Category Archives: Economic Policies

Biden Administration, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Labor and Workers, President Joe Biden

FACT SHEET: Ahead of Labor Day, Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Empower Workers— Building on the President’s Historic Support for Workers and Unions

New actions announced this week empower workers to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up—a core pillar of Bidenomics
 

Actions Biden-Harris Administration is taking to benefit workers are resulting in higher wages for construction workers. In August, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule updating the Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage standards for the first time in nearly 40 years.  The rule affects more than one million workers constructing $200 billion in federally funded or assisted projects, who will receive higher wages over time.  Nearly all of the significant construction programs contained in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act require or provide strong incentives for the use of Davis-Bacon prevailing wages—which ensures even more workers will benefit from DOL’s new rule. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden promised to be the most pro-worker and pro-union President in American history, and he has kept that promise. Support for unions is at its highest level in more than half a century, inflation-adjusted income is up 3.5% since the President took office, and the largest wage gains over the last two years have gone to the lowest-paid workers. The unemployment rate is near a 50-year low, and a greater share of working-age people have a job today than at any other time in more than two decades. Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, all workers—including those who are often left behind in recoveries—are experiencing record-low unemployment rates. 

Under Bidenomics, America is seeing a historic level of public and private investment in manufacturing and new industries that will create good-paying jobs that Americans can raise a family on and build a community around. The President continues to fight to ensure all Americans get fair pay for a hard day’s work and have a free and fair choice to join a union.

In advance of Labor Day, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new actions this week to empower workers by investing in America’s clean energy workforce, establishing pathways into high-paying and union jobs, demonstrating the benefits of unions, and extending critical wage protections.  These actions include:

Ensuring Clean Energy Investments Support High-Quality and Union Jobs

  • Creating good-paying jobs in clean energy.  The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service published a historic proposed rule to support good-paying jobs and workforce development made possible by incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).  Many of the IRA’s clean energy deployment tax incentives are increased by five times if taxpayers pay workers prevailing wages and use Registered Apprentices. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) provides clarity about how these incentives work, including penalty and correction provisions for those who fail to meet the requirements, and promotes worker-centric practices.  The NPRM also encourages the use of qualifying Project Labor Agreements, which guarantee workers good-paying jobs, help construction contractors finish complex projects on time and on budget, and can establish equitable pathways into construction careers.
     
  • Supporting a fair and just electric vehicle transition.  The Department of Energy opened applications for the $2 billion Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grants program, created by the IRA. The program will provide funding for auto manufacturers transitioning from internal combustion engine vehicles and components to electric vehicles and components. In line with the President’s call for a transition that protects workers, this program will prioritize applications from facilities that are at risk of closing or recently closed and reward applicants that retain existing workers, have strong labor partnerships, pay high wages, and convert facilities while remaining in the same community.  The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office is also facilitating access to $10 billion in capital for auto factory conversions.  The Office plans to prioritize the review of applications for projects in locations with a long history of auto manufacturing and demonstrate strong workforce practices and labor standards.

Strengthening electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chains and supporting high-quality jobs, including for auto workers.  The Department of Energy is releasing a second-round Notice of Intent for $3.5 billion for the Battery Manufacturing grant programs under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  The program will help expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and the nation’s grid, as well as for battery materials and components currently imported from other countries.  This Notice of Intent outlines the direction for the next phase of the program, which will support communities with experienced auto workers and a history of producing vehicles, applicants with strong workforce practices, and applicants who plan to create high-quality jobs.

Demonstrating the Union Advantage

  • Conducting analysis on how unions benefit the economy.  The Department of the Treasury released a first-of-its-kind report that finds that unions help grow the economy by reducing inequality, raising incomes, increasing savings (including retirement savings), and broadening homeownership.  According to the report, which was released as part of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, union members make higher wages and are more likely to earn critical benefits like retirement, health care, child care, life insurance, and sick leave.  The report also finds that all workers—even non-union workers and workers who have been laid off—experience gains from greater unionization.

Extending Overtime Protections

  • Proposing new rules that would provide millions of workers with overtime protections.  The Department of Labor released a proposed rule to increase the overtime salary threshold from under $36,000 per year to roughly $55,000 per year.  Under this proposal, more salaried employees making less than $55,000 per year and working more than 40 hours a week would receive at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for the overtime hours they work.  The proposed rule would extend overtime pay to as many as 3.6 million hardworking Americans.

These actions build on historic support for workers and unions since Day One of the Biden-Harris Administration, including:

Increasing Wages

  • Raising wages for construction workers. In August, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule updating the Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage standards for the first time in nearly 40 years.  The rule affects more than one million workers constructing $200 billion in federally funded or assisted projects, who will receive higher wages over time.  Nearly all of the significant construction programs contained in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act require or provide strong incentives for the use of Davis-Bacon prevailing wages—which ensures even more workers will benefit from DOL’s new rule.
     
  • Protecting workers’ pay.  The Biden-Harris Administration has recovered more than $690 million for more than 440,000 low-paid workers across the nation.  The Administration enforces laws that protect these workers from being victims of wage theft and exploitation when they were not paid minimum wages or hard-earned overtime wages, were denied their tips, or were misclassified as independent contractors.

Supporting Workers’ Right to Organize

  • Empowering workers through education.  Recently, the Department of Labor relaunched the Worker Organizing Resource and Knowledge (WORK) Center.  The WORK Center is the federal government’s premiere online resource center providing information about labor unions and their importance to workers and communities.  While more than half of non-union workers say they want a union, only about 10 percent of these workers say they know how to form one.  The WORK Center meets the needs of workers who are seeking more information about their labor rights and lack experience in organizing.
     
  • Disclosing when federal contractors hire union avoidance advisors.  In July, the Department of Labor published a final regulation updating the LM-10 form, a form that employers must file disclosing whether they pay consultants to persuade workers concerning their organizing and collective bargaining rights or to surveil activities of employees and unions involved in labor disputes. The rule newly requires private-sector employers to indicate whether they are federal contractors or subcontractors, promoting transparency for workers and the federal government into whether contractors hire anti-union consultants. 

Expanding Workforce Development

  • Making historic investment in Registered Apprenticeships.  All Americans should have a pathway to good-paying jobs, which is why the Biden-Harris Administration invested a historic $285 million in Registered Apprenticeships in fiscal year (FY) 2023 and, in July, awarded more than $65 million in grants to 45 states to expand and diversify Registered Apprenticeships in high-demand industries.  The Administration also launched the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Initiative to amplify the Registered Apprenticeship model with private- and public-sector employers.
     
  • Launching Investing in America Workforce Hubs.  In May, the Biden-Harris Administration launched new initiatives to train and connect more workers to the good-paying jobs—including union jobs—created by the President’s Investing in America investments. Through the Workforce Hubs Initiative, the Administration is partnering with local officials, employers, unions, community colleges, and other stakeholders to ensure a diverse and skilled workforce is ready to meet the demand for labor driven by historic public and private investments in five Hubs—Phoenix, Columbus, Baltimore, Augusta, and Pittsburgh.

Fostering Equal Employment Opportunities

  • Increasing access to good construction jobs for underrepresented workers.  In March, the Department of Labor launched the Mega Construction Project (Megaproject) Program, initially designating as Megaprojects 12 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded projects across the country. The Megaprojects Program provides free, continuous, on-the-ground assistance to help construction project owners, contractors, and unions ensure equal employment opportunities for underrepresented workers. Also in March, the Department of Labor announced a $20 million cooperative agreement with TradesFutures for the Scaling Apprenticeship Readiness Across the Building Trades Initiative, in partnership with the National Urban League.  This first-of-its-kind initiative aims to substantially increase the number of participants from underrepresented populations and underserved communities in Registered Apprenticeship programs in the construction industry.
     
  • Expanding access to child care and long-term care. In April, President Biden issued an Executive Order with more than 50 actions to increase access to high-quality care and better support caregivers. The Executive Order directs all cabinet-level agencies with federal job-creation funds—including from his Investing in America agenda—to consider requiring or encouraging grantees to use funds for supportive services, including child care and long-term care, to the maximum extent allowable. This action will help ensure underserved workers can enroll in, remain in, and complete training, and transition to good jobs, including union jobs. This builds on the first-of-its-kind requirement that employers seeking significant federal funds under the CHIPS and Science Act provide a concrete plan to help their employees access affordable child care, enabling more parents from local communities to access good-paying jobs. 

In his Labor Day Proclamation, President Biden declared:

     American workers are the best in the world, but over the past few decades, too many leaders embraced an economic theory that failed them and our unions.  It is called trickle-down economics.  It is the belief that we should cut taxes for the wealthy and big corporations and wait for the benefits to trickle down to workers and American families.  It is a belief that we should shrink public investment in infrastructure and public education.  It is a tax policy that encourages corporations to move operations and jobs overseas.  

     Trickle-down policies slashed investments in people and communities and allowed big corporations to amass more power while limiting the ability of workers to join unions.  It did not matter where companies made things, as long as it helped their bottom line — even if it meant losing the very workers who had helped them succeed.  Companies cut staff, shipped good jobs overseas, prioritized cheap labor, and silenced workers’ voices.  As a result, factories and businesses across the country shut down, entire communities were hollowed out, and for many working people, a path to better their circumstances would never be within reach.  People working as hard as ever could not get ahead because it was harder to buy a home, pay for a college education, start a business, and retire with dignity.  The moment we embraced trickle-down economics, we walked away from who we are and from the way our Nation was built.

     I knew our Nation could not continue with those same failed policies, so I came into office determined to build an economy that grows from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.  And it is working.  We have added over 13 million jobs, including 800,000 manufacturing jobs.  We added more jobs in my first two years than any President in a single 4-year term because we are investing in America and Americans again.

     The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law I signed is a once-in-a-generation investment that puts Americans to work rebuilding our Nation’s infrastructure using American-made materials.  We have announced nearly 37,000 new projects since we passed the bill.  For me, it was a top priority that the overwhelming majority of these investments be covered by Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements to make sure the hundreds of thousands of jobs we create are good-paying jobs. 

     We passed the CHIPS and Science Act to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to American shores and ensure that the United States leads the world in innovation.  It has attracted over $166 billion in investment and ignited a semiconductor manufacturing boom.  Our Inflation Reduction Act helps build the clean energy industries of the future here at home while incentivizing companies to adopt strong labor standards.  Our American Rescue Plan includes funding to protect over two million union workers, retirees, and their families from benefit cuts to the pensions they have earned.  All of these investments mean good-paying jobs that American workers can raise their families on, many of which do not require a 4-year college degree.

     By investing more in Registered Apprenticeships and in career and technical education programs than any previous administration, we are ensuring that every American — from every region and background — can access the training and education needed to participate in our Nation’s economic prosperity.  My Administration is working to crack down on non-compete agreements that keep 30 million Americans from taking new jobs with higher wages in their field.  We are taking action to protect workers’ health and safety from hazards they may be exposed to on the job, such as silica dust and other toxic materials.  And my Administration is empowering American workers and giving working families some breathing room by bringing the cost of prescription drugs and health care down for millions of Americans. 

     I promised to be the most pro-union President in history, and I firmly believe that every worker in America should have the free and fair choice to join a union or organize and bargain collectively with their employer without coercion or intimidation.  That is because when organized labor wins, our Nation wins.  My Administration will continue to support and encourage labor unions so that workers have a seat at the decision-making table, an opportunity to speak truth to power, and the support to fight for the dignity and respect they deserve.  

     On Labor Day, we stand in solidarity with all the workers who lift our Nation to new heights and all the labor unions who give all workers power and voice.  May we continue working to restore the American Dream for every person willing to work hard in our Nation by embracing what has always been the foundation of our country’s success:  investing in America and American workers. 

Biden Administration, Economic Policies, Financial Protection, Housing, President Joe Biden

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Takes on Junk Fees in Rental Housing to Lower Costs for Renters

Major rental housing platforms and several states join the President’s effort to crack down on rental housing junk fees for consumers and increase transparency
 

President Biden announced a new front in his crackdown on junk fees: rental housing. From repeated rental application fees to surprise “convenience fees,” millions of families incur burdensome costs in the rental application process and throughout the duration of their lease. These fees are often more than the actual cost of providing the service, or are added onto rents to cover services that renters assume are included—or that they don’t even want. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

While the 3x indicted, 2x impeached serial criminal dictator wannabe Donald J. Trump continues to overturn democracy and seek office solely for his own benefit (staying out of prison, unlimited funds), the Biden-Harris Administration continues to actually take actions (not talk or promises) to make lives better for all Americans. The benefits are demonstrated in the strength of the economy, record job growth, real increases in wages. While Republicans do everything they can to obstruct, to create false narratives (inflation! Gas prices! Crime! Hunter Biden) and have undermined (sabotaged) the economy by bringing the full faith and credit in the U.S. to the brink, causing a lowering in America’s credit rating, Biden has taken action to lower costs for average Americans, give families “more breathing room” and grow the economy sustainably, from the bottom up and the middle out. Here’s a White House fact sheet on the latest actions: –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden announced a new front in his crackdown on junk fees: rental housing. From repeated rental application fees to surprise “convenience fees,” millions of families incur burdensome costs in the rental application process and throughout the duration of their lease. These fees are often more than the actual cost of providing the service, or are added onto rents to cover services that renters assume are included—or that they don’t even want.
 
Rental housing fees can be a serious burden on renters. Rental application fees can be up to $100 or more per application, and, importantly, they often exceed the actual cost of conducting the background and credit checks. Given that prospective renters often apply for multiple units over the course of their housing search, these application fees can add up to hundreds of dollars. Even after renters secure housing, they are often surprised to be charged mandatory fees on top of their rent, including “convenience fees” to pay rent online, fees for things like mail sorting and trash collection, and even so-called “January fees” charged for no clear reason at the beginning of a new calendar year. Hidden fees not only take money out of people’s pockets, they also make it more difficult to comparison shop. A prospective renter may choose one apartment over another thinking it is less expensive, only to learn that after fees and other add-ons the actual cost for their chosen apartment is much higher than they expected or can afford.
 
The President outlined several new, concrete steps in the Administration’s effort to crack down on rental junk fees and lower costs for renters, including:

  • New commitments from major rental housing platforms—Zillow, Apartments.com, and AffordableHousing.com—who have answered the President’s call for transparency and will provide consumers with total, upfront cost information on rental properties, which can be hundreds of dollars on top of the advertised rent;
     
  • New research from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which provides a blueprint for a nationwide effort to address rental housing junk fees; and
     
  • Legislative action in states across the country—from Connecticut to California—who are joining the Administration in its effort to crack down on rental housing fees and protect consumers.

These announcements build on the President’s effort to tackle junk fees across industries. President Biden has repeatedly called on federal agencies, Congress, and private companies to take action to address junk fees across the economy, and ensure Americans are provided with honest, transparent pricing. These hidden fees increase the costs consumers pay: studies have found that consumers pay upward of 20 percent extra when the actual price of the product or service is not disclosed upfront. Providing consumers with the full price they can expect to pay creates competition among providers to lower costs, without relying on hidden fees. Earlier this year HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge released an open letter to housing providers and state and local governments to encourage them to adopt policies that promote greater fairness and transparency of fees specifically faced by renters.
Today’s actions include:
 
Commitments by rental housing platforms to show total costs up front. Each month, tens of millions of customers search online to find their next apartment or house. Today, major rental housing platforms are answering President Biden’s call for pricing transparency and announcing new steps to provide consumers with up-front information about fees in rental housing, building on recent actions by private sector leaders in other sectors, including airlines and event tickets. By providing the true costs of rent, people can make an informed decision about where to live and not be surprised by additional costs that push them over budget.
 
These companies are making the following announcements:

  • Zillow is today launching a Cost of Renting Summary on its active apartment listings, empowering the 28 million unique monthly users on its rental platform with clear information on the cost of renting. This new tool will enable renters to easily find out the total cost of renting an apartment from the outset, including all monthly costs and one-time costs, like security deposits and application fees.
     
  • Apartments.com is announcing that this year it will launch a new calculator on its platform that will help renters determine the all-in price of a desired unit. This will include all up-front costs as well as recurring monthly rents and fees. The Apartments.com Network currently lists almost 1.5 million active availabilities across more than 385,000 properties.
     
  • AffordableHousing.com, the nation’s largest online platform dedicated solely to affordable housing, will require owners to disclose all refundable and non-refundable fees and charges upfront in their listings. It will launch a new “Trusted Owner” badge that protects renters from being charged junk fees by identifying owners who have a history of adhering to best practices, including commitment to reasonable fee limits, no junk fees, and full fee disclosure.

New research on policy innovation to address rental fees. HUD is releasing a new research brief that provides an overview of the research on rental fees and highlights state, local, and private sector strategies to encourage transparency and fairness in the rental market, including capping or eliminating rental application fees; allowing prospective renters to provide their own screening reports; allowing a single application fee to cover multiple applications; and clearly identifying bottom-line amounts that tenants will pay for move-in and monthly rent. The brief provides a blueprint for how everyone from local government to landlords can do better for renters.
 
Recent state actions to address the hidden and unfair fees. In March, the White House convened hundreds of state legislative leaders, and released a resource entitled, “Guide for States: Cracking Down on Junk Fees to Lower Costs for Consumers.” Since the President drew attention to the pervasive issue of junk fees throughout the economy, a number of states have already gotten to work to crack down on rental housing fees, including:

  • Colorado. Enacted House Bill 1099, which allows prospective renters to reuse a rental application for up to 30 days without paying additional fees; and House Bill 1095, which limits fees to tenants when landlords fail to provide a nonrenewal notice that disguise fees as “rent,” and limits the amount a landlord can mark up a tenant for third-party services.
     
  • Rhode Island. Enacted House Bill 6087 to limit rental application fees beyond the actual cost of obtaining a background check or credit report, if the prospective tenant does not provide their own report.
     
  • Minnesota. Enacted Senate File 2909, which includes a requirement for landlords to clearly display the total monthly payment and all nonoptional fees on the first page of the lease agreement and in all advertisements.
     
  • Connecticut. Enacted Senate Bill 998 to prohibit a landlord from requiring a fee for processing, reviewing, or accepting a rental application, and set a cap of $50 on the amount that can be charged for tenant screening reports. The law also prohibits move-in and move-out fees, and certain fee-related lease provisions, including certain late fees related to utility payments.
     
  • Maine. Enacted Legislative Document 691 to prohibit a landlord from charging a fee to submit a rental application that exceeds the actual cost of a background check, a credit check, or another screening process. The law also prohibits a landlord from charging more than one screening fee in any 12-month period. 
     
  • Montana. Senate passed Senate Bill 320 to require landlords to refund application fees to unsuccessful rental applicants except any portion of the fee used to cover costs related to reviewing the application, including conducting a background check. Landlords may only charge candidates for the actual cost of obtaining a background check or credit report.
     
  • California. Senate passed Senate Bill 611 to require the mandatory disclosure of monthly rent rates, including disclosure of a range of payments, fees, deposits, or charges, and to prohibit certain fees from being charged.

Earlier this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, both independent agencies, requested information on tenant screening processes, including how landlords and property managers set application and screening fees, which will help inform enforcement and policy actions under each agency’s jurisdiction. The CFPB has noted that background checks too often include inaccurate or misleading information and risk scores that lack independent validation of their reliability.
 
These announcements build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing efforts to support renters, including through the release of a first-of-its-kind Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights and a Housing Supply Action Plan, focused on boosting the supply of affordable housing—including rental housing. Reducing housing costs is central to Bidenomics, and recent data show that inflation in rental housing is abating. Moreover, experts predict that roughly 1 million new apartments will be built this year, increasing supply that will further increase affordability. The actions announced today will help renters understand these fees and the full price they can expect to pay, and create additional competition housing providers to reduce reliance on hidden fees.
 
In the coming months, the Biden-Harris Administration will work with Congress, state leaders, and the private sector to address rental junk fees and build a fairer rental housing market. On July 26, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will host its first-ever hearing on junk fees, including in the rental housing market.

Biden Administration, Build Back Better, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Economy

Bidenomics Is Working, Growing the Economy from the Middle Out and Bottom Up—Not the Top Down

Freight Train, Rochester New York. The Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda is rebuilding our infrastructure, including our roads and bridges, high-speed internet capacity, ports, and airports. This infrastructure is the necessary foundation for durable and shared economic growth. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 35,000 new projects have been awarded funding in communities all across the country. By requiring Made-in-America products when using federal funding to rebuild infrastructure, President Biden is not only investing in our country’s roads and bridges, but also a strong domestic manufacturing base © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The June 2023 jobs report showed 497,000 more jobs created last month (twice the number anticipated) and wages up 6.4% – both indications of a strong, resilient economy and that ordinary, working Americans are doing well. Nonetheless, the stock market fell sharply over fears the Federal Reserve would continue to hike interest rates in order to tame the demon inflation by causing the labor market to weaken and take the steam out of wage growth. But the stock market is not the economy Americans live every day.

The Bidenomics agenda is driving investments in communities across the country – like billions of dollars for states to connect every American to high-speed internet, investments to rebuild roads and bridges, and investments to build a clean energy economy, boost domestic manufacturing, create jobs and lower costs for the American people.

Meanwhile, Republicans who voted against the historic investments of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and all efforts by the Biden Administration to promote a sustainable, resilient economic recovery that benefits all Americans, are actually, cynically, hypocritically taking credit for the marvelous infrastructure improvements like broadband and bridges, in their communities.

Despite GOP “voting no but still wanting the dough,” the Biden-Harris Administration is continuing to deliver investments, lower costs, and opportunity to hardworking Americans in every corner of the country.

In remarks in Chicago on June 28, President Biden declared, “Today, the U.S. has had the highest economic growth among the world’s leading economies since the pandemic. We’ve added over 13 million jobs, more jobs in two years than any President has added in a four-year term.
​
“And folks, that’s no accident. That’s Bidenomics in action.
 
“Bidenomics is about building the economy from the middle out and bottom up – not the top down by making three fundamental changes.

“First, making smart investments  in  America.  Second, educating and empowering American workers to grow the middle class. And third, promoting competition to lower costs and help small businesses.”

The White House provided this fact sheet outlining how Bidenomics is indeed working, giving the U.S. the strongest economy among the G7, and growing the economy sustainably, from the middle out and the bottom up, rather than the top-down “trickle down” con the Republicans have been hawking since Reagan.—Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office determined to rebuild our economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down—and that strategy is working. Even as they faced an immediate economic and public health crisis—with a raging pandemic, elevated unemployment, snarled supply chains, and hundreds of thousands of small businesses at risk of shuttering—the President and Vice President understood that it wouldn’t be enough to simply go back to the economy we had before the pandemic. That economy was saddled with longstanding challenges that held America back—including rising inequality and disinvestment from communities across the country.
 
President Biden recognized that some of those challenges were rooted in a failed trickle-down theory that supported slashing taxes for the wealthy and big corporations, shrinking public investment in critical priorities like infrastructure and education, and failing to safeguard market competition.

The President took office determined to move beyond these failed trickle-down policies and fundamentally change the economic direction of our country. His plan—Bidenomics—is rooted in the recognition that the best way to grow the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up. It’s an economic vision centered around three key pillars:

  • Making smart public investments in America
  • Empowering and educating workers to grow the middle class
  • Promoting competition to lower costs and help entrepreneurs and small businesses thrive

While our work isn’t finished, Bidenomics is already delivering for the American people. Our economy has added more than 13 million jobs—including nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs—and we’ve unleashed a manufacturing and clean energy boom. There were more than 10 million applications for new small businesses filed in 2021 and 2022—the strongest two years on record. America has seen the strongest growth since the pandemic of any leading economy in the world. Inflation has fallen for 11 straight months and has come down by more than half. And we have done it all while responsibly reducing the deficit.
 
None of this progress was an accident or inevitable—it has been a direct result of Bidenomics. And rather than taking us back to the failed trickle-down policies of the past, President Biden is committed to finishing the job and continuing to build an economy that finally works for working families—with better jobs, lower costs, and more opportunity.
 
Building More in America by Making Smart Public Investments
 
When President Biden came into office, public investment as a share of the economy had fallen from 7% in the 1960s to half that. A core tenet of Bidenomics is that targeted public investment can attract more private sector investment, rather than crowd it out. This is particularly true in sectors that are central to the long-term economic and national security interests of the United States—from improving our infrastructure, to semiconductors, to investing in clean energy and climate security.

The Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda is rebuilding our infrastructure, including our roads and bridges, high-speed internet capacity, ports, and airports. This infrastructure is the necessary foundation for durable and shared economic growth. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 35,000 new projects have been awarded funding in communities all across the country. By requiring Made-in-America products when using federal funding to rebuild infrastructure, President Biden is not only investing in our country’s roads and bridges, but also a strong domestic manufacturing base.
 
The President’s agenda is also investing in key industries that are critical to our national security and economic security, like producing more semiconductors in America. And it is investing in accelerating the clean energy economy to help achieve our climate goals, working with our global partners. This approach is creating millions of good-paying jobs, advancing American leadership in innovating next-generation technologies, and delivering for workers and communities. The President’s agenda is strengthening our clean energy supply chains by spurring new and expanded U.S. factories, including more than 150 battery plants and 50 solar plants already announced. In all, we’ve seen $490 billion in private investment commitments in 21st century industries since the President took office, and inflation-adjusted manufacturing construction spending has grown by nearly 100% in just two years. New data released just today shows the clean energy workforce added nearly 300,000 jobs in 2022 and clean energy jobs grew in every state in America, in part because of the investments in clean energy and manufacturing by the Biden-Harris Administration.

Empowering and Educating Workers to Grow the Middle Class
 
Bidenomics also recognizes that the benefits of a growing economy are only broadly shared when policies are designed to promote and empower workers. When the President took office, independent experts like the Congressional Budget Office were projecting that the unemployment rate wouldn’t fall below 4% until the end of 2025. But under Bidenomics, the unemployment rate fell below 4% four years before expectations and has stayed there for the past 18 months.
 
We’ve also seen record lows in unemployment for workers who have often been left behind in previous recoveries: with record low unemployment rates achieved under this Administration for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and people with disabilities—and a 70-year low for women. This strong labor market recovery has also led to better pay and working conditions. Inflation-adjusted income is up 3.5% since the President took office, and low-wage workers have seen the largest wage gains over the last year. Job satisfaction reached its highest level on record last year. And the prospect of good jobs has drawn people off the sidelines and into the workforce. In fact, the share of working-age Americans in the workforce hasn’t been higher in more than 20 years. This strong recovery will also provide durable benefits for years to come, in part by preventing the labor market scarring that sticks with workers for generations after a recession.

Empowering workers also means educating America’s workers—those with and without a four-year degree. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration is investing more in registered apprenticeships and career technical education programs than any previous Administration and continuing to fight for free universal pre-K and free community college.
 
And the President believes a critical tool for empowering workers is making it easier to join a union. The President is addressing a decades-long decline in unionization by supporting project labor agreements and collective bargaining. He asked the Vice President to lead the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment to drive action across the Administration to empower workers and support their right to join or form a union. Support for unions is the highest it’s been in more than half a century, and the labor movement is expanding to new companies and industries.

Promoting Competition to Lower Costs and Help Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Thrive
 
Bidenomics recognizes that for markets to function—and for workers and consumers to benefit—our economy requires healthy competition across sectors. After three-quarters of U.S. industries grew more concentrated in the two decades before President Biden took office, he understood that we needed a different approach. More competition means lower costs for consumers and higher wages for workers. And since taking office, the President has been delivering for the American people to lower prices, protect workers, and increase competition across the economy.
 
When the President took office, he signed an historic Executive Order on Competition, which “commits the federal government to full and aggressive enforcement of our antitrust laws.” That order identified 72 specific initiatives across government to promote competition—and it is paying off. In addition to enforcement, the Administration is lowering costs for consumers and creating opportunities for innovative new products to come to market—including from the millions of new small businesses around the country that have started during the Biden-Harris Administration.
 
For example, the Administration changed the rules so that hearing aids can be sold over-the-counter, instead of just via prescription. Previously, hearings aids could cost up to $5,000 per pair, but Americans can now get them for a few hundred dollars at a local convenience or electronics store. President Biden has signed legislation into law that will lower prescription drug costs for seniors and save taxpayers $160 billion over the next decade by giving Medicare the authority to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. The Administration is also fighting to end junk fees—hidden charges that cost Americans’ tens of billions per year and rob the marketplace of the kind of transparency that is necessary for real competition. And the Administration is working toward cracking down on noncompete agreements, which currently limit as many as 30 million workers from switching to a new job in the same field.

Reducing the Deficit and Making the Wealthy and Big Corporations Pay Their Fair Share
 
President Biden has pursued this economic vision in a fiscally responsible way—in stark contrast to the Congressional Republican approach. His predecessor enacted the latest version of trickle-down and the result was predictable: his tax giveaway added trillions to deficits, never trickled down to workers, and led to continued offshoring of jobs and profits. In recent weeks, House Republicans have doubled down on this approach—rolling out proposals to enact massive tax cuts for large corporations, including oil companies that made $200 billion in profit last year, while setting the stage for trillions in tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest Americans, delivering a $175,000 average annual tax cut to the top 0.1% (incomes over $4 million). Their view of “fiscal responsibility” is massive cuts to programs that millions of Americans count on, with the Republican Study Committee—which speaks for more than three quarters of House Republicans—recently releasing a plan to raise the Social Security retirement age to 69, eliminate the Medicare prescription drug savings that President Biden has signed into law, raise premiums for seniors on Medicare, and slash Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, food assistance, and Pell Grants.
 
President Biden believes in a fundamentally different approach. Under Bidenomics, he has proven that we can make smart investments in the American people while reducing the deficit by ensuring the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes, closing wasteful tax loopholes, and slashing wasteful spending on special interests.

During his first two years, the President presided over $1.7 trillion in deficit reduction—a larger reduction than under any other President in American history. He has signed legislation into law to reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, including by ensuring the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations pay their fair share, cracking down on wealthy tax cheats, and lowering prescription drug costs for the American people by cutting wasteful giveaways to Big Pharma. And his Budget would reduce the deficit by another more than $2.5 trillion over the next decade with additional reforms, including requiring the wealthiest Americans and the largest multinational corporations to pay at least the tax rates that many middle-class families do.
 
Unlike House Republicans—whose plans would harm hard-working families—the President has proposed cutting taxes for working people and families with children by almost $800 billion over the next 10 years, including cutting taxes by an average of $2,600 for 39 million families that include 62 million children by expanding the Child Tax Credit, cutting taxes by an average of $800 for 19 million working individuals or couples by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and continuing Premium Tax Credit plus-ups that are cutting health care premiums by an average of $800 for nearly 15 million people.

Biden Administration, Economic Policies, Economy, Education, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Biden Announces New Actions to Provide Debt Relief and Support for Student Loan Borrowers

A college diploma was supposed to be a ticket into the middle class, instead of the poor house. After the extremists on the Supreme Court declared President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program “unconstitutional” he took immediate steps to provide support, while vowing to pursue other means. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

No President has fought harder for student debt relief than President Biden, and he’s not done yet. “President Biden will not let Republican elected officials succeed in denying hardworking Americans the relief they need,” the White House stated. Biden gets it. He understands how lives are being upended, derailed, ambitions curtailed, because of crippling student loan debt that, as a reminder, is the ONLY DEBT that cannot be erased through bankruptcy. Think about it, how many Republican Congressmembers took advantage of COVID relief loan forgiveness, intended to help employers retain workers, but can’t find a way of making the loan obligation fair, when interest rates for others were at near zero. If they don’t allow forgiveness of the entire loan, they should get rid of the onerous, unjustified interest that is compounding, and provide a fair means to repay the principle.

For so many, a college degree has been their ticket into the middle class, home ownership, a legacy for their children, and a means of finally ending the cycle of poverty. College tuition has been increasing an ungodly rates, two and three times the cost of living – because the colleges can – which is why the balances for loan repayment are so high. Biden sought to address the injustice and the imbalance by giving student borrowers the same advantage he gave businesses to stay afloat and prevent the economic hardship of the historic pandemic from becoming a Greater Great Depression.

Here is a fact sheet of new actions Biden is taking to provide debt relief and support for student loan borrowers –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
 
In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling this morning, President Biden and his Administration have already taken two steps this afternoon aimed at providing debt relief for as many borrowers as possible, as fast as possible, and supporting student loan borrowers:

  • The Secretary of Education initiated a rulemaking process aimed at opening an alternative path to debt relief for as many working and middle-class borrowers as possible, using the Secretary’s authority under the Higher Education Act.
     
  • The Department of Education (Department) finalized the most affordable repayment plan ever created, ensuring that borrowers will be able to take advantage of this plan this summer—before loan payments are due. This plan helps the typical borrower save more than $1,000 a year.

In addition, to protect the most vulnerable borrowers from the worst consequences of missed payments following the payment restart, the Department is instituting a 12-month “on-ramp” to repayment, running from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024, so that financially vulnerable borrowers who miss monthly payments during this period are not considered delinquent, reported to credit bureaus, placed in default, or referred to debt collection agencies.

These actions reflect the President’s belief that an education beyond high school should be a ticket to the middle class. It also builds on the unprecedented steps President Biden and his Administration have taken to make college more affordable for working and middle-class families and make federal student loans more manageable. The Biden-Harris Administration has:

  • Secured the largest increases to Pell Grants in a decade.
     
  • Fixed broken student loan programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, so borrowers actually get the relief they deserve.
     
  • Approved more than $66 billion in loan cancellation for 2.2 million borrowers across the country, including public service workers and those who have been defrauded by their colleges.
     

Debt Relief for As Many Borrowers as Possible, as Fast as Possible
 
The President remains committed to providing relief to low- and middle-income borrowers. For too many Americans, a ticket to the middle-class remains out of reach because of unmanageable student loan debt. COVID-19 exacerbated that challenge – risking tens of millions of borrowers’ financial security and futures because of the economic harms brought on by a once-in-a-century pandemic.
 
Today, the Department initiated rulemaking aimed at opening an alternative path to debt relief for as many borrowers as possible, using the Secretary of Education’s authority under the Higher Education Act. The Department issued a notice, which is the first step in the process of issuing new regulations under this so-called “negotiated rulemaking” process. The notice announces a virtual public hearing on July 18th and solicits written comments from stakeholders on topics to consider.
 
Following the public hearing, the Department will finalize the issues to be addressed through rulemaking and begin the negotiated rulemaking sessions this fall. The Department will complete this rulemaking as quickly as possible.

 
Lowering Monthly Payments
 
The Biden-Harris Administration today also finalized the most affordable repayment plan ever created, called the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. This income-driven repayment plan will cut borrowers’ monthly payments in half, help the typical borrower save more than $1,000 per year on payments, allow many borrowers to make $0 monthly payments, and ensure borrowers don’t see their balances grow from unpaid interest.
 
Specifically, the plan will:

  • For undergraduate loans, cut in half the amount that borrowers have to pay each month from 10% to 5% of discretionary income.
  • Raise the amount of income that is considered non-discretionary income and therefore is protected from repayment, guaranteeing that no borrower earning under 225% of the federal poverty level—about the annual equivalent of a $15 minimum wage for a single borrower—will have to make a monthly payment under this plan.
  • Forgive loan balances after 10 years of payments, instead of 20 years, for borrowers with original loan balances of $12,000 or less. The Department estimates that this reform will allow nearly all community college borrowers to be debt-free within 10 years.
  • Not charge borrowers with unpaid monthly interest, so that unlike other existing income-driven repayment plans, no borrower’s loan balance will grow as long as they make their monthly payments—even when that monthly payment is $0 because their income is low.

All student borrowers in repayment will be eligible to enroll in the SAVE plan. They will be able to enroll later this summer, before any monthly payments are due. Borrowers who sign up or are already signed up for the current Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE) plan will be automatically enrolled in SAVE once the new plan is implemented. To learn more about the new SAVE plan, visit the Department of Education’s website.

 
Ensuring Support for Borrowers Most at Risk
 
To protect the most vulnerable borrowers, the Department is creating a temporary “on-ramp” to protect borrowers from the harshest consequences of late, missed, or partial payments for up to 12 months. While payments will be due and interest will accrue during this period, interest will not capitalize at the end of the on-ramp period. Additionally, borrowers will not be reported to credit bureaus, be considered in default, or referred to collection agencies for late, missed, or partial payments during the on-ramp period. Future monthly bills for borrowers not enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan will be automatically adjusted to reflect the accrued interest during those months.
 
Borrowers who can pay should do so, but this on-ramp period gives borrowers who cannot make payments right away the necessary time to adjust, enabling them to ultimately make their monthly payments and meet their financial obligations on their loans. Borrowers do not need to take any action to qualify for this on-ramp.

Biden Administration, Economic Policies, Foreign Policy, Foreign Relations, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features

Biden Forges Unity among G7 Leaders on Ukraine, China, Clean Energy, Economic Resilience

President Biden made a historic trip to Ukraine. At the G7, he is forging unity among the G& leaders on Ukraine, China, clean energy and sustainable economic development. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

With all the hullabaloo and unceasing scandals perpetrated, promulgated, manufactured by Trump, MAGA radical right wing extremists, and Republicans (debt crisis, border crisis), people are completely unaware of the important achievements President Biden and the Biden Administration are making globally. We again have someone in the White House worthy of the moniker, “Leader of the Free World” who is doing his damnedest to make the world a safer place. Here is a Fact Sheet summarizing the results of the 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, provided by the White House: –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Since President Biden took office, revitalizing our alliances and partnerships and reestablishing America’s leadership around the world has been one of his top priorities. The G7 Summit in Hiroshima showed that the G7 are more united than ever: united on Ukraine, united on China, united on economic security, united on building the clean energy economies of the future, united on nuclear disarmament, and united on fighting poverty and responding to global challenges like the climate crisis around the world.

United on Ukraine
 
G7 Leaders set forth a powerful statement of unity strength and commitment in our response to Russia’s war of aggression.  Leaders announced a set of concrete actions to intensify the G7’s diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and security support for Ukraine, to increase the costs to Russia and those supporting its war efforts, and to continue to counter the negative impacts of Russia’s war on the rest of the world, particularly on the most vulnerable people.

  • New sanctions and export controls. G7 Leaders announced new steps to economically isolate Russia and weaken its ability to wage its war. They announced new efforts to further disrupt Russia’s ability to source inputs for its war; close evasion loopholes; further reduce reliance on Russian energy and limit its future extractive capacity; and squeeze Russia’s access to the international financial system. G7 leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to keep Russia’s sovereign assets immobilized until Russia pays for the damage it has caused.  To implement these commitments, the Departments of Treasury, State, and Commerce rolled out new sanctions packages including by expanding our broad restrictions, cutting off over 70 companies from Russia and other countries from receiving U.S. exports, and sanctioning upwards of 300 individuals, entities, vessels, and aircraft, including actors across the globe.
     
  • Discussing peace with a broad range of partners.  The G7 leaders met with the leaders of Ukraine, Australia, Brazil, the Cook Islands, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, and Vietnam to discuss international peace and security.  The leaders issued an Action Plan on Food Security that notes, “Especially in light of its impact on food security and the humanitarian situation around the world, we support a just and durable peace based on respect for international law, principles of the UN charter and territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

United on China
 
G7 Leaders affirmed that G7 countries are not decoupling from China or turning inwards. At the same time, G7 Leaders recognized the need to respond to concerns and to stand up for our core values.  

  • Economic security issues. The G7 will push for a level playing field for their workers and companies and seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices and foster resilience to economic coercion. They recognized the necessity of protecting certain advanced technologies that could be used to threaten our national security.
     
  • Indo-pacific. Leaders reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and called for a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. They highlighted that there is no change in the basic positions of the G7 members on Taiwan. They registered their serious concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reaffirmed their strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.
     
  • Core values. G7 Leaders voiced concerns about the human rights situation in China, and called on China not to conduct interference activities or undermine the integrity of our democratic institutions.
     

United on Economic Resilience and Economic Security
 
G7 Leaders took steps to enhance strategic coordination on economic resilience and economic security by strengthening supply chains, reducing vulnerabilities and countering malign practices that exploit and reinforce them. 

  • Protecting critical and emerging technologies. President Biden has taken action in the United States to protect certain dual use technologies from falling into the hands of strategic rivals. In Hiroshima, G7 Leaders affirmed that this is a common interest across G7 countries. To this end, the Leaders further recognized that addressing risks from outbound investment could be important to complement existing tools of targeted controls on exports and inbound investments.
     
  • Launching the G7 Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion. G7 Leaders launched the Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion to increase collective assessment, preparedness, deterrence and response to economic coercion.

 
United on Building the Clean Energy Economies of the Future
 
At home, President Biden has delivered on an ambitious clean energy agenda that is centered around bold public investment and working with partners to build secure and resilient supply chains. In Hiroshima, G7 Leaders outlined the way that G7 partners are working to meet the moment in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, to build secure and resilient supply chains, and to ensure strong industrial bases across G7 countries.

  • Maximizing the impact of incentives. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, this was the first G7 Summit where the President of the United States could unambiguously say that the United States is on a path to meet our Paris Climate commitments. G7 Leaders recognized that achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement urgently requires significant new incentives, industrial policies, and public as well as private investments. Leaders committed to work together to ensure regulations and investments will make clean energy technologies more affordable for all nations and help drive a global, just energy transition for workers and communities that will leave no one behind.


United on an Affirmative and Ambitious Development Agenda

President Biden has championed an affirmative and ambitious agenda to support developing countries, including through reaffirming our support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and working to create fiscal space for increased domestic investments in key development priorities. In Hiroshima, G7 Leaders emphasized the need to unlock investments and policy reforms to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including by investing in more resilient food and health systems, and by addressing the effects of climate change.

  • Tackling rising levels of debt. G7 Leaders highlighted their concern that serious challenges to debt sustainability are undermining the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. They reiterated the urgency of addressing debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries and their full support of the G20’s effort to improve the implementation of the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) in a predictable, timely, orderly and coordinated manner, providing clarity to participants.
     
  • Promoting the evolution of the multilateral development banks (MDBs). G7 Leaders noted their strong support for the efforts underway by multilateral development banks to review and transform their business models to better address global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, fragility and conflict, which are integral to achieving poverty reduction and shared prosperity.  They encouraged MDBs to expedite this ongoing work. They looked to further progress on the World Bank’s evolution agenda toward the 2023 WBG and IMF Annual Meetings and beyond.
     
  • Reversing the first global decline in life expectancy in nearly a century. G7 leaders committed to work with global partners to restore access to essential health services to better than pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2025, and to strengthen primary health care delivery, including by investing in health workers, in order to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage. The United States is providing approximately $10 billion in global health program funding with Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 funds, much of which supports essential health services, including addressing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, expanding access to water and sanitation, and supporting maternal and child health. One year ago, the President also launched the Global Health Worker Initiative, which aims to address the global shortage of health workers.  
     
  • Investing in health security with U.S. contribution of $250 Million to the Pandemic Fund. The President announced that the United States plans to provide a $250 million contribution in Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations, subject to Congressional notification, to the Pandemic Fund to demonstrate the United States’ ongoing commitment to strengthening global health security around the world. This planned investment in the Pandemic Fund will continue to serve as a catalyst for additional contributions from other donors. The United States is committed to providing greater investments in health security to help break the cycle of panic and neglect in the wake of health emergencies.
     
  • Launching the Hiroshima Action Statement for Resilient Global Food Security with partner countries to address needs today and into the future.  G7 Leaders reaffirmed their continued commitment to address global food insecurity and the need to build more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive food systems. G7 leaders have exceeded the $14 billion commitment announced at the 2022 G7 Elmau Summit, mobilizing $14.9 billion for food security.  The United States remains the global leader on food security. Since the beginning of 2022, the United States has provided over $13.5 billion in acute and medium to long term assistance for food security.


Showing Tangible Progress at the PGII One-Year Mark
 
One year after G7 Leaders announced PGII as the G7’s collective infrastructure initiative, G7 Leaders demonstrated that PGII is making concrete progress.

  • Collaborating with partners. During the Summit, G7 Leaders were joined by leaders of [Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, and the World Bank]. They were also joined by private sector executives of Citi, Global Infrastructure Partners, Japan Foreign Trade Council, and Nokia to reaffirm their commitment to opening a serious, sustainable channel for unlocking public and private capital for these projects in the developing world.
     
  • Launching new projects. To date, the United States has mobilized $30 billion through grants, federal financing, and leveraging private sector investments towards PGII. President Biden announced new projects and highlighted the impact of several projects announced since PGII’s launch at the 2022 G7 Summit.
     
  • Announcing a PGII Investor Forum. The President announced that the United States will seek to launch an annual Investor Forum to enable the United States Government to more comprehensively de-risk capital, play a matchmaking role between investors and opportunities that advance PGII, and hear feedback on how it can continue to refine the PGII model to maximize its effectiveness.
Biden Administration, Economic Policies, Economy, Federal Budget

White House Memo: Extreme MAGA House Republicans Holding Hostage Jobs, State by State

The Congressional Republicans show extreme lack of concern over the number of jobs that will be lost if they push the US into the brink of defaulting on debts. As Trump said in his CNN Town Hall, “I say to the Republicans out there – if they don’t give you massive cuts, you have to do a default” and this person who actually served as president, presided over three increases to the debt ceiling without Democrats holding the economy hostage, growing the national debt accrued over its entire history by 40 PERCENT, said that America’s first default in history, violating the 14th amendment’s requirement to meet its debt obligations, would result in “maybe a bad week or a bad day.” © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Memo

RE: The jobs extreme MAGA House Republicans’ are holding hostage in every state  

Date: 5/10/2013

From: Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates

A new report from Moody’s Analytics shows how many jobs would be killed in every state if House Republicans follow through on their threat to single-handedly trigger the only debt default in American history.

That is, unless they are allowed to force a radical agenda that the American people reject into law.

That radical agenda includes the most draconian cuts to veterans services in American history, shipping the manufacturing jobs we are bringing back from overseas to China, firing thousands of Border Patrol agents, taking health care from millions, and laying off teachers across the country. Keep in mind that they still intend to follow those cuts with enormous, wasteful tax giveaways to billionaires and multinational corporations.

In Speaker McCarthy’s home state of California, even a short-term default would kill over 300,000 jobs. And that a prolonged default would kill nearly a million.  

President Biden is in New York today, which would lose almost half a million jobs, calling on Republicans to stop their economic hostage-taking.  

In addition to threatening to sabotage the American economy and subject countless innocent Americans to financial pain, House Republicans have manufactured a political and credibility crisis for themselves.

House Republicans are more and more isolated in their willingness to trigger a default. As President Biden mentioned last night, Senate Republican leader underlined that the United States cannot ever default.

Last night even Speaker McCarthy himself acknowledged, “A budget is different than a debt ceiling.”

That’s true and consistent with the Speaker’s voting record. He voted, without conditions and on a bipartisan basis, to avoid default for the entire Trump Administration AND for the majority of the Obama presidency.

House Republicans are effectively holding a gun to the head of millions of jobs, small businesses, and retirement savings, while simultaneously shouting at everyone else, ‘don’t pull this trigger.’ Meanwhile, all their constituents look on and see how much it would cost every state. No one’s making you do it. Put the gun down.   

StateJob Loss in Prolonged Default Scenario (thousands, peak to trough)
Alaska11.3
Alabama109.5
Arkansas68.8
Arizona188.1
California841.6
Colorado139.3
Connecticut75.6
DC28.5
Delaware21.4
Florida474.7
Georgia249.4
Hawaii16.9
Iowa73.9
Idaho44.4
Illinois290.6
Indiana164.8
Kansas72.5
Kentucky113.9
Louisiana69.4
Massachusetts175
Maryland119.7
Maine31.7
Michigan239.4
Minnesota138.8
Missouri163.7
Mississippi64
Montana23.5
North Carolina236.1
North Dakota18.8
Nebraska45.7
New Hampshire34.8
New Jersey193.4
New Mexico37.5
Nevada90
New York398.3
Ohio296.5
Oklahoma77.3
Oregon104.2
Pennsylvania269
Rhode Island23.2
South127.5
South22.1
Tennessee179
Texas561.7
Utah80.4
Virginia195.4
Vermont14.1
Washington187.8
Wisconsin153.6
West Virginia34.4
Wyoming14.4
Total7405.6
Biden Administration, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Economy, Jobs, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features

From the White House: The American Rescue Plan: Top 15 Highlights from 2 Years of Recovery

The American Rescue Plan funded a Historic Vaccination Campaign: ARP provided $160 billion to support vaccination, therapeutics, testing and mitigation, PPE, and the broader COVID Response effort. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

This fact sheet from the White House outlines the top 15 highlights from two years of recovery under the American Rescue Plan:

  1. Led to the Strongest Jobs Recovery on Record: When President Biden came into office, there was tremendous economic uncertainty. Unemployment was at 6.1% when the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed. It was expected to average 5% in 2022. With the passage of ARP, unemployment averaged 3.6% in 2022 and fell to 3.4% at the beginning of 2023.
  • ARP Drove the Strongest 2-year job growth ever: Over 12 million jobs have been added since President Biden took office – the largest 2-year total in US history and more jobs in two years than in any previous administration’s full year term.
  • Powered the Fastest Recovery in the World: After the American Rescue Plan passed, the US recovered significantly faster than our G7 Peers – with 5.9% growth in 2021 – while our inflation is in the middle of the pack and slower than other countries that did significantly less to help their economies recover.
     
  1. Powered the Most Equitable Recovery in Memory: In past recessions, persistent high long-term and youth unemployment as well as high foreclosures of evictions led to long term harms – “scarring” for millions of Americans and hard, long roads back for Black and Hispanic Americans.

President Biden’s Rescue Plan ensured that didn’t happen this time:

  • Historic drops in Black and Hispanic Unemployment: With the strong recovery powered by ARP, Black unemployment saw its largest 1-year drop since 1984 and is near record lows; Hispanic unemployment saw its fastest 1-year drop and reached its lowest annual rate ever in 2022. Asian American unemployment fell significantly as well – falling by more than half from its January 2021 rate. 
  • Least scarring in any recovery in memory: The American Rescue Plan led to the fastest drop in long-term and youth unemployment ever, which both now stand at pre-pandemic levels. It kept foreclosures historically low and evictions 20% below historic averages even after the end of the CDC Eviction Moratorium.
     
  1. Lowered Health Care Premiums by $800 for over 13 Million Americans: ARP lowered health care premiums – which were extended by the Inflation Reduction Act, increased eligibility to middle- income families and provided strong incentives for states to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Result:
  • Saved over 13 million Americans an average of $800 a year on their health premiums.
  • Led to most Americans in history having health insurance
  • Provided health coverage to 3 million Americans who would have otherwise had no health insurance.
  • Provided an extra $1.5 billion in Medicaid funding to Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota for Medicaid expansion coverage to over half a million people.
  • Gave states an easier pathway to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage for a full 12 months – ensuring access to critical care for over 438,000 women nationwide.
     
  1. Largest Small Business Formation Boom in History Due ARP-Driven Strong Recovery and Small Business Investments: The Biden Administration:
  • Increased COVID Emergency Injury Disaster Loans to $2 million, while increasing anti-fraud controls
  • Reformed PPP to more equitably distribute funds to the smallest businesses.
  • Restaurant Revitalization Fund helped over 100,000 Restaurants, Bars, and Food Trucks stay open.
  • Shuttered Venues Program provided relief to 13,000 venues.
  • Invested a historic $10 Billion in the State Small Business Credit Initiative

This, and the strong recovery that ARP powered, led to:

  • A record 10.5 million new small business applications over the past 2 years
  • Hispanic entrepreneurs started small businesses at the highest rate in more than a decade in 2021 and 23 percent faster than pre-pandemic levels. 
  • Black-owned small businesses were created at the fastest rate in 26 years, as the Washington Post found.
  • Asian American entrepreneurs started small businesses at the fastest rate in over a decade in 2021.
     
  1. Led to Lowest Child Poverty Rate in American History: The American Rescue Plan and its expanded monthly Child Tax Credit led to:
  • Child Poverty nearly cut in half to lowest rate – 5.2% – ever.
  • Black child poverty cut by 52%, Hispanic child poverty cut by 43%, Native American child poverty cut by 51%, and dramatic drops in white and Asian child poverty — all to record lows.
  • ~9 million children in rural areas benefited from the expanded credit.
  • 5 million children in Veteran and Active-Duty families benefited from the expanded credit
  • Child Tax Credit payments were delivered reliably with the first ever monthly payment – on the 15th of each month with 90% using direct deposit.
  • Over 65 million children in 40 million working families received largest Child Tax Credit in history.
  • Historic Child Tax Credit Expansion already reached over 230,000 Puerto Rico families: Recent data shows that over 230,000 Puerto Rico households will get the expanded Child Tax Credit. 8X the number from the previous year.
     
  1. Funded a Historic Vaccination Campaign: ARP provided $160 billion to support vaccination, therapeutics, testing and mitigation, PPE, and the broader COVID Response effort.

This led to:

  • Over 230 million Americans are fully vaccinated, up from 3.5 million when President Biden took office.
     
  1. Helped Over 8 Million People Stay in Their Homes:
  • Emergency Rental Assistance – the first national eviction prevention policy in history – was main American Rescue Plan source of multi-month assistance to help over 8 million hard-pressed renters stay in their homes without sacrificing other basic needs.  
  • Emergency Rental Assistance and Other ARP Housing Policies led Eviction Filings to remarkably stay 20% below historic averages in 1.5 years after end of the eviction moratorium.
  • Called the “the most important eviction prevention policy in American history” by Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize Winner author of “Evicted” – and the “deepest investment the federal government has made in low-income renters since the nation launched its public housing system.”
  • HUD Emergency Housing Vouchers have already helped 47,500 households at risk of homelessness lease their own rental housing – these American Rescue Plan funded vouchers support those at risk of or experiencing homelessness or housing instability, and those fleeing domestic violence.
     
  1. Helped Keep 200,000 Child Care Centers Open
  • American Rescue Plan Stabilization Assistance has reached 200,000 Child Care Providers – that employ 1 million child care workers – and have the capacity to serve more than 9 million children.
  • 90% of programs reported that American Rescue Plan funds helped them stay open.
  • More than 8 in 10 licensed child care centers nationwide have received ARP assistance.
  • Benefited 30,000 rural child care programs – in most states, 97+% of rural counties received aid.
     
  1. For First Time in History, Direct Relief to Every Town, City, County and State – No Matter How Big or Small, Urban or Rural So they Could Design their Own Recovery:
  • Before ARP, 70% of cities anticipated layoffs or major cuts in services and half of states were freezing or cutting jobs. Today, cities and states have funds to invest in major challenges – like public safety, housing, workforce, and rehiring, instead of making dramatic cuts.
  • ARP provided direct fiscal relief to every state & territory and 30,000 cities and towns – while previous plans reached only 154 local governments, or fewer, with direct flexible relief.

 
This has led to:

  • American Rescue Plan Led to Surge in State Revenue Growth – Powering Economic Resilience: Before ARP, state revenues were expected to grow just 3.7% in 2021, after falling in 2020. After ARP, state revenues grew by 16.6% in 2021 (record high growth) – and over 14% growth in 2022. As a result, state surpluses are powering resilience economy-wide.
  • Major investments in critical areas:
    • Over $25 billion to Jumpstart Universal Broadband Access – including Broadband Connections for 16 million students through the Emergency Connectivity Fund for schools and libraries to close the homework gap.
    • Over $10 billion from ARP’s State & Local Fund invested in over 3,000 workforce projects
    • Over $20 billion in State & Local funds invested in water infrastructure
    • Over $14 billion in State & Local Funds invested in housing – expanding supply, investing in homeless services, and providing 3.7 million additional households rent, mortgage, and utility relief.
       
  1. One of the Largest Federal Investments in Preventing Crime, Reducing Violence, and Investing in Public Safety in History.
  • Over $10 billion committed to preventing crime and reducing violence, with investments by hundreds of state and local governments to avoid cuts to police budgets, hire more police officers for safe, effective, and accountable community policing, ensure first responders have the equipment they need to do their jobs, and expand evidence-based community violence intervention and prevention programs.
    • Toledo, Ohio used this funding to train a second cohort of new police recruits for the first time and plans for 100 new officers in the next few years; Mercer County invested in a county-wide radio system and improved its 911 system; Baltimore invested $50 million for its comprehensive violence prevention strategy, including community violence intervention programs.
  • That includes $1.2 billion Medicaid Mobile Crisis Intervention Services – the American Rescue Plan included $1.2 billion to fund mobile crisis intervention units staffed with mental health professionals & trained peers. 
  • It also includes $1 billion Family Violence Prevention and Services Program to reduce domestic violence with immediate crisis intervention, health supports, and safety.
     
  1. Funding School Districts Across the Nation to Reopen K-12 Schools, Support Academic Recovery, and Invest in Student Mental Health:
  • ARP provided critical relief to 16,000 school districts and other local education agencies to reopen safely, support academic recovery, and invest in student mental health.
  • Data from School District Plans show that schools are using these funds well:
    • Nearly 60% of funds are committed to investments like staffing, tutoring, after-school and summer learning, new textbooks and learning materials, and mental and physical health supports.
    • Another 23% is going to keep schools operating safely, including providing PPE and updating school facilities. This includes investments in lead abatement and nearly $10 billion for HVAC.

This has led to:

  • Going from 46% of schools that had safely opened to full-time in-person teaching to 100%: In January 2021, CDC data showed that just 46% of schools were open full-time in-person. Today, all schools are open.
  • A major increase in staffing and investments to address student mental health: Schools now employ 36% more school social workers, 11% more school counselors, and 28% more school nurses than pre-pandemic.
     
  1. Major Investment in Workforce Training and Connecting Americans to Good Jobs:
  • Over $40 billion from the American Rescue Plan has gone to workforce training efforts, including over $10 billion from ARP’s State and Local Fund invested in over 3,000 workforce projects across the country, including pre-apprenticeships and other programs to prepare for new infrastructure, health care and care jobs.
  • $500 million Competitive Good Jobs Challenge Awards for 32 Workforce Training Partnerships across the country
  • $1 billion Competitive Build Back Better Regional Challenge – 21 Winners won between $25 million and $65 million to execute transformational projects and revitalize local industries. Projects include developing workforce training programs and connecting workers to jobs – and other transformational investments.
  • Historic Investment in Expanding and Supporting our Health Care Workforce, including:
  • $1.1 Billion investment in the Community Health Workforce, including increasing the mental health workforce
  • Well over $10 Billion of American Rescue Plan Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) funds being used for workforce efforts.
  • Rapid deployment of over 14,000 community outreach workers (through over 150 national and local organizations).
  • Establishment of the first-of-its-kind Public Health AmeriCorps to build and train the next generation of public health leaders, already serving 82 organizations across the country and supporting more than 3,000 AmeriCorps members.
  • Supporting the largest field strength in history (over 22,700 providers) for the National Health Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery programs, treating more than 23.6 million patients in underserved communities
     
  1. Eighteen Million College Students Have Received Direct Financial Assistance from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund that was expanded by ARP:
  • Colleges have reached an estimated 18 million students with direct financial aid from Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEERF) since the beginning of 2021 to help them stay in school and help cover basic needs during the pandemic, like food, housing, and child care.
  • Direct financial assistance for an estimated 6 million community college students.
  • 80% of Pell Grant recipients received direct financial relief in 2021.
  • An estimated 450,000 students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) received direct financial aid. Further, in 2021, 77 percent of HBCUs used HEERF funds to discharge unpaid student balances.
  • Nine in 10 institutions reported that HEERF funds enabled them to keep students enrolled who were at risk of dropping out due to pandemic-related factors.
     
  1. Historic Investment in the Pension Security for up to 3 million Union workers & retirees: ARP’s Special Financial Assistance is the most significant investment in pension security for union workers and retirees in the past 50 years.
  • Over 200 multiemployer plans that were on pace to become insolvent in the near term will now have solvency ensured until at least 2051 solvent & paying full benefits thanks to ARP.
  • Preventing a wave of multi-employer insolvencies for 2-3 million workers who would have seen major cuts to their earned retirement benefits.
  • Pension Cuts Reversed for over 80,000 Workers and Retirees in 18 “MPRA” Multiemployer Plans that had taken cuts to avoid insolvency.
  • Most significant effort to protect the solvency of the multiemployer pension system in almost 50 years.
     
  1. First-Ever Summer Nutrition Benefit for Students with Nationwide Reach– Extended Permanently:
  • ARP created the first-ever summer nutrition benefit with nationwide reach.
  • 30 million young people: Reached the families of 30 million students.
  • Permanent: Congress extended this innovative program permanently in last year’s Omnibus bill, the first major new permanent food assistance program in nearly five decades.
Biden Administration, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Justice Agenda

FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Advances Equity and Opportunity for Black Americans and Communities Across the Country

President Biden has delivered the support necessary to enable every school to return to full-time, in-person instruction and ensure student success by accelerating academic recovery and addressing the mental health needs of students. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Over the past two years, President Biden has worked to advance racial equity and ensure the promise of America for Black Americans and all communities across the country. From increasing access to homeownership and rooting our discrimination in the housing market to promoting entrepreneurship, from reducing child poverty to historic lows to expanding access to quality affordable healthcare, from advancing voting rights and police accountability to ensuring equal access to a good education, the Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that all African American families and communities can live with dignity, safety, and respect and enjoy true equal opportunity.  Highlights of the actions the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to advance equity and opportunity for Black Americans include:

  • Creating Economic Opportunity for Black Families and Communities. By signing into law the historic American Rescue Plan (ARP),  Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and implementing robust regulatory reform, President Biden has led the most equitable economic recovery on record, creating more than 12 million jobs since coming to office and helping create new economic opportunities for African Americans, including Black-owned businesses, and made long overdue investments in Black communities. The President’s economic agenda has led to historically low unemployment, including among Black Americans, and is laying the groundwork for even greater economic growth in Black communities for years to come.
     
  • Protecting Black Americans’ Access to Housing by Combating Housing Discrimination. Following President Biden’s Presidential Memorandum directing his Administration to address racial discrimination in the housing market, in January 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to fulfill obligations under the Fair Housing Act to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing. This rule will help overcome patterns of segregation and to hold state, localities, and public housing agencies that receive federal funds accountable for ensuring that underserved communities have equitable access to affordable housing opportunities.
     
  • Launching a Whole-Of-Government Initiative to Advance Equity and Justice for Underserved Communities, Including Black Communities. On his first day in office, President Biden signed the historic Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. The President’s Order emphasized the enormous human costs of systemic racism, persistent poverty, and other disparities, and directed the Federal Government to advance an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda.

To strengthen the federal government’s equity mandate, on February 16, 2023, President Biden signed a second Executive Order on equity that directs the federal government to continue the work to make the promise of America real for every American. This second equity Executive Order requires agencies to designate senior leaders accountable for implementing the equity mandate; directs agencies to produce Equity Action Plans annually and report to the public on their progress; requires agencies to improve the quality, frequency, and accessibility of their community engagement; formalizes the President’s goal of increasing the share of federal contracting dollars awarded to small disadvantaged business by 50 percent by 2025; directs agencies to spur economic growth in rural areas and advance more equitable urban development; instructs agencies to consider bolstering the capacity of their civil rights offices and focusing their efforts on emerging threats like algorithmic discrimination in automated technology; directs the White House Office of Management and Budget to support agencies’ Equity Action Plans and invest in underserved communities each year through the formulation of the President’s budget; and further promotes data equity and transparency.

  • Lowering Health Care Costs and Improving Health Outcomes for Black Communities. President Biden is committed to keeping health care costs down for individuals and families and improving access to health care to address disparities in Black communities, including by creating the Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis.
    • Millions of lower- and middle-income Black families enrolled in health insurance marketplaces saw their premiums lowered or eliminated as a result of the ARP and will continue to benefit from provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act. More than three quarters of uninsured Black Americans had access to a plan with a monthly premium of $50 or less and about two thirds could find a plan for $0-premium plan in 2021. After substantially increasing Affordable Care Act Marketplace outreach and education, from 2020 to 2022 there was an increase of 400,000 Black Americans enrolled in ACA coverage – a 49% increase.
       
    • Among adults 65 and older, Black Medicare beneficiaries were roughly 1.5 times as likely as White beneficiaries to have trouble affording medications, and about 2 times as likely to not fill needed prescriptions due to cost. The President’s prescription drug law caps the amount that seniors on Medicare will have to pay for insulin at $35 per monthly prescription, caps the amount that seniors will have to pay for prescription drugs they buy at the pharmacy at $2,000 a year and will further lower prescription drug costs for seniors by allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of high-cost drugs and requiring drug manufacturers to pay Medicare a rebate when they raise prices faster than inflation.
       
  • Ensuring Equitable Educational Opportunity in K-12 Schools and an Education Beyond High School. President Biden has delivered the support necessary to enable every school to return to full-time, in-person instruction and ensure student success by accelerating academic recovery and addressing the mental health needs of students. President Biden has made college more affordable, provided college students with supports for completion, and helped federal student loan borrowers as they recover from the pandemic. He has also worked to ensure equitable access to high-quality education for Black students and invested nearly $6 billion in HBCUs.
     
  • Helping Working Families Afford Child Care. The high cost of child care continues to make it hard for parents – especially women — to work outside the home and provide for their families. Difficulty in finding high-quality, affordable child care leads some parents to drop out of the labor force entirely, some to reduce their work hours, and others to turn down a promotion. As part of the end-of-year omnibus appropriations bill, the Administration secured a 30% increase in funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which will more families afford child care and access better child care options. Forty percent of children benefiting from this program are Black. The new law also made significant investments in programs Head Start, which disproportionately serves Black children and families.
     
  • Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Reform. After Senate Republicans blocked passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act last year – even though law enforcement groups supported a deal – President Biden signed a historic Executive Order to advance effective, accountable policing and strengthen public safety. The order requires federal law enforcement agencies to: ban chokeholds; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate the use of body-worn cameras; implement stronger use of force policies, including with the duty to intervene and duty to render medical aid; provide de-escalation training; submit officer misconduct records into a new national database; and restrict the transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, among other things. The Administration is actively implementing the order. For example, agencies have already prohibited chokeholds and restricted no-knock entries, updated their use of force-policies, and prohibited the transfer of military-grade weapons and equipment to local law enforcement agencies.
     
  • Protecting the Sacred Right to Vote. The President signed into law the bipartisan Electoral Reform Count Act, which establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes for President and Vice President, to preserve the will of the people and to protect against the type of attempts to overturn our elections that led to the January 6 insurrection. Agencies across the federal government have announced steps they are taking to respond to the President’s historic Executive Order on promoting access to voting. And the Department of Justice has taken strong actions to protect the right to vote, including doubling the number of voting rights attorneys.

For more information on steps the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to advance equity and opportunity for Black Americans, you can go to FACT SHEET: The Biden-⁠Harris Administration Advances Equity and Opportunity for Black Americans and Communities Across the Country.

Biden Administration, Economic Policies, Economy, Health Care

FACT SHEET: New Data Show 8.2 Million Fewer Americans Struggling with Medical Debt Under Biden Administration

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new report that shows that the number of Americans with medical debt on their credit reports fell by 8.2 million from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2022 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The Administration’s work to strengthen the Affordable Care Act along with new consumer protections lead to continued progress reducing the burden of medical debt.. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new report that shows that the number of Americans with medical debt on their credit reports fell by 8.2 million from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2022. Today’s report is consistent with a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that found that the number of Americans who are part of families having trouble paying their medical bills declined by 5.5 million between 2020 and 2021. One driver of these declines is the significant increase in the number of insured Americans over this period, a result of the President’s strategy of protecting and strengthening the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and lowering health care costs. The decline also reflects continued actions by the CFPB to highlight problems with inaccurate reporting of debt in collections and put the industry on notice to correct their behavior.

The new data also underscore the importance of the Biden-Harris Administration’s government-wide initiative to reduce the burden of medical debt. Following the Vice President’s April 2022 announcement, medical debt was directly relieved for many low-income Americans. And, informed by research showing that medical debt is not a reliable predictor of financial health, federal agencies are working to eliminate the use of medical debt to assess creditworthiness for participation in government lending programs. Specifically:  

  • The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) implemented a streamlined process to make it easier and faster for lower-income veterans to get their VA medical debt forgiven. The new process – establishing simple criteria to qualify for debt relief and launching a new online debt relief portal – has already provided relief to over 10,000 veterans and saved them more than $10 million in copay debt.
  • Communities across the country – from Cook County, Illinois, to Toledo, Ohio, to New Orleans, Louisiana, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – are using or have passed legislation to use about $16 million American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to purchase medical debt from hospitals and other sources and forgive it, wiping out nearly $1.5 billion in medical debt, a ratio of nearly 100-to-1. Other localities and states have proposed to make similar purchases using ARP funding.
  • The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) validated and approved the use of VantageScore 4.0, along with FICO 10T, for the underwriting of mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The addition of VantageScore 4.0, which excludes medical debt entirely, marks the first time that a credit score that excludes medical debt has been approved for mortgage underwriting of Enterprise loans.
  • The Small Business Administration (SBA) will take a number of steps to reduce the role of medical debt in the underwriting of loans for its 7(a) guaranteed loan program, including revising its lender Standard Operating Procedures to discourage consideration of medical debt and making technology investments in Lender Match to help borrowers find lenders that exclude medical debt in their credit decisions.

These reductions in medical debt will provide real benefits to many Americans. Reducing medical debt directly impacts household finances by improving credit scores and access to credit. And research shows that households that have their medical debt relieved see improvements in access to medical care, and in physical and mental health outcomes. Since medical debt is disproportionally held among low-income communities, reductions in the burden of medical debt helps advance financial and health equity.
 
The CFPB report also shows that medical debt still accounts for more than 50% of debt in collections tradelines, exceeding the number of debt in collections tradelines from all other sources combined, including credit cards, personal loans, utilities, and phone bills. Getting sick or taking care of loved ones should not mean financial hardship for American families. That is why the Administration has—and will continue—to take action to ease the burden of medical debt and protect consumers from predatory collection practices.
 
Supporting Veterans in Financial Hardship
 
In Spring 2022, VA committed to make it easier and faster for lower-income veterans to get their VA medical debt forgiven. Previously, veterans in financial hardship who needed medical debt relief for VA copayments had to fill out a complex, paper form and navigate complicated eligibility requirements. The application process was confusing, and time-consuming, and as a result, veterans may have been deterred from applying for much needed relief.
 
Since the spring 2022 announcement:

  • VA streamlined the application process, including establishing a simple, standardized criteria to qualify for debt relief and launching a new online debt relief portal to make it easier and faster to apply.
  • Since introducing the new criteria, VA has approved over 93% of debt relief requests, and 42% of relief requests are now submitted via the online portal.  
  • To date, the new streamlined system has provided relief to over 10,000 veterans and saved them more than $10 million combined in unpayable copay debt.

Helping Communities Wipe Out Medical Debt
 
To help relieve the burden of medical debt on their residents as part of the recovery from the COVD-19 pandemic, communities across the country are using American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to support efforts to buy and forgive medical debt. These communities work with partners to purchase medical debt portfolios from hospitals, health systems, and debt collection agencies and forgive the debt. Because medical debts are often available for purchase at pennies on the dollar, these efforts can translate into massive reductions in medical debt.
 
In the programs implemented to date, individuals qualify if they are residents of the given locality and have incomes below a certain threshold or have medical debt in excess of 5% of their annual household income. Individuals whose debt is cancelled are notified by mail and do not need to apply. Communities that have used ARP funds to forgive medical debt include:

  • Cook County, Illinois. In July 2022, Cook County announced the use of $12 million in ARP funds to purchase and forgive up to $1 billion in medical debt. The program has already wiped out the medical debts of 45,000 people worth $26 million.
  • Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio. In November 2022, the Toledo City Council and Lucas County approved a cumulative $1.6 million in ARP funds to buy out medical debt of certain residents. In total, the localities expected that this purchase will wipe out approximately $240 million in debt.
  • New Orleans, Louisiana. In December 2022, the New Orleans City Council included in its annual budget a $1.3 million line item leveraging ARP funds to relieve up to an estimated $130 million in medical debt.
  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In January 2023, the Pittsburgh City Council approved a plan to use $1 million in ARP funds to eliminate up to an estimated $115 million medical debts for about 24,000 residents.

Taken together, these investments of about $16 million in ARP funding are expected to relieve up to nearly $1.5 billion in medical debt, a ratio of nearly 100-to-1, helping to mend household finances, improve mental health, and remove a barrier to accessing health care. Additional states and cities across the country are also considering using ARP funds to eliminate medical debt including most recently the state of Connecticut, where the governor proposed using $20 million in ARP funds to wipe out debts of about  $2 billion.   
 
Removing Medical Debt from Government Underwriting
 
Research shows that medical debt is not a reliable predictor of overall financial health – predominately reflecting inequities in health insurance coverage and the bad luck of a hospitalization or other medical event. A CFPB report found that including medical debt in credit scores understates consumers’ creditworthiness by 10 points, and including already paid medical debt understates consumers’ creditworthiness by as much as 22 points. This means that the use of medical debt in underwriting can cut off American’s access to credit without improving the accuracy and predictiveness of lending programs.
 
Informed by this research, the Biden-Harris Administration instructed all agencies to eliminate medical debt as a factor in underwriting of credit programs, whenever possible and consistent with law. Since then:

  • In October 2022, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) validated and approved the use of VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T for the underwriting of mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. VantageScore 4.0 excludes medical debt entirely, and marks the first time that a credit score that excludes medical debt has been approved for mortgage underwriting of Enterprise loans.  Moreover, the national credit reporting agencies announced several changes affecting the reporting of medical debt in collections – including that paid medical collection debt would no longer be included on consumer credit reports, an extension of timing for reporting of unpaid medical collection debt from six to twelve months, and a minimum $500 threshold for medical collection debt reporting – meaning that the role of medical debt in FICO 10T will also be reduced. The Enterprises’ automated underwriting systems do not consider medical debt in collections.
  • The Small Business Administration (SBA) will be taking a number of steps to reduce the role of medical debt in the underwriting of loans in the 7a guaranteed loan program.  These steps include revising its Standard Operating Procedures to discourage lenders from considering medical debt and making technology investments in Lender Match to help borrowers find lenders that exclude medical debt from their credit decisions and empower such lenders to underwrite those loans via automated data compilation.
  • In February 2022, VA published a final rule under which it virtually ceased reporting medical debt, and other unfavorable debt, to the credit bureaus. This rule ensures that debt reported better reflects creditworthiness, while saving veterans from further financial struggles simply because they had to take on medical debt. VA is committed to mitigating the burden of medical debt in its Home Loan guarantee program and in the coming months will work with lenders and servicers to discuss how to best maximize the flexibility of their underwriting guidelines related to medical debt collections while monitoring investor reactions and access to capital for VA guaranteed loans

New Data on Medical Debt in Collections
 
The report from the CFPB documents trends in medical debt in collections that are listed on credit reports, with the data extending through the first quarter of 2022. Key findings include:

  • Between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2022, the number of Americans with medical debt on their credit report fell by 8.2 million, a 17.9% reduction.
  • Medical debt in collections accounts for 57% of collections tradelines, exceeding the total number of collections tradelines from all other sources combined, including credit cards, personal loans, utilities, and phone bills.

One driver of this decline in medical debt is the expansion of health insurance coverage during the Biden-Harris Administration. In the first quarter of 2022, the uninsured rate hit an all-time low of 8.0%, with 4.2 million people gaining coverage between 2020 and the first half of 2022. This milestone does not yet not capture the impact of the most recent increase in Marketplace enrollment, with a record 16.3 million Americans signing up on HealthCare.gov and the state-based Marketplaces during the 2023 Open Enrollment Period. This includes 3.6 million people who are new to the Marketplaces for 2023. Since President Biden took office, the number of people who have signed up for an affordable health care plan through HealthCare.gov has increased by nearly 50%. The Biden-Harris Administration continues to work to create a more fair and transparent health care system for consumers, including by protecting millions of consumers from surprise medical bills through its implementation of the No Surprises Act—preventing about 1 million surprise bills per month—and by advancing hospital price transparency so patients know the upfront price of hospital services.
 
The declines in medical debt also reflect continued actions by the CFPB to highlight problems with inaccurate reporting of debt in collections and put the industry on notice to correct their behavior.
 
The declines in medical debt on credit reports do not yet capture any effects of the Spring 2022 announcement where the three largest credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and Transunion—stated that they will no longer include certain forms of medical debt on credit reports, including all debts under $500, starting in 2023. While not shown in these data, CFPB estimates these changes will likely result in further reductions in medical debt appearing on credit reports.  
 
The decline in medical debt in collection represents one part of a broader decrease in the financial burden from medical bills during the Biden-Harris Administration. The CFPB report focuses on medical debt reported to credit bureaus, and does not capture medical debt that is placed on credit cards (including hospital credit cards) or paid for with personal loans or hospital payment plans.  However, a CDC report released last month showed that between 2020 and 2021, the number of people in families having problems paying medical bills declined by 5.5 million people, indicating that American families are indeed experiencing across-the-board relief.
 
These findings represent real progress in providing breathing room for American families. At the same time, too many Americans still face crushing burdens from medical debt. The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to fight to ensure that Americans who are sick or are caring for sick loved ones are not hit with a double whammy of illness and medical debt. This includes continuing to help Americans sign up for health insurance; calling on Congress to make permanent the lower premiums for people buying ACA coverage and to close the Medicaid coverage gap; and continuing to reduce the burden of medical debt via sweeping actions by government agencies.

Biden Administration, Economic Policies, Economy, Federal Budget, Government spending, Infrastructure, Joe Biden, President Joe Biden

Dueling Economic Agendas: Biden, Democrats Blast Republicans

During the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden laid out a plan to continue to grow the economy in a stable, sustainable way, so that all Americans could benefit. Republicans, meanwhile, are intent on policies that would add $3 trillion to the national debt while hurting seniors, the middle class, working families. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

Further evidence that President Joe Biden’s economic plan – essentially building the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, and creating longterm, sustainable, stable growth – is working. Despite the manufactured hysteria over inflation and impending recession, the data shows otherwise – in terms of record 12 million jobs created, lowest unemployment in 50 years, real increase in wages.

Biden is also able to show progress in slowing inflation – which has been much more crippling throughout the world – and has been able to demonstrate that while his economic policies will address the national debt (a record reduction in the budget deficit), Republicans’ agenda would worsen the national debt (largely caused by the Trump/GOP tax plan that reduced taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations, and which added $7.4 trillion, or 25% of the national debt, in the four-year term). The Republican plan would actually add $3 trillion MORE to the national debt.

President Biden, commenting on the January CPI Report, said:

“Inflation in America is continuing to come down, which is good news for families and businesses across the country. Today’s data confirm that annual inflation has fallen for seven straight months. Inflation for food at the grocery store came down again last month. Gas prices are down about $1.60 from their peak last year. And real wages for working Americans are up over the last seven months, delivering welcome breathing room for American families. We are seeing this progress even as unemployment remains at its lowest level since 1969 and job growth remains resilient.”  
 
“There is still more work to do as we make this transition to more steady, stable growth, and there could be setbacks along the way. That is why my unwavering focus is on continuing to lower costs for families, rebuild our supply chains, and invest in America. Right now, because of the Inflation Reduction Act we passed last year, we are lowering prescription drug costs, health care costs, and home energy costs for tens of millions of Americans all while lowering our deficits. My administration is eliminating junk fees which make it harder for American families to make ends meet at the end of the month. And we are creating manufacturing jobs all across the country, which will lower costs and rebuild our supply chains.”
 
“Unfortunately, many of my Republican friends in Congress seem intent on taking us in the opposite direction. They have proposed repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, which would make inflation worse, shower billions of dollars on Big Pharma, and increase the deficit. They are threatening to raise costs for seniors by threatening to cut Medicare and Social Security, and other critical programs that American seniors and families count on. And some are threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the U.S., which would raise costs and create economic chaos. I will stand firmly against any effort to make inflation worse and increase costs for families. Today’s data reinforces that we have made historic progress and are on the right track, and now we need to finish the job. “

The Congressional Republican Agenda to Increase the Debt by Over $3 Trillion

Congressional Republican leaders insist that the national debt is among our nation’s greatest challenges, and reducing it is among their highest priorities. In fact, they claim that reducing the debt is so urgent it warrants endangering the entire U.S. economy through debt limit brinksmanship. But their legislative agenda to date points in a very different direction—with proposals that would increase the debt by over $3 trillion.

  • The first bill passed by the new Republican House majority increased the debt by $114 billion by allowing wealthy people and corporations to continue to cheat on their taxes.
     
  • Congressional Republicans proposed repealing—and are even running ads attacking—reforms President Biden signed to lower prescription drug costs. Repealing these policies would increase the amount of money Medicare pays Big Pharma, raise costs for seniors, and add $159 billion to the debt.
     
  • House Republicans have advocated and proposed repealing tax increases on large corporations that President Biden has signed into law, adding $296 billion to the debt.
     
  • House Republican leaders have also committed to extend the expiring Trump tax cuts, a $2.7 trillion debt increase that would give the top 0.1% (with incomes over $4 million per year) a $175,000 annual tax cut, over 2.5 times a typical family’s annual income.

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, exposed the political logic of Congressional Republicans’ fiscal hypocrisy. He told Republicans their focus should be “not the deficit” after all: it’s to shift public discussion to cutting spending, paving the way for more tax cuts for the wealthy.

That trickle-down economic theory has never worked. President Trump and President Bush’s tax cuts added trillions to the debt and failed to deliver their promised benefits for the economy or American workers. And taking revenues—and even savings from cutting corporate subsidies—off the table means Congressional Republicans consistently propose deep cuts to programs seniors and middle-class and working families count on.

That’s why the American people deserve to see Congressional Republicans’ full and detailed budget plan and compare it with the President’s Budget plan to invest in America, bring down costs for families, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and reduce the deficit, which he will release March 9.

Congressional Republicans’ Commitment to Debt Increases

The fiscal consequences of the debt increases Congressional Republicans have put at the top of their agenda are stark. After a decade, these policies, if enacted, would add over $3 trillion to the debt (accounting for debt service costs), increasing debt as a share of the economy by almost 10 percentage points.
Congressional Republicans’ debt increases include:

The Tax Cheats Protection Act: House Republicans’ first bill in the new Congress would add $114 billion to the Federal debt by repealing President Biden’s legislation that cracks down on wealthy tax cheats. While working people pay 99% of taxes on their income from wages and salaries, the top 1% hides about 20% of their income from tax, including by funneling it through offshore accounts and tax havens that do not report earnings. President Biden passed a law to make our tax system fairer by cracking down on wealthy tax cheats, while protecting middle-class taxpayers and small businesses and improving taxpayer service. But 221 House Republicans voted to enable tax fraud by wealthy Americans and large corporations.

Increase Spending With a Handout to Big Pharma: House Republicans have introduced a bill to repeal the entire Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), including the reforms President Biden signed into law to lower prescription drug costs. Congressional Republicans and Big Pharma have launched a concerted attack on the IRA’s prescription drug reforms, advocating to increase both Federal spending and seniors’ costs to increase Big Pharma’s profits. Thanks to the new prescription drug law, Medicare will finally be able to negotiate drug prices, and drug companies will pay rebates to Medicare if they try to hike their prices faster than the rate of inflation. Congressional Republicans want to repeal these policies, giving a $159 billion handout to Big Pharma, raising costs for seniors, and driving up the Federal debt.

Enrich Multi-Billion Dollar Corporations: In 2020, 55 of the largest, most profitable corporations paid $0 in taxes. The President signed into law legislation to level the playing field for companies and small businesses that are already paying their fair share in taxes. Under his corporate minimum tax, the largest, most profitable corporations—those with over $1 billion in profits—have to pay a 15% minimum tax on the profits they report to their shareholders. But House Republicans—through their Inflation Reduction Act repeal bill and other statements—have made clear that they want to enrich large corporations that don’t pay their fair share. That would add $222 billion to the debt.

Increase the Tax Subsidy for Stock Buybacks: President Biden signed into law a surcharge on corporate stock buybacks, which reduces the differential tax treatment between buybacks and dividends and encourages businesses to invest in their growth and productivity as opposed to paying out corporate executives or funneling tax-preferred profits to foreign shareholders. The President in his State of the Union address proposed quadrupling the stock buybacks tax to 4% to address the continued tax advantage for buybacks and encourage long-term investment over giveaways to executives. House Republicans instead want to repeal the stock buybacks tax and let corporations continue to funnel tax-preferred profits to shareholders instead of investing in productivity and the broader economy. That would add $74 billion to the Federal debt.

Extend President Trump’s Unpaid-for Tax Giveaway to the Wealthy and Large Corporations: President Trump and Congressional Republicans deliberately sunset portions of their tax giveaway to the wealthy and large corporations. They did this to conceal how much their plan added to the debt as well as how large the tax breaks were for multi-millionaires and large corporations. Now, House Republican Leadership has made clear that extending President Trump’s tax giveaway to the wealthy and large corporations is one of their top priorities. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center found that doing so would mean an average tax cut of $175,000 for the top 0.1%—Americans making more than $4 million per year. That average tax cut is more than 2.5 times a typical family’s annual income. Meanwhile, extending the expiring Trump tax cuts would add $2.7 trillion to the Federal debt over 10 years.

The President supports a fiscally responsible approach to continuing current tax policies for people making less than $400,000 per year, and opposes any tax increase for this group. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans—including the more than three quarters of them who are signatories to Grover Norquist’s tax pledge—have made clear they will oppose paying for middle-class tax cuts by raising taxes on the wealthy and large corporations.

Even Without a Budget, Congressional Republicans Are Already Showing Who Will Pay the Price

The proposals Congressional Republicans have put forward show that, even as they commit to massive tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, they are more than ready to raise taxes on middle-class and working families. The House Republican IRA repeal bill would cut premium tax credits that are helping an estimated 14.5 million people pay for health insurance. And the House Budget Committee last week doubled down on eliminating Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for middle-income people with high health insurance premiums: a tax increase of $7,600 per year for a typical 62-year old earning $55,000.

In addition, some Congressional Republicans continue to push a national retail sales tax bill that would repeal most existing taxes and impose a new 30% sales tax on American families. The legislation would increase debt by trillions—and cut taxes for a couple making a million dollars a year by more than $200,000—and at the same time would raise taxes by at least $7,000 for a retired couple with $60,000 in Social Security income and at least $6,000 for a single mom making $38,000, a recent analysis found.

The bottom line is: having committed to over $3 trillion in debt increases and also insisted they are committed to reducing the debt, Congressional Republicans owe the American public a complete and transparent accounting of who will foot the bill. Will it be middle-class and working families, seniors, students, or all of the above? 

House Republican agenda amounts to a death panel for Medicare and Social Security:

The contrast in agendas for America between President Joe Biden and the Democrats and the Congressional Republicans could not be more stark.

While President Biden, in his State of the Union address, described his plans for building on the historic job creation he has achieved, making more progress against inflation, reducing the deficit by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, and protecting Medicare and Social Security benefits from cuts, in contrast, House Republicans opened the week by announcing the latest in a long succession of attempts to undermine Medicare and Social Security.

Bloomberg reports that as part of a ransom demand for not triggering a financial meltdown, top House Republicans want an agreement that both earned benefits programs are put on track for cuts.

As The Washington Post reported in late January, House Republicans have continuously pressed for slashing Medicare and Social Security benefits in exchange for not actively harming the American economy with the first debt default in our history.  

House Republicans have repeatedly indicated they would do so in the new Congress, and on the campaign trail.

Republicans have also introduced legislation to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which would be one of the biggest Medicare benefit cuts in history, depriving seniors of lower insulin costs, the $2,000 cap on out of pocket expenses for prescription drugs, and Medicare’s new ability to negotiate lower drug costs.

Today’s news is even more confirmation that House Republicans are taking direct aim at programs that are critical to the middle class, even as they vote for tax giveaways to the rich that would manage to increase taxes on working families while raising the deficit at the same time, the White House stated.

“With the President poised to announce new plans to keep making our economy works from the bottom up and the middle out – not the top down – House Republicans are dead-set on the opposite,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. “They’re opening the week unveiling their latest in a long line of ultimatums about how they’ll act to kill jobs, businesses, and retirement accounts if they can’t cut Medicare and Social Security benefits. Meanwhile, they’re voting to worsen the deficit with tax welfare for the rich and big corporations. Think about that: they’re targeting the Medicare and Social Security benefits that middle class families pay in to earn their whole lives, then turning around and giving tax handouts to big corporations. The American people want more jobs and lower costs, not a death panel for Medicare and Social Security.” 

“While President Biden shows the American people his plan to build on the unprecedented deficit reduction his leadership has already delivered, by having the richest taxpayers and big corporations pay their fair share and lowering prescription drug prices, House Republicans’ only plan is to make the deficit skyrocket by over $3 trillion with unaffordable tax giveaways to wealthy special interests,” stated White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. “They’ve even proposed raiding Medicare so that the ultra-rich can enjoy new tax welfare. Meanwhile, House Republicans are threatening to actively throw our economy into a tailspin with a default – which they have a non-negotiable, Constitutional duty to prevent – unless they can further cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It’s utterly backwards. The President is delivering on his commitment to build an economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out – not from the top down. The House GOP seems determined to pull the American economy in the opposite direction, increasing taxes on working families while giving $3 trillion in new handouts for the rich.”

The chart below is based on the record:

Policy10-Year Deficit Increase
Republican House-passed bill to make it easier for billionaires to cheat on their taxes$114 billion
Republican Proposals to repeal Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug savings, which will raise costs for seniors and Medicare and increase federal spending$159 billion
Republican Proposals to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s 15% minimum tax on corporations with profits over $1 billion$222 billion
Republican Proposals to extend the Trump tax cuts: an average tax cut of $175,000 for the top 0.1%$2.7 trillion
Deficit increases from Republican proposals to dateOver $3 trillion

Congressional Republicans keep calling for earned benefits on the one hand, but more tax giveaways for the rich on the other

After President Biden put Republicans on the defensive over their long-public intentions to slash Medicare and Social Security benefits, a continuing list of congressional Republicans ranging from Ron Johnson last week to Senator Mike Rounds yesterday, keep proving his point.

Whether it’s a large number of House Republicans and Rick Scott pushing to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act in what would be one of the worst Medicare benefit cuts of all time, or the Republican Study Committee proposing benefit cuts and the privatization of Social Security of last year, the receipts are undeniable. For months, congressional Republicans have indicated they would even use the threat of a catastrophic default to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Republicans in Congress justify these intentions under the guise of fiscal responsibility. However, at the same time, they are advocating for enormous tax giveaways to rich special interests that, combined, would add over $3 trillion to the debt. Those two positions are irreconcilable.

The first vote the Republican-controlled House took was to help wealthy individuals and multinational corporations worsen inflation by cheating on their taxes. They broadly support renewing the Trump tax giveaways for the rich. And in addition to being a Medicare benefit cut, repealing the Inflation Reduction Act would at the same time be more tax welfare for the rich and a giant windfall for Big Pharma. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  

“It’s irreconcilable to support Medicare and Social Security benefit cuts in the name of supposed ‘fiscal responsibility,’ while at the same time adding $3 trillion to the national debt with a seemingly endless gravy train for rich special interests,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. “Prioritizing tax giveaways for the wealthy and specific handouts for Big Pharma over the Medicare and Social Security benefits that middle class families pay to earn throughout their lives is a recipe for making our economy work from the top-down. The last thing that Americans who’ve felt invisible want is cuts to lifeline programs in exchange for permanent trickle-down economics.”