit--I mean, we were taxing, before
we changed this policy, to allow single, hardworking, essential workers
that brought us food during the pandemic, stocked the shelves, we were
taxing them into poverty. They had tax liability before the earned
income tax credit expansion.
Going to work with no healthcare, no health insurance, being unable
to afford it, not having childcare, as you mentioned. Expanded Pell
grants.
Please explain how the Build Back Better plan really improves and
buoys the economic platform upon which the country can improve. The
workforce development initiatives that are in here, I was wondering if
you could elucidate the connection between that and our economy and
sort of diffuse this notion that it is simply a safety net and welfare.
Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Wisconsin makes a very
valid point.
I heard you over the weekend on one of the news outlets making the
same point. Both of these bills are economic packages. I really resent,
in fact, some of the inferences that have been made during this debate
that somehow providing economic support for people to benefit and to
fully participate in our economy is somehow an entitlement program.
The child tax credit, for example. You talked about the earned income
tax credit. I will talk about the child tax credit. This is a tax
program. It is not an entitlement program. Just like we give tax cuts
to the very wealthy and the big corporations--that is what the
Republicans did when they were in the majority. They spent the majority
of their time trying to figure out how to provide 83 percent of the
benefits to the top 1 percent and a tax cut that some of the businesses
did not even ask for, as much as they got.
Now, Democrats are in charge, and what have we done? We started with
the American Rescue Plan. In that, we provided a tax cut for middle-
class families, the child tax credit, which actually has already lifted
about 50 percent of children out of poverty, higher rates for Black,
Latino, and Native American children out of poverty.
Now, there was a debate a couple of weeks ago that we now need to put
a work requirement, means test, and we need to change the threshold to
make people with lower incomes eligible and those with higher incomes--
like $90,000 is enough to not receive a tax credit. I am glad that
President Biden rejected those ideas. But it was the Congressional
Black Caucus that stood up and said no, because this is an economic
package, and we need provide economic supports to families.
The other part that you so ably noted is what are some of the
barriers that women face in the workforce. You talked about this in our
committee: childcare, healthcare, transportation. These are the basics
that people need, particularly women. Who was the hardest hit during
this pandemic and recession? Women, particularly women of color, Black
women, Latinas, and Native American women. So if we are going to build
back better, we need to do it in a way that is intentional in a way of
helping them and making sure that they're supported.

{time} 2030

I just want to share one story. Keeonn, who is a constituent of mine,
is a young father in my district. He wrote to me about how he is using
that child tax credit, which is a tax cut, and the advance payment that
we provided, that $300 a month. You know what he is using that money
for? To buy healthy food for his daughter.
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Excellent.
Mr. HORSFORD. And he said it may be only $300, but in the end, it is
help that we are most grateful for. That is what this is about.
When the Republicans gave the tax cut to the very wealthy, some of
those corporations just went back and bought more stocks for
themselves, made themselves wealthier, gave their CEOs bigger bonuses,
didn't pay their workers more in wages, didn't expand healthcare,
didn't provide childcare, didn't make their workers feel valued. And
now because of that, many workers today are having a hard time.
But yet Democrats, through the Congressional Black Caucus, are
standing up, and we are pushing back, and that is what the Build Back
Better Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill is all about. I
yield.
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. It is going to be great. Madam anchor, I
don't know how much time we have, but I just want to say, I want to
join Mr. Horsford in saying that I am really enthusiastic about voting
for both of these bills, because I do think that it is going to create
a brand-new environment for all of us where we will have workforce
development training for these new technologies on climate and battery
storage.
I am so proud of the African Americans who have been chairs of these
committees, like Bobby Scott and Eddie Bernice Johnson, Maxine Waters
who put $150 billion in for housing. As was indicated, these things are
going to enable workers to truly participate in the economy. It is
going to help companies, and we are going to build back better.
I yield back to the gentlewoman from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank both Mr.
Horsford and Ms. Moore for one of the important colloquies that I have
heard on the floor of this body, and that is to be able to speak to
people who are

[[Page H6061]]

working hard every day, who are single parents, who work with their
minds and their hands.
I am glad to hear that we did not limit who would be able to receive
these benefits, and we also crafted the vitality and the vigorous
efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus.
As I close, Mr. Speaker, I would like to just reiterate what Members,
including the leadership of our chair, Chairwoman Joyce Beatty,
Congresswoman Adams, Congresswoman Watson Coleman, Congressman Evans,
obviously Mr. Horsford and Ms. Moore, what they all have said, if I
might. And that is, let me reiterate that each piece of Build Back
Better is a piece that is vital for the lives of Americans and African
Americans.
For example, $550 more in Pell grants for more than 5 million
students. Then HBCUs, again, $10 billion. Seniors who have never had
hearing aids, only 30 percent of seniors over the age of 70 who could
benefit from hearing aids have ever had them. Medicare in this Build
Back Better will include that extra benefit. Many of us have seen the
caricatures of our seniors on television and elsewhere trying to hear.
That is not anything that is funny, but it has been made light of. I
want to give every senior an opportunity to hear.
At the same time, I want to emphasize the importance of childcare. We
are telling the story. Only 26.8 percent of Black 3- to 4-year-old
children are enrolled in publicly funded preschool, with the average
cost of preschool for those without access $8,600. We are going to stop
it with this.
We are not going to be the Trump trillion-dollar tax cut to the top 1
percent and putting a deep dive into our deficit. We are going to put a
deep investment into the American people, particularly those people of
color.
I think it is extremely important that we talk about children and
healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman has about 8 minutes.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. This is about children getting access to healthcare
but, Mr. Speaker, there are many children that don't have access to
healthcare. In those States where families were not able to access the
Affordable Care Act--and there is something called Children's Health
Insurance Program, and that does provide for some aspect of care--we
had the Federal Medicaid concept, and so Build Back Better now is going
to put all of those people under the Affordable Care Act, and that is
going to give the family access to healthcare, which makes a sizable
difference. I think it is extremely important that we do that, to be
able to provide family healthcare.
Now, I heard our Members be very truthful. We still want to get
Medicare reduction on prescription drugs, a system that would allow
that. We still want family paid leave, and somebody said that that was
continuing to be negotiated. No, Mr. Speaker, it is working under the
umbrella and framework of President Biden's agenda, and we want to just
make sure that all of his agenda, within the context of being paid for,
gets recognized. We want these families to receive the kind of
resources that are necessary.
My colleagues talked about the child tax cut. I would like to call it
that. I would just like to be sure that we realize that if this plan is
implemented, it may impact 17 million low-wage employees, such as
hospitality workers and childcare providers, a framework of a tax cut
that would help children. They are people who work important jobs but
receive low pay, and this would get nearly 6 million people out of
poverty with this kind of cut. This is a crucial contribution.
Let me finish by letting you know what we have certainly gone through
in Texas. Infrastructure is extremely important. Part of that is
housing. During the pandemic, these are the kinds of signs we saw: ``My
landlord is calling, and I must pay or I will be evicted.''

Now, we have the American Rescue Plan and the CARES Act, but $150
billion will be in for housing, improving the infrastructure of public
housing. That hasn't been done in decades; 50 years I am told. And we
will get that done. That is what is important about the BIF bill, the
infrastructure bill that will have broadband. The very places where
those people live, take the lead out of the pipes.
And then, of course, for those of us who live in hurricane alley, our
friends in Louisiana with Hurricane Ida, my constituents with Hurricane
Harvey, and the number of hurricanes that have crossed the United
States during 2017, one after another. We will have in that
infrastructure bill a worthy response to the failing infrastructure of
this Nation.
We won't have to worry about what people say about Russia and China
or any other country. We will be enormously competitive, even to the
point of NASA. No one has even expressed their interest in that. They
will have a space here to be able to keep us competitive in space
exploration.
It will be extremely important that we have the opportunity to stop
violence with our community violence investment, $2.5 billion.
I am delighted to say this is the work of the Congressional Black
Caucus. They put their hands around all of it, for our constituents and
the American people. What Mr. Horsford has been speaking of is that he
is proud to give a listing. That is what I did, I did a roll call of
just what is going to be helped with Build Back Better and with BIF.
I am delighted to stand here with the vice chair, and I yield to the
gentleman.
Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
I want to laud her and the members of the Congressional Black Caucus
for all of the tremendous work on behalf of our families, on behalf of
children, on behalf of communities.
I want to just point out one additional thing that Ms. Jackson Lee
has worked on as the chair of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and
Homeland Security in the Judiciary Committee and for her tremendous
leadership on this. In her capacity on the Judiciary Committee, last
year the United States saw the highest increase in gun homicides since
national recordkeeping began. That was in 2020. And, sadly, we are
still on track to see that number continue to increase this year.
This violence, Mr. Speaker, falls disproportionately on young Black
men. Even though we make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population, we
account for about 50 percent of gun homicide victims. Now, those
statistics aren't just numbers. They are lives. And they are lives that
every one of us should be held to account for.
For me, as a Black man, raising three children with my wife--two sons
and a daughter--it hits me very directly because this is what we worry
about every single day when our children leave our homes, because these
are our friends, they are our children.
I am proud, Mr. Speaker, that the Congressional Black Caucus made
this issue a priority, and we went to President Biden and to Vice
President Harris, and we talked to them about the need to stop the
onslaught of deaths. And he listened. He listened, and he included $5
billion of funding and a bill that I am proud to have sponsored, along
with my colleagues, the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, which funds
community-based violence intervention programs to save lives.
Now, this is proven to work. These are community-based programs and
partnerships with faith-based, community-based organizations to provide
mental health and wellness, job training and placement, and
intervention programs so that when we pass the Build Back Better Act,
it will include $5 billion of funding over 8 years and an additional
amount of funding specifically for workforce development and placement.
For months now we have negotiated in good faith. We have worked with
our colleagues. We have listened. Now it is time for us to move
forward. No more delays. No more excuses about process, no more
focusing on personalities here in Washington. Let's focus on the people
and the policy that will benefit them and their lives.
Four years ago, when the Republicans were in control of the White
House, the House, and the Senate, they used their majority to pass tax
cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent and the biggest corporations in our
country. Today, Democrats are in the majority, and our priority is to
deliver for the people.
I am proud to work with my colleagues in the Congressional Black
Caucus and the House Democrats to deliver this historic package. We are

[[Page H6062]]

going to get it done. I yield back to the gentlewoman from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, we are excited about this violence
emphasis. As I conclude my remarks, let me pay tribute to deputies in
my district who were shot by an AR-15. We pray for them, their
families, and we should understand that violence has to end.
At the same time, let's take the words of John Robert Lewis, who sat
with us on this floor for more than 27 years, and in his last life he
said to all of us, the Congressional Black Caucus, that is what we are
going to do, carry on. We are going to carry on to make sure that we
bring transformative--transformative--legislation, not only to the
American people but to African Americans and people of color to change
their lives forever. That is what Build Back is, and that is what the
bipartisan bill is. We will work to make sure we cross the T's and dot
the I's. Carry on.
Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary,
on Homeland Security, and on the Budget, and the Congressional Black
Caucus, I am pleased to co-anchor this Congressional Black Caucus
Special Order with my colleague, the distinguished gentleman from New
York, Congressman Ritchie Torres.
I thank the Chair of the CBC, Congresswoman Beatty of Ohio, for
organizing this Special Order to discuss the reasons why the CBC
strongly supports the $1.75 billion Build Back Better Act conceived and
advanced by President Biden and House Democrats to support visionary
and transformative investments in the health, well-being, and financial
security of America's workers and families.
Over the next hour, several of our colleagues will share their
perspectives on why it is essential that we ``go big'' in building back
better to our nation and all of its people have the opportunities and
resources to compete and win in the changing global economy of the 21st
century.
Mr. Speaker, it is often said that the federal budget is an
expression of the nation's values and the investments made to Build
America Back Better are a clear declaration of congressional Democrats'
commitment to ensuring that our government, our economy, and our
systems work For The People.
Mr. Speaker, these long-overdue investments in America's future will
be felt in every corner of the country and across every sector of
American life, building on the success of the American Rescue Plan,
accommodating historic infrastructure investments in the legislative
pipeline, and addressing longstanding deficits in our communities by
ending an era of chronic underinvestment so we can emerge from our
current crises a stronger, more equitable nation.
Mr. Speaker, the bipartisan action we took in February 2021 when we
passed the American Rescue Plan was a giant step in the right
direction, but it was a targeted response to the immediate and urgent
public health and economic crises; it was not a long-term solution to
many of the pressing challenges facing our nation that have built up
over decades of disinvestment in our nation and its people in every
region and sector of the country.
We simply can no longer afford the costs of neglect and inaction; the
time to act is now.
The Build Back Better Act makes the transformative investments that
we need to continue growing our economy, lower costs for working
families, and position the United States as a global leader in
innovation and the jobs of the future.
This $1.75 trillion gross investment will build on the successes of
the American Rescue Plan and set our nation on a path of fiscal
responsibility and broadly shared prosperity for generations to come.
The Build Back Better Act will provide resources to improve our
education, health, and child care systems, invest in clean energy and
sustainability, address the housing crisis, and more; all while setting
America up to compete and win in the decades ahead.
The Build Back Better Act is paid for by ensuring that the wealthy
and big corporations are paying their fair share and Americans making
less than $400,000 a year will not see their taxes increase by a penny.
Let me repeat that: No American making less than $400,000 a year will
not see their taxes increase by a penny.
In sum, Mr. Speaker, the investments made by the Build Back Better
Act will expand opportunity for all and build an economy powered by
shared prosperity and inclusive growth.
No one is better prepared or more experienced to lead the American
renaissance that will be produced by the investments made by the Build
Back Better Act than President Biden, the architect of the American
Rescue Plan and who as vice president during the Obama Administration
oversaw the implementation of the Recovery Act, which saved millions of
jobs and rescued our economy from the Great Recession the nation
inherited from a previous Republican administration.
And let us not forget that President Obama also placed his confidence
in his vice-president to oversee the rescue of the automotive industry,
which he did so well that the American car industry fully recovered its
status as the world leader.
Mr. Speaker, let me briefly highlight some of the key investments
made by the Build Back Better Act.
The Build Back Better Act will provide two years of free pre-K and
two years of free community college to ensure every student has the
tools, resources, and opportunity to succeed in life.
It will also invest in our teachers and institutions that serve
minority students and provide funding to give school buildings long-
overdue infrastructure updates.
People lead happier, healthier, and more productive lives when they
have had access to high-quality education and that is why the Build
Back Better Act makes necessary investments to increase quality
education by four years for all students at no cost to hard-working
families.
The Build Back Better Act expands access to affordable, high-quality
education beyond high school, which is increasingly important for
economic growth and competitiveness in the 21st century.
Specifically, the Build Back Better Act will increase the maximum
Pell Grant by $550 for more the more than 5 million students enrolled
in public and private, non-profit colleges and expand access to
DREAMers.
It will also make historic investments in Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and
minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to build capacity, modernize
research infrastructure, and provide financial aid to low income
students.
The Build Back Better Act will help more people access quality
training that leads to good, union, and middle-class jobs and will
enable community colleges to train hundreds of thousands of students,
create sector-based training opportunity with in-demand training for at
least hundreds of thousands of workers, and invest in proven approaches
like Registered Apprenticeships and programs to support underserved
communities.
The Build Back Better Act will increase the Labor Department's annual
spending on workforce development by 50 percent for each of the next 5
years.
The Build Back Better Act expands access to quality, affordable
health care by strengthening the Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable
Care Act (ACA) Marketplace programs that millions of Americans already
rely on.
It includes a major new expansion of Medicare benefits, adding a
hearing benefit to the program for the very first time.
Only 30 percent of seniors over the age of 70 who could benefit from
hearing aids have ever had them.
The Build Back Better Act strengthens the Affordable Care Act and
reduces premiums for 9 million Americans who buy insurance through the
Affordable Care Act Marketplace by an average of $600 per person per
year.
Just for example, a family of four earning $80,000 per year would
save nearly $3,000 per year (or $246 per month) on health insurance
premiums and experts predict that more than 3 million people who would
otherwise be uninsured will gain health insurance.
The Build Back Better Act closes the Medicaid coverage gap, leading 4
million uninsured people to gain coverage.
The Build Back Better Act will deliver health care coverage through
Affordable Care Act premium tax credits to up to 4 million uninsured
people in states that have locked them out of Medicaid.
A 40-year old in the coverage gap would have to pay $450 per month
for benchmark coverage--more than half of their income in many cases
but thanks to the Build Back Better Act individuals would pay $0
premiums, finally making health care affordable and accessible.
The Build Back Better Act strengthens the ACA by extending the
enhanced Marketplace subsidies that were included in the American
Rescue Plan.
It also provides an affordable coverage option for the more than two
million Americans living in states that have not expanded Medicaid
under the ACA and do not earn enough to qualify for Marketplace
subsidies.
When the Build Back Better Act is fully implemented soon gone will be
the terrible old days when too many Americans are forced to choose
between medical care and putting food on the table or affording other
necessities.
Mr. Speaker, approximately 3.9 million Black people were uninsured in
2019 before President Biden took office and even with the Affordable
Care Act's premium subsidies, coverage under the ACA was too expensive
for many families, and over 570,000 Black people fell into the Medicaid
``coverage gap'' and were locked out of coverage because their state
refused to expand Medicaid.

[[Page H6063]]

The Build Back Better Act closes the Medicaid coverage gap while also
lowering health care costs for those buying coverage through the ACA by
extending the American Rescue Plan's lower premiums, which could save
360,000 Black people an average of $50 per person per month.
With these changes, more than one in three uninsured Black people
could gain coverage and with the addition of hearing coverage, more
than 5.8 million Black people on Medicare will benefit.
The Build Back Better Act will make an historic investment in
maternal health, including for Black women, who die from complications
related to pregnancy at three times the rate of white women.

Mr. Speaker, the cost of preschool in the United States exceeds
$8,600 per year on average, and for as long as we can remember, child
care prices in the United States have risen faster than family incomes,
yet the United States still invests 28 times less than its competitors
on helping families afford high-quality care for toddlers.
The Build Back Better Act supports families in need of child care by
providing access to safe, reliable, and high-quality care delivered by
a well-trained child care workforce.
The Build Back Better Act will provide universal and free preschool
for all 3- and 4-year-olds.
This is the largest expansion of universal and free education since
states and communities across the country established public high
school 100 years ago.
This is important because our nation is strongest when everyone can
join the workforce and contribute to the economy.
That is why this investment is vital to so many millions of--
especially women--who are often forced to choose between working to
support their family or caring for their family.
The Build Back Better Act will ensure that the vast majority of
working American families of four earning less than $300,000 per year
will pay no more than 7 percent of their income on child care for
children under 6.
Under the Build Back Better Act, parents who are working, looking for
work, participating in an education or training program, and who are
making under 2.5 times their states median income will receive support
to cover the cost of quality care based on a sliding scale, capped at 7
percent of their income.
The Build Back Better Act will help states expand access to high-
quality, affordable child care to about 20 million children per year--
covering 9 out of 10 families across the country with young children.
For two parents with one toddler earning $100,000 per year, the Build
Back Better Act will produce more than $5,000 in child care savings per
year.
In addition, the Build Back Better Act promotes nutrition security to
support children's health and help children reach their full potential
by investing in nutrition security year-round.
The legislation will expand free school meals to 8.7 million children
during the school year and provide a $65 per child per month benefit to
the families of 29 million children to purchase food during the summer.
The Build Back Better Act will deliver affordable, high-quality care
for older Americans and people with disabilities in their homes, while
supporting the workers who provide this care.
Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of older Americans and
Americans with disabilities on waiting lists for home care services or
struggling to afford the care they need, including more than 800,000
who are on state Medicaid waiting lists.
A family paying for home care costs out of pocket currently pays
around $5,800 per year for just four hours of home care per week.
The Build Back Better Act will permanently improve Medicaid coverage
for home care services for seniors and people with disabilities, making
the most transformative investment in access to home care in 40 years,
when these services were first authorized for Medicaid.
The Build Back Better Act will improve the quality of caregiving
jobs, which will, in turn, help to improve the quality of care provided
to beneficiaries.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that the
Build Back Better Act will also reduce the cost of homebased care for
the hundreds of thousands of older Black adults and Black people with
disabilities who need it and are unable to access it.
Not to mention that investment in home care will raise wages for home
care workers, 28 percent of whom are Black.
In the area of housing, the Build Back Better Act makes investments
to ensure that Americans have access to safe and affordable housing by
providing resources to increase housing vouchers and funding for tribal
housing.
It also supports investments in programs that will help address our
nation's housing crisis by increasing the supply of affordable homes
for those in need and investing in historically underserved communities
and those that have been previously left behind.
Specifically, the Build Back Better Act makes the single largest and
most comprehensive investment in affordable housing in history and will
enable the construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of more than 1
million affordable homes, boosting housing supply and reducing price
pressures for renters and homeowners.
It will address the capital needs of the public housing stock in big
cities and rural communities all across America and ensure it is not
only safe and habitable but healthier and more energy efficient as
well.
It will make a historic investment in rental assistance, expanding
vouchers to hundreds of thousands of additional families.
And, perhaps even more importantly, the Build Back Better Act
includes one of the largest investments in down payment assistance in
history, enabling hundreds of thousands of first-generation homebuyers
to purchase their first home and build wealth.
In short, Mr. Speaker, this legislation will create more equitable
communities, through investing in community-led redevelopments projects
in historically under-resourced neighborhoods and removing lead paint
from hundreds of thousands of homes, as well as by incentivizing state
and local zoning reforms that enable more families to reside in higher
opportunity neighborhoods.
Th Build Back Better Act will spur and empower comprehensive action
to build an equitable clean energy economy with historic investments to
transform and modernize the electricity sector, lower energy costs for
Americans, improve air quality and public health, create good-paying
jobs, and strengthen U.S. competitiveness--all while putting our
country on the pathway to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035.
The Build Back Better Act extends and expands clean energy tax
credits and supports clean electricity performance payments so
utilities can accelerate progress toward a clean electric grid at no
added cost to consumers.
The Build Back Better Act invests in clean energy, efficiency,
electrification, and climate justice through grants, consumer rebates,
and federal procurement of clean power and sustainable materials, and
by incentivizing private sector development and investment.
Another exciting aspect of the Build Back Better Act, Mr. Speaker, is
that it will drive economic opportunities, environmental conservation,
and climate resilience--especially in underserved and disadvantaged
communities--including through a new Civilian Climate Corps.
Mr. Speaker, the Build Back Better Act includes a $100 billion
investment to reform our broken immigration system--and does it
consistent with the Senate's reconciliation rules--as well as to reduce
backlogs, expand legal representation, and make the asylum system and
border processing more efficient and humane.
Mr. Speaker, immigrants eligible for such protection are an integral
part of Texas's social fabric.
Texas is home to 386,300 immigrants who are eligible for protection,
112,000 of whom reside in Harris County.
These individuals live with 845,300 family members and among those
family members, 178,700 are U.S.-born citizen children.
These persons in Texas who are eligible for protection under the bill
arrived in the United States at the average age of 8 and on average
have lived in the United States since 1996.
They own 43,500 homes in Texas and pay $340,500,000 in annual
mortgage payments and contribute $2,234,800,000 in federal taxes and
$1,265,200,000 in state and local taxes each year.
Annually, these households generate $10,519,000,000 in spending power
in Texas and help power the national economy.
The expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) enacted in the American
Rescue Plan has already benefitted nearly 66 million children, put
money in the pockets of millions of hard-working parents and guardians,
and is expected to help cut child poverty by more than half.
The Build Back Better Act not only extends this meaningful tax cut,
but it also extends the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and
the expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which help families
make ends meet and put food on the table, reduce child poverty, and
lessen the burden on hard-working Americans so they can provide a
better future for America's children.
Mr. Speaker, 22.1 percent of Black people fall below the poverty
line, struggling to pay expenses like food, rent, health care, and
transportation for their families.
By extending the Child Tax Credit, the Build Back Better Act provides
a major tax cut to nearly 3 million Black people and cuts the Black
poverty rate by 34.3 percent, which will help the 85 percent of Black
women who are either sole or co-breadwinners for their families.

[[Page H6064]]

By permanently extending the American Rescue Plan's increase to the
Earned-Income Tax Credit from $543 to $1,502, the Build Back Better Act
will benefit roughly 2.8 million Black low-wage workers, including
cashiers, cooks, delivery drivers, food preparation workers, and child
care providers.
To put it all in perspective, Mr. Speaker, we have before us a once
in a century opportunity to make gigantic progress in making ours a
more perfect union, and to do it in a single bound with enactment of
the Build Back Better Act, the most transformative legislation passed
by this Congress since the Great Society and the New Deal.
I would urge my Republican colleagues to heed the words of Republican
Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia who said colorfully earlier this
year:

At this point in time in this nation, we need to go big. We
need to quit counting the egg-sucking legs on the cows and
count the cows and just move. And move forward and move right
now.

The same sentiment was expressed more eloquently by Abraham Lincoln
in 1862 when he memorably wrote:

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy
present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we
must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must
think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and
then we shall save our country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by thanking my good
friend and Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congresswoman
Beatty, for hosting this Special Order Hour and to Congresswoman
Jackson Lee and Congressman Torres for anchoring it.
Mr. Speaker, this is a consequential moment in our nation's history.
On the tail end of a once-in-a-century pandemic--one that has
resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, record unemployment rates,
and that has left our economy counting the costs--we are in desperate
need of substantive relief in all aspects of our society. We need bold
action, from bold leadership, in order to deliver bold results--and
that's what we have in President Biden's Build Back Better agenda. This
agenda is a real opportunity to make historic, transformative
investments in projects and programs that are supported by an
overwhelming majority of the American people.
As a Senior Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, I fought to include several provisions in this agenda
through the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act that would greatly
benefit communities not only in my district, but across the country.
These include funding for a program that provides federal dollars to
reconnect and revitalize communities historically harmed and
marginalized by the construction of the Interstate Highway System;
language to ensure prompt payment and sufficient payments to minority
and disadvantaged subcontractors; and legislation to establish an
electric grid resilience program for states like Texas to weatherize
their power grids. Each of these measures--though different in nature
and purpose--will collectively contribute to the rebuilding of our
economy by creating more good-paying, equitable job opportunities.
And as Chairwoman of the House Science, Space, and Technology
Committee, I am steadfastly committed to strengthening our nation's
research and innovation capabilities through the Build Back Better
Act--both to ensure our continued international competitiveness and the
wellbeing of our citizens here at home. I believe that investments in
research and development now will pay untold dividends for the future
health and prosperity of our nation, which is why we put resources in
this bill that will help us address the climate crisis, rebuild after
this pandemic, promote innovation, and renew and repair our research
infrastructure. It also makes an unprecedented investment in the
National Science Foundation, tapping into the diverse talent and
institutions from across our nation. We need a STEM workforce that
represents the rich diversity of America--because we cannot continue to
lead in science and technology if we do not tap into all the brainpower
our nation has to offer. To make sure of this, we included a provision
that provides resources to support research capacity building at our
nation's minority-serving institutions and invests in research,
scholarships, and fellowships across all STEM disciplines.
Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus has been and will
continue to be at the forefront of these negotiations. Fifty-seven
members--and six committee chairs--strong, our presence at the table,
on behalf of our diverse constituencies, remains steadfast and will
ultimately serve as the driving force behind our work For the People.

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