[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7523-S7524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         BUILD BACK BETTER PLAN

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, last week, President Biden unveiled a 
framework for his Build Back Better plan that will make historic 
investments to help millions of working- and middle-class families 
achieve the American dream in the 21st century while taking new and 
bold steps to tackle the climate crisis.
  Over the weekend, I continued diligent, assiduous negotiations with 
my Senate colleagues, the Speaker, and the White House as Congress 
prepares to take action on the President's proposals. We are still 
talking and working through important details and making good progress, 
and I want to thank all my colleagues for their diligence, their 
expertise, and their commitment to getting something done.
  As I have always said, nobody is going to get everything they want in 
the deal, but we will have some things that everyone wants. Even as 
legislative text continues to get finalized, the framework itself 
already contains very, very good and important things that will make a 
tremendous difference in the lives of the American people. It will help 
the middle class stay in the middle class. It will help those 
struggling to get to the middle class get there a little more easily. 
It will really help Americans in ways that Washington has not helped 
Americans in quite a few years.
  One way it will help is childcare. Tens of millions of American 
families struggle with the unaffordable cost of taking care of their 
children. For some families, childcare can cost over $10,000 a year, 
forcing parents to make the painful choice between going to work and 
looking after their kids. The consequences for our economy, with its 
shortage of workers, for parents, and for our kids are severe and long-
lasting.
  The framework, with its historic investments in childcare and 
universal pre-K, would finally--finally--provide working- and middle-
class families with the urgently needed help they need so parents, 
particularly women, can enter the workplace, earn a living, and not 
worry about whether their kids are being well taken care of.
  The President's framework also makes long-overdue progress in the 
fight against climate change. It contains the largest investment to 
address the climate crisis in American history.
  American families from one coast to the other are in desperate need 
of relief from the consequences of climate change. Wildfires in the 
West make it harder for people to breathe, especially those with 
conditions like asthma. Flooding in the Midwest destroys crops and 
homes and local economies and poisons fragile ecosystems and even the 
safety of drinking water. Extreme storms in the winter make it harder 
for those without proper heating to stay safe, as we saw tragically in 
Texas. Of course, the hurricanes and tropical storms on the east coast 
have caused regular flooding, the likes of which we haven't seen in a 
long time occurring as recently in the Mid-Atlantic as this weekend.
  We have an opportunity--a real opportunity--to take unprecedented 
action to protect Americans against these threats. While there will be 
so much more to do, this is a bold step in the right direction. As the 
President spoke before the world today in Glasgow, his framework is 
proof the United States is ready to once again lead by example against 
the greatest existential crisis of our time.
  There is so much more to like in this framework. As I have said 
repeatedly, when this bill is passed, it will be fully paid for and 
reduce--reduce--inflationary pressures--something that has

[[Page S7524]]

been affirmed by many, many economists. It will be fully paid for and, 
at the same time, will reduce some of the bottlenecks and high costs 
that people have. It will lower people's costs in many ways. 
Particularly, we are making regular progress to lower prescription drug 
prices as we work to refine the agreement.

  The framework will also make healthcare more affordable, cut taxes 
for working and middle-class Americans, and most importantly, provide 
long-sought ladders for families to climb up to the middle class and 
give them the stability needed to stay in the middle class once they 
get there.
  It will lower costs for people in many different ways--one of our 
main goals. This will be just what the American people need, and it 
will not be--will not be--inflationary.
  So the announcement last week from the President brought us one step 
closer toward our goal of delivering help to the American people at 
every stage of their lives. We are going to keep working this week to 
get this legislation over the finish line. Democrats are committed to 
rewarding the trust that the American people have placed in us.

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