Two years ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote in Congress. Not a single Republican voted for it and Trump/Vance and the Republicans vow to repeal it and replace it with Project 2025 laundry list of policies which will harm working and middle-class families. and undermine progress toward an equitable, sustainable economy. –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
The Inflation Reduction Act is a key part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, which has driven the fastest and most equitable recovery on record – creating good-paying jobs, expanding opportunity, and lowering costs in every corner of the country.
Already, the Inflation Reduction Act is transforming American lives by finally beating Big Pharma to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, making the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in history, creating hundreds of thousands good-paying jobs, lowering health care and energy costs, and making the tax code fairer.
Visit the White House Savings Explorer to see how Americans are saving money on their annual expenses because of the Inflation Reduction Act and other Biden-Harris Administration actions.
Statement from President Joe Biden on Inflation Reduction Act Anniversary
Two years ago, I signed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history that is lowering energy costs and creating good-paying union jobs, while taking on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs—with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. Already, this law is lowering health care costs for millions of families, strengthening energy security, and creating more than 330,000 clean energy jobs according to outside groups. It has also unleashed $265 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments from the private sector in the last two years—part of the nearly $900 billion invested in America since we took office.
This historic legislation is fiscally responsible. It lowers the deficit over the long run by cutting wasteful spending on special interests and making big corporations and the wealthy pay more of their fair share. And just yesterday, my Administration announced lower prescription drug prices for the first ten drugs that have been negotiated by Medicare, which will cut the prices of drugs used to treat blood clots, heart disease, cancer, and more by nearly 40% to 80%, and save taxpayers $6 billion in the first year alone.
While Republicans in Congress try to repeal this law—which would increase prescription drug costs and take good-paying jobs away from their constituents, all to give massive tax cuts to big corporations—Vice President Harris and I will keep fighting to move our country forward by investing in America and giving families more breathing room.
Statement from President Joe Biden on Inflation Reduction Act Anniversary
Two years ago, I signed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history that is lowering energy costs and creating good-paying union jobs, while taking on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs—with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. Already, this law is lowering health care costs for millions of families, strengthening energy security, and creating more than 330,000 clean energy jobs according to outside groups. It has also unleashed $265 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments from the private sector in the last two years—part of the nearly $900 billion invested in America since we took office.
This historic legislation is fiscally responsible. It lowers the deficit over the long run by cutting wasteful spending on special interests and making big corporations and the wealthy pay more of their fair share. And just yesterday, my Administration announced lower prescription drug prices for the first ten drugs that have been negotiated by Medicare, which will cut the prices of drugs used to treat blood clots, heart disease, cancer, and more by nearly 40% to 80%, and save taxpayers $6 billion in the first year alone.
While Republicans in Congress try to repeal this law—which would increase prescription drug costs and take good-paying jobs away from their constituents, all to give massive tax cuts to big corporations—Vice President Harris and I will keep fighting to move our country forward by investing in America and giving families more breathing room.
FACT SHEET: Two Years In, the Inflation Reduction Act is Lowering Costs for Millions of Americans, Tackling the Climate Crisis, and Creating Jobs
In the two years since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law:
Just yesterday, the President and Vice President announced that, for the first time in history, Medicare successfully negotiated lower prescription drug prices, which will save millions of seniors, people with disabilities, and other Medicare beneficiaries over $1.5 billion out-of-pocket in the first year.
Millions of Americans are saving an average of $800 per year on health insurance premiums because of cost savings from the American Rescue Plan that the Inflation Reduction Act extended, helping drive the nation’s uninsured rate to historic lows. 4 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries saved money on insulin because of the law’s cap at $35 for a month’s supply. 10.3 million Medicare enrollees received a free vaccine in 2023, saving them more than $400 million in out-of-pocket vaccine costs. The IRS successfully piloted Direct File in 12 states, saving 140,000 people an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees by enabling them to file their taxes directly with the IRS online, for free. And, the IRS has recovered over $1 billion by cracking down on millionaire tax cheats since the law passed. Last year, 3.4 million Americans benefited from $8.4 billion in Inflation Reduction Act tax credits to lower the cost of clean energy and energy efficiency upgrades in their homes – significantly outpacing projections of the popularity of the tax credits in just the first year they were available. Since January 2024, more than 250,000 Americans have claimed the IRA’s electric vehicle tax credit, saving these buyers about $1.5 billion total. Nearly all of these buyers claimed the incentive at the point of sale. Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, companies have announced$900 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments in the US, including over $265 billion in clean energy investments since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law. These investments are creating over 330,000 new jobs in the United States according to an outside group.
Economically distressed areas are poised to benefit the most from those investments. Over 99% of high-poverty counties in the United States are benefitting from an Investing in America project funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or CHIPS and Science Act. According to Treasury Department analysis, since the Inflation Reduction Act passed, 75% of private sector clean energy investments have flowed to counties with lower than median household incomes, and clean energy investment in energy communities has doubled. And, the Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in environmental justice in history.
Additionally, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken action to protect the critical investments that the Inflation Reduction Act is making in the domestic clean energy economy from unfair trade practices. In May, President Biden increased tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese imports to combat China’s artificially low-priced exports in strategic sectors such as electric vehicles, batteries, and solar. These actions protect American jobs, businesses, investments, and economic growth.
Lowering health care costs for millions of Americans
President Biden and Vice President Harris have made expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care and lowering prescription drug costs for American families a top priority. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, health care is more accessible and more affordable than ever before. In just the last two years:
The law enhanced the Affordable Care Act’s financial assistance that is available to consumers to purchase health insurance. Millions of Americans are saving, on average, about $800 a year on their health insurance plans, with more than 80 percent of consumers able to find health insurance for $10 or less a month. As a result, a record-breaking 21 million people signed up for ACA coverage in 2024. That’s 9 million more than when the President and Vice President took office, and more underserved communities are enrolling in coverage, with 1.7 million Black Americans and 3.4 million Latinos enrolled, a 95% and 103% increase, respectively, since 2020.
The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin costs at $35 for a month’s supply and making recommended adult vaccines free. Four million Medicare beneficiaries are now saving on their monthly insulin costs, and over 10 million beneficiaries received a free vaccine, saving more than $400 million in out-of-pocket cost. Drug companies that increase prices faster than inflation now have to pay a rebate to Medicare—which is translating into lower out of pocket costs for seniors. Next year, out of pocket drug costs will be capped at $2,000 per year for Medicare beneficiaries, which is expected to save nearly 19 million seniors an average of $400 per year.
The Inflation Reduction Act – for the first time ever – gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Just this week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new, lower prescription drug prices for all ten drugs selected for the first year of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. The new, lower prices, which go into effect in 2026, will save American taxpayers $6 billion and will save seniors and people with disabilities $1.5 billion in out of pocket costs in 2026 alone. These new prices cut the list cost for drugs that treat heart disease, blood clots, diabetes, cancer, and more by nearly 40% to 80%.
Lowering energy costs with the largest climate investment in history
The Inflation Reduction Act is tackling the climate crisis by advancing clean power, cutting pollution from buildings, transportation, and industry and supporting climate-smart agriculture and forestry. The law is accelerating our progress toward President Biden and Vice President Harris’ goal of cutting U.S. climate pollution by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030.
Two years after the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris Administration has made tremendous progress implementing the climate and clean energy provisions of this law quickly and effectively. Treasury guidance is now available for nearly all of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax provisions. On the grant, loan, and rebate side of the law, nearly two thirds of Inflation Reduction Act funding has been awarded. As an example of the Administration’s rapid progress on implementation, today the Environmental Protection Agency announced that all $27 billion in awards through their Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund are now obligated. $20 billion of these awards go toward a national clean energy financing network that will support tens of thousands of clean energy projects, reducing or avoiding millions of metric tons of carbon pollution annually over the next seven years. The other $7 billion in awards through the Solar for All program will save over $350 million each year on energy bills for over 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged households through residential solar.
In the two years since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law:
Clean energy projects are creating more than 330,000 jobs in nearly every state in the country, according to outside groups.
Companies have announced $265 billion in new clean energy investments in nearly every state in the nation. According to Treasury Department analysis, many of these investments are happening in underserved communities—since the IRA passed, 75% of private sector clean energy investments made since the Inflation Reduction Act passed have occurred in counties with lower than median household incomes, and clean energy investment in energy communities has doubled. Last week, Treasury and IRS released new data showing that in 2023, more than 3.4 million American families saved $8.4 billion from IRA consumer tax credits on home energy technologies. These tax credits can save families up to 30% off heat pumps, insulation, rooftop solar, and other clean energy technologies. New York and Wisconsin have now launched home energy rebate programs, with more states expected to launch later this summer and fall. Already, 22 states have submitted their applications to DOE to receive their full rebate funding. These rebate programs help low- and middle-income families afford cost-saving electric appliances and energy efficiency improvements by providing rebates up to $14,000 per household. In total, the IRA rebates programs are expected to save consumers up to $1 billion annually in energy costs and support an estimated 50,000 U.S. jobs in residential construction, manufacturing, and other sectors.
Since January 2024, more than 250,000 Americans have claimed the Inflation Reduction Act’s EV tax credits—either $7,500 off a qualified new electric vehicle, or up to $4,000 off a qualified used electric vehicle. In total, these taxpayers have saved about $1.5 billion and nearly all buyers claimed the incentive at the point of sale.
Making the tax system fairer and making the wealthy pay their fair share
The Inflation Reduction Act fully pays for these investments, and reduces the deficit over the long run, by cutting wasteful spending on special interests and making big corporations and the wealthy pay more of their fair share. After 55 of the biggest corporations in America paid $0 in federal income tax on $40 billion in profits in 2020, the Inflation Reduction Act requires billion-dollar corporations to pay at least 15 percent in tax. It also requires corporations to pay a 1 percent excise tax on stock buybacks, encouraging businesses to invest in their growth and productivity instead of funneling tax-preferred profits to foreign shareholders. By making large corporations pay more of their fair share, the IRA will raise around $300 billion over a decade.
The Inflation Reduction Act also makes a historic investment in modernizing the IRS, providing funding to better taxpayer experience, reduce fraud, and upgrade critical technology infrastructure. Thanks to these investments, the IRS has already:
Improved services for millions of taxpayers. This spring, the IRS answered 3 million more phone calls than in 2022, cut phone wait times to three minutes from 28 minutes, served 200,000 more taxpayers in person, and saved taxpayers 1.4 million hours on hold last filing season. It also expanded online services, enabling 94% of taxpayers to submit forms digitally instead of via mail if they so choose.
Successfully piloted Direct File, allowing taxpayers to easily file their taxes online and for free, directly with the IRS for the first time. Over 140,000 Americans successfully filed their taxes through Direct File this year, claiming over $90 million in refunds and saving an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees. Users said Direct File was easy and fast to use, with 90% rating their experience excellent or above average. Building on this success, the IRS has invited all 50 states and the District of Columbia to join Direct File starting in 2025.
Collected $1 billion from 1,500 millionaire tax cheats, launched enforcement action against 25,000 millionaires who have not filed a tax return since 2017, began audits on dozens of the largest corporations and partnerships, and cracked down on high-end tax evasion like deducting personal use of corporate jets as a business expense. At the same time, the IRS is adhering to Treasury Secretary Yellen’s commitment to not increase audit rates relative to current levels for small businesses and Americans making less than $400,000 a year.
Over the next decade, the Inflation Reduction Act’s investments will enable the IRS to further crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats and collect over $400 billion in additional revenue.
Going forward, the IRS is on track to implement additional improvements to taxpayer experience; provide additional in-person services in rural and underserved areas; redesign notices and forms to be less confusing; and expand online and mobile-friendly tools.
Investing in America to create jobs and expand opportunity
When President Biden thinks about climate change, he thinks about jobs. Two years into implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, it’s easy to see why.
Across the nation, the Inflation Reduction Act is catalyzing a clean energy and manufacturing boom. Since President Biden took office, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda has catalyzed nearly $900 billion in private sector investment commitments, including roughly $400 billion in clean energy across every state in the nation. That topline figure includes enough power generation to replace 40 Hoover Dams, the largest wind tower manufacturing facility in the world, the largest solar investment in US history.
Broader macroeconomic indicators also illustrate how, through tax credits and domestic content requirements within the law–we are successfully onshoring critical supply chains and encouraging a resurgence of domestic manufacturing. Real investment in manufacturing structures is at an all-time high—and has been for six quarters. Manufacturing’s contribution to GDP broke quarters for three consecutive quarters in 2023. And Americans have filed to open a record 300,000 new manufacturing businesses.
These investments are having real impacts on communities—particularly those that need it most. Public dollars are flowing disproportionately to disadvantaged and left behind communities: 99% of high-poverty counties have received funding from the infrastructure law, CHIPS Act, or Inflation Reduction Act, and non-metro communities have received nearly double the per capita funding of their urban counterparts. On the private sector side, analysis from the US Treasury tells a similar story. Since the IRA passed, 84% of announced clean investments have flowed to counties with college graduation rates below the national average, and the rate of investment in energy communities has more than doubled. Given these successes, it is no wonder that Republicans who voted against the bill are suddenly trying to take credit for it—and urging their leadership not to proceed with an unpopular repeal effort.
Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on the Inflation Reduction Act Anniversary
Since day one of our Administration, President Joe Biden and I have made it a priority to strengthen the middle class by lowering costs, creating jobs, and advancing opportunity. That is why we fought to enact our Inflation Reduction Act, historic legislation that I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote on in the Senate. In the two years since President Biden signed it into law, this landmark bill has already delivered for American families.
This transformational legislation is reducing the cost of health care for millions of people in communities across our nation – from capping the price of insulin at $35 a month for seniors to capping out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 a year for Americans on Medicare, which is expected to save nearly 19 million seniors an average of $400 per year. Additionally, Medicare is now able to negotiate lower prescription prices for millions of Americans while saving taxpayers billions by paying rates 40% to 80% lower for expensive medications used to treat conditions such as blood clots, heart disease, and cancer.
Our Inflation Reduction Act is also the single largest climate investment in American history. While taking on the climate crisis and lowering utility bills for families, it is helping us to rebuild American manufacturing and drive American innovation – creating good-paying union jobs, furthering economic opportunity, and contributing to the nearly $900 billion of private-sector investment since President Biden and I took office.
As we mark this two-year anniversary, President Biden and I recommit to doing everything in our power to ensure that families throughout our country have the freedom to thrive
The Biden-Harris Administration announced new actions to take on corporate tricks and scams like excessive paperwork, long wait times, and more that pad the profits of big business at the expense of everyday Americans’ time and money. This fact sheet was provided by the White House.
President Biden and Vice President Harris are launching “Time Is Money,” a new government-wide effort to crack down on all the ways that corporations—through excessive paperwork, hold times, and general aggravation—add unnecessary headaches and hassles to people’s days and degrade their quality of life.
Americans are tired of being played for suckers, and President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to addressing the pain points they face in their everyday lives. The Administration is already cracking down on junk fees—those hidden costs and surcharges in everything from travel to banking services—that hit people in their pocketbooks. Now the Biden-Harris Administration is taking on the corporate practice of giving people the run around, wasting their precious time and money.
Americans know these practices well: it’s being forced to wait on hold just to get the refund we’re owed; the hoops and hurdles to cancel a gym membership or subscription; the unnecessary complications of dealing with health insurance companies; the requirements to do in-person or by mail what could easily be done with a couple of clicks online; and confusing, lengthy, or manipulative forms that take unnecessary time and effort.
These hassles don’t just happen by accident. Companies often deliberately design their business processes to be time-consuming or otherwise burdensome for consumers, in order to deter them from getting a rebate or refund they are due or canceling a subscription or membership they no longer want—all with the goal of maximizing profits.
In addition to robbing hardworking families of their valuable time and adding frustration to our daily lives, these hassles cost us money. When, after endless hours on hold or piles of incomprehensible paperwork, we give up pursuing a service, rebate or refund we’re due, we take a hit to our pocketbooks, and companies profit
Today and in the coming months, the Biden-Harris Administration will take wide-ranging action to crack down on these unfair practices and save Americans time and money. Key actions include:
Making it easier to cancel subscriptions and memberships. Businesses often trick consumers into paying for subscriptions—on everything from gym memberships to newspapers to cosmetics—that they no longer want or didn’t sign up for in the first place. Consumers shouldn’t have to navigate a maze just to cancel unwanted subscriptions and recurring payments. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a rule that, if finalized as proposed, would require companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription or service as it was to sign up for one. The agency is currently reviewing public comments about its proposal. And today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is initiating an inquiry into whether to extend similar requirements to companies in the communications industry.
Ending airline runarounds by requiring automatic cash refunds. The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new automatic refunds rule requires airlines to pay you back the airfare when your flight is canceled or significantly changed for any reason, and you are not offered, or choose not to accept, alternatives such as rebooking. This rule prevents airlines from switching up their policies to make it hard to get your money back when they don’t deliver and requires them to tell you when you’re owed a refund. DOT’s rule also puts an end to airline runarounds by requiring refunds to be automatic, prompt, in the original form of payment, and for the full amount paid. No more jumping through hoops or getting stuck with expiring flight credits.
Allowing you to submit health claims online. Health coverage can be full of headaches and hassles, as many plans and insurance companies make it unnecessarily difficult to access information or send in claims. For example, many of the largest plans still require some customers to print out and either scan or physically mail health claims forms, and people seeking help can encounter inaccurate or confusing websites, extended wait times, or narrow call center hours that force them to step away from work to talk to an agent. Today, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Becerra and Department of Labor (DOL) Acting Secretary Su are calling on [insert link to letter] health insurance companies and group health plans to take concrete actions to save people time and money when interacting with their health coverage, and in the coming months will identify additional opportunities to improve consumers’ interactions with the health care system. In addition, the Office of Personnel Management plans to require Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits plans, covering eight million Americans, to make it easier to submit out of network claims online, provide clear information about what health plan providers are in-network, and make it easier to find information on how to appeal claim denials.
Cracking down on customer service “doom loops.” Too often customers seeking assistance from a real person are instead sent through a maze of menu options and automated recordings, wasting their time and failing to get the support they need. In a recent survey, respondents said that being forced to listen to long messages before being permitted to speak to a live representative was their top customer service complaint. To tackle these “doom loops,” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will initiate a rulemaking process that would require companies under its jurisdiction to let customers talk to a human by pressing a single button. The FCC will launch an inquiry into considering similar requirements for phone, broadband, and cable companies. HHS and DOL will similarly call on health plan providers to make it easier to talk to a customer service agent.
Ensuring accountability for companies that provide bad service. People shopping for products or services should be able to rely on customer reviews to assess which companies will provide streamlined service and not waste their time. The FTC has proposed a rule that, if finalized as proposed, would stop marketers from using illicit review and endorsement practices such as using fake reviews, suppressing honest negative reviews, and paying for positive reviews, which deceive consumers looking for real feedback on a product or service and undercut honest businesses.
Taking on the limitations and shortcomings of customer service chatbots. While chatbots can be useful for answering basic questions, they often have limited ability to solve more complex problems and disputes. Instead, chatbots frequently provide inaccurate information and give the run-around to customers seeking a real person. The CFPB is planning to issue rules or guidance to crack down on ineffective and time-wasting chatbots used by banks and other financial institutions in lieu of customer service. The CFPB will identify when the use of automated chatbots or automated artificial intelligence voice recordings is unlawful, including in situations in which customers believe they are speaking with a human being.
Helping streamline parent communication with schools. Between communicating with teachers, viewing school policies, completing forms and permission slips, and more, school processes, platforms, and paperwork can sometimes be a hassle for families that already have a lot on their plates. The Department of Education will issue new guidance to schools on how they can help make these processes less time-consuming for parents to handle, and to build effective family engagement through two-way communications. This will include new resources for schools to address time-wasting technology and offer more streamlined processes for engaging and communicating with parents.
What else should we take on? The White House is calling for Americans to share their ideas for how federal action can give them their time back. Interested parties can submit their ideas and comments at this portal, and may consider the following principles:
Companies should make it as easy to do things that you want to do as it is to do things they want to do.
It should be as easy cancel a subscription or membership as it is to enroll.
It should be as easy to obtain rebates and refunds as it was to purchase, with no needlessly cumbersome paperwork.
Refunds and rebates should be paid as quickly as companies take funds from your credit card or bank account.
Americans should be able receive customer service on their terms and their own time without significant hassle or hardship.
If you want to talk to a human, you should be able to talk to a human at convenient times and without interminable waits.
If you prefer to interact electronically – such as by text, email, or online portal – there should be simple and easily identified ways to do so securely.
Technology – such as chatbots – should be used to enhance customer service with speedy response times, not used to shirk on basic responsibilities, such as receiving a refund.
Americans should not be subject to confusing, manipulative, or deceptive practices online.
If you want to understand what you must do to obtain a good or service, the requirements should be clear and transparent.
You should not be subject to hidden fees or to requirements that are obscured through confusing language and small print.
Time Is Money builds on landmark efforts by the Biden-Harris Administration to improve customer service for people accessing government programs and services. In December 2021 the President signed an Executive Order, Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government, directing federal agencies to streamline services and simplify customer experiences.
Already, agencies are making progress: the State Department launched a public beta to renew your passport online; all 50 states have been invited to offer the Internal Revenue Service’s Direct File tool, an easy, secure, and—most importantly—free way for Americans to file their federal taxes; HHS has taken steps to allow more than 5 million Americans to automatically renew their health coverage without filling out paperwork, saving over 2 million hours in estimated processing time; and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it has reduced the amount of time the public spends accessing DHS services per year by 21 million hours in fiscal year 2023, and is targeting reduction of 10 million more hours per year in fiscal year 2024. For more examples of progress and to learn more information about how agencies across the federal government are improving customer experience and reducing burden, visit performance.gov/cx and the Burden Reduction Initiative website
On the two-year anniversary of passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, President Biden issued this statement and the White House issued a Fact Sheet documenting the historic achievement of the act is bringing back to the USA semiconductor supply chains, creating jobs, supporting American innovation, and is protecting National Security:
“America invented the semiconductor – those tiny chips that power electric vehicles, appliances, cell phones, satellites, and are critical in AI. But over time we went from manufacturing 40% of the world’s semiconductors, to just over 10%. When Vice President Harris and I came into office, we were determined to change that,” President Biden stated.
“Since I took office, companies have announced nearly $400 billion in investments in semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, spurred in large part by support from the CHIPS and Science Act. As a result of these investments, we’re creating over 115,000 manufacturing and construction jobs in the semiconductor industry. And America is now on track to produce nearly 30% of the global supply of leading-edge chips by 2032, up from zero only two years ago.
“While there is more to do, my CHIPS and Science Act is bringing chips manufacturing back to America, strengthening global supply chains, and is making sure the United States remains a world leader in AI and other technologies that families, businesses, and our military rely on each and every day.”
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul added, “Two years ago today, the future of American manufacturing changed – forever. With the stroke of a pen, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law.
“Since that extraordinary day, New York State has benefitted from unprecedented investments that are transforming our state into a global hub for semiconductor manufacturing. Chip companies have announced over $112 billion in planned capital investments in New York – revitalizing Upstate communities and creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. No other region in America will account for a greater share of domestic production.
“And we’re not done yet. This critical industry is continuing to expand with major investments from semiconductor businesses and supply chain companies like Micron, GlobalFoundries, AMD, Edwards Vacuum, MenloMicro and TTM Technologies to expand their presence in New York. In July, the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded a phase two Tech Hub grant of $40 million to the New York Semiconductor Manufacturing and Research Technology Innovation Corridor (NY SMART-I Corridor) consortium. Over the next five years, the consortium will serve a critical role in supporting Upstate New York’s continued growth into a globally competitive center of semiconductor workforce development, innovation and manufacturing.
“For communities that have experienced decades of economic stagnation and neglect, these extraordinary commitments are the beginning of an economic renewal – bringing better schools, better hospitals, safer streets and stronger infrastructure.
“The CHIPS and Science Act has put New York on the precipice of a defining age of manufacturing and transformed the future for generations of New Yorkers. I’m grateful to Leader Schumer, Leader Jeffries, the New York Congressional Delegation and the Biden-Harris Administration for their historic efforts and for keeping their promise to the American people.”
FACT SHEET: Two Years after the CHIPS and Science Act, Biden-Harris Administration Celebrates Historic Achievements in Bringing Semiconductor Supply Chains Home, Creating Jobs, Supporting Innovation, and Protecting National Security
Companies have announced $395+ billion in investments in semiconductors and electronics and the creation of over 115,000 jobs since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office
Two years ago, President Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS), aimed at reestablishing United States’ leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, shoring up global supply chains, and strengthening national and economic security. America invented the semiconductor, and used to produce nearly 40 percent of the world’s chips, but today, we produce only about 10 percent of global supply—and none of the most advanced chips. The CHIPS and Science Act aimed to change that by investing nearly $53 billion in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and development, and workforce.
Dozens of companies have committed to nearly $400 billion in total semiconductor investments across the country. These investments have been spurred in large part by the Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Incentives program, which has signed preliminary agreements with 15 companies across 15 states to provide over $30 billion in direct funding and roughly $25 billion in loans for semiconductor manufacturing projects. These projects will support the creation of more than 115,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs, with further investments in workforce development and training to come – helping to ensure more chips are made in America by American workers. As a result of these investments, the United States is on track to produce nearly 30% of the global supply of leading-edge chips by 2032, up from zero percent when President Biden and Vice President Harris took office.
As part of the CHIPS Act, the Biden-Harris Administration has also made regional investments to spur centers of innovation across America through the Tech Hubs program, has made investments to revitalize communities historically overlooked by federal investment through the Recompete program, and is making critical investments in research and development and workforce initiatives across the semiconductor ecosystem.
Two Years of Progress on Semiconductor Manufacturing and Innovation
In the past two years, agencies across the federal government have developed and executed on programs established under CHIPS to restore domestic semiconductor manufacturing, invest in research and development, support supply chain resiliency and national security, and catalyze economic and workforce development. Key milestones in the Administration’s implementation of CHIPS include:
Reshoring U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing
Thanks to CHIPS Act, the United States will once again be a world leader in manufacturing the semiconductors that power our lives. In the two years since President Biden signed the CHIPS Act into law:
The Department of Commerce CHIPS Incentives Program announced preliminary agreements with 15 companies, totaling over $30 billion of the total available $39 billion in direct incentives funded by the CHIPS and Science Act. Commerce is on track to allocate all remaining funds with CHIPS grantees by the end of 2024.
Two years ago, the U.S. produced none of the world’s most advanced chips. Now, America is home to all five of the world’s leading-edge logic, memory, and advanced packaging providers, while no other economy has more than two. Collectively, these fabs will enable the United States to produce nearly 30% of the global supply of leading-edge chips by 2032.
The CHIPS Act is creating a robust semiconductor ecosystem by supporting multiple high-volume advanced packaging facilities, expanded production of current and mature-node semiconductors, and critical supply chain components, all by the end of the decade to support critical industries from automobiles and medical devices to artificial intelligence and aerospace.
The Department of the Treasury continues to work on a final rule on the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, which provides a 25% investment tax credit for companies engaged in semiconductor manufacturing and producing semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Creating Jobs and Workforce Pipelines for American Workers
A centerpiece of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is to create good paying job opportunities for Americans across the country. CHIPS has dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars to ensuring that America’s semiconductor comeback will serve to benefit American workers. For example:
CHIPS-funded projects are creating more than 115,000 construction and manufacturing jobs with over $250 million of CHIPS funding earmarked for local community workforce development, the use of which will be guided by local stakeholder input, including from academic institutions, training providers, and labor unions, and federal partners, including the Departments of Labor and Education. These projects will also pay construction workers prevailing wages, which ensures they earn family-sustaining wages and benefits, and include some of the largest Project Labor Agreements in history, establishing that the future of this industry in America will be built by union workers.
The Biden-Harris Administration launched Investing in America Workforce Hubs in Upstate New York, Phoenix, Arizona, and Columbus, Ohio to support the training needed for the growing industries there, including booming semiconductor ecosystems. These are just three of the nine Workforce Hubs across the country which are creating pipelines for Americans to access good-paying jobs in the industries seeing increased investments thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
The Department of Commerce expects to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the National Semiconductor Technology Center’s (NSTC) workforce efforts, including the Workforce Center of Excellence which will collaborate with industry, academia, labor unions, the Departments of Labor and Education, the National Science Foundation, and local government partners to address end-to-end workforce training needs from access to adoption.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) launched its Future of Semiconductors (FuSe) initiative, a $45.6 million investment to conduct frontier research and develop the future microelectronics workforce. The NSF also announced its inaugural Regional Innovation Engines, 10 locations receiving a $150 million investment with the potential for up to $2 billion in funding over the next decade.
Companies applying for more than $150 million in grants were required to submit a robust child care plan that reflects the needs of their workers in communities where they plan to build. Some of the largest projects, such as those of Micron and Intel, have committed to providing affordable, accessible, high-quality child care for thousands of workers across multiple facilities in multiple states. This has already led to a dramatic expansion of benefits including the construction of dedicated child care facilities at multiple project sites as well as discount and reimbursement programs in collaboration with local child care providers.
Accelerating Regional Economic Development and Innovation
President Biden and Vice President Harris are investing in regions that suffered from disinvestment for too long despite their economic potential. Through the Investing in America Agenda, this Administration is building an economy that brings innovation and opportunity for hardworking American families. The CHIPS Act expanded the suite of place-based investment efforts under the Biden-Harris Administration to build on the momentum of programs under the American Rescue Plan. In the two years since the CHIPS Act was signed:
The Department of Commerce announced $504 million for 12 Tech Hubs to give regions across the nation the resources and opportunities needed to lead in the economies of the future, such as semiconductors, clean energy, biotechnology, AI, quantum computing, and more.
The Department of Commerce is awarding $184 million to six Recompete Pilot Program finalists; creating renewed opportunity in economically distressed communities through good-paying, high-quality jobs. The Recompete Pilot Program targets areas where prime-age employment is significantly lower than the national average and provides flexible and locally-drive investments to support economic comebacks.
The National Science Foundation announced $150 million for 10 inaugural awards that has already been matched by more than $350 million in commitments from state and local governments, the private sector and philanthropy. These 10 NSF Engines have the potential to receive over $2 billion over the next decade, paving the way toward a new frontier in American innovation.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program will announce nearly $54 million in funding that will help small businesses explore innovative ideas and the commercial microelectronics marketplace.
Protecting National Security and Working with Allies and Partners
In September 2023, the Department of Commerce finalized rules to implement the national security guardrails laid out in CHIPS. These guardrails are preventing technology and innovation funded by the program from being misused by foreign countries of concern and protecting our industrial ecosystem. CHIPS manufacturing funds are also going towards companies building the semiconductors that are essential to our aerospace and defense industries.
CHIPS grant funds are directly supporting our national security by increasing the supply of critical technologies needed to protect Americans, including the production of chips necessary for critical defense programs including the F-35 fighter jet program, and chips for everyday applications that impact all Americans, from cars to secure Wi-Fi.
The Department of Defense’s Microelectronics Commons Program has announced an initial $280 million in first year projects to create resilient onshore ecosystems for cutting-edge applications in six key areas: secure edge/internet of things, electromagnetic warfare, 5G/6G, Quantum technology, artificial intelligence hardware, and commercial leap ahead technologies. These projects build off the Commons regionals hubs and are set to kick off, along with additional awards for human, digital, and physical infrastructure, by the end of the year.
The State Department recently launched the CHIPS Act International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund supported ITSI Western Hemisphere Semiconductor Initiative, which will enhance assembly, testing and packaging capabilities in partner countries including Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica. New partnerships have also been announced with Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Kenya to explore semiconductor supply chain coordination opportunities to develop trust, transparency, and resiliency with our allies across the globe.
The Department of Commerce announced that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Agreement Relating to Supply Chain Resilience entered into force on February 24, 2024. This agreement, led by the United States, is ensuring a more resilient, efficient, productive and sustainable supply chain for semiconductors and other industries.
The Department of Commerce awarded $140 million across 17 projects in its first funding opportunity through the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, which will drive American wireless innovation, competition, and supply chain resilience.
Investing in Innovation
The semiconductor was invented here in the United States, and America has continued to be a leader in the research and development in semiconductors and some of the most advanced technologies. The CHIPS Act is helping advance those goals by:
Investing approximately $3 billion in the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP) to establish and accelerate domestic capacity for semiconductor advanced packaging which will drive U.S. technological leadership in leading-edge semiconductors and underpin future innovation areas, including artificial intelligence. Over 100 concept papers were submitted for the first funding opportunity and a second funding opportunity for $1.6 billion will be announced in the fall.
Establishing Natcast, a non-profit, to operate the NSTC to enable rapid adoption of innovations that will enhance domestic competitiveness for decades to come. The Department of Commerce, together with Natcast, announced the focus of its first three CHIPS R&D research facilities: a NSTC Prototyping and National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program facility, an NSTC Administrative and Design facility, and an NSTC Extreme Ultraviolet EUV center – which will be complemented by affiliated technical centers.
Issuing funding opportunities through the Department of Commerce for a first-of-its kind Manufacturing USA Institute focused on the development, validation, and use of digital twins – virtual models that mimic the structure, context, and behavior of a physical counterpart.
As Congressional Republicans propose cutting SBA funding by 31%, White House releases 2024 Small Business Boom Report that shows SBA small dollar Loans on track to nearly double since 2020. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:
Small businesses are the engines of the economy. As President Biden says, every time someone starts a new small business, it’s an act of hope and confidence in our economy. In celebration of National Small Business Week, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new milestones in support delivered to small businesses across the country.
Since arriving in office, the Biden-Harris Administration has overseen a sustained small business boom across the country. The President’s agenda has driven the first, second and third strongest years of new business application rates on record—and is on pace for the fourth—with Americans filing a record 17.2 million new business applications. Business applications are a leading indicator for new business creation, and the historic growth in business applications has coincided with the strongest labor market in decades. And traditionally underserved small businesses are growing at near-historic rates, with Black business ownership growing at the fastest pace in 30 years and Latino business ownership growing at the fastest pace in more than a decade.
Republicans in Congress have undermined small businesses by attempting to repeal Inflation Reduction Act investments that are lowering costs for small business. House Republicans are also threatening assistance to small businesses across the country by proposing draconian cuts to the Small Business Administration as part of their 31% reduction to government-wide spending. And House Republicans would defund the President’s agenda to advance racial and gender equity in federal contracts.
President Biden is fighting to grow the small business boom spurred by his agenda. The Biden-Harris Administration announced:
New Records for Federal Procurement Dollars Awarded to Small Businesses, Including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs). The Small Business Administration (SBA) released its Procurement Scorecard showing that in Fiscal Year 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded an all-time high in federal contracts to small businesses across federal agencies. In total, a record-high of $178.6 billion, or 28.4 percent, of all contracting dollars went to small businesses. This includes:
$76.2 billion to SDBs, totaling 12.1 percent of federal contracting dollars and surpassing the 12% goal for FY23 established by the Office of Management and Budget. This represents the third consecutive year of record-breaking awards to SDBs under President Biden, and puts the Administration on track to reach the President’s goal of increasing federal contracting dollars to SDBs by 50% by 2025. Increasing federal investments in under-resourced businesses helps more Americans realize their entrepreneurial dreams, strengthens the supplier base, and contributes to narrowing persistent wealth disparities.
$32 billion to Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB), representing a nearly $4 billion increase from Fiscal Year 2022. The Administration surpassed its goal by nearly 70%, with a total of 5.07 percent of federal contracting dollars going to SDVOSB.
In FY23, government contracting with small businesses supported one million jobs, including in manufacturing, construction, research & development, technology, defense, and other vital industries.
Across the federal government, 22 agencies received an ‘A’ or higher on their individual procurement scorecards, surpassing last year’s total.
In conjunction with the scorecard, the SBA released federal contract data broken down by business owner race and ethnicity for FY23, which shows that businesses owned by historically underrepresented groups earned more through federal contracts across every category.
Release of Third Annual Small Business Boom Report. The White House released its third annual Small Business Boom Report, illustrating the continued achievements of the Biden-Harris Administration to support small businesses by expanding access to capital, providing small businesses with more hands-on support, ensuring federal spending benefits small businesses, and building a fairer tax code. The report shows the Administration has continued to make historic progress on all 35 commitments in the original report including:
SBA has nearly doubled small dollar loans. Small businesses consistently voice the need for access to small dollar loans, with survey results indicating over 50% of small businesses seek loans of less than $100,000, but only one-third of the smallest businesses – those with $100,000 or less in annual revenue – report receiving the full funding they request from banks. Less than one year since implementing policy reforms to increase access to small dollar loans, SBA is on pace to nearly double the number of small loans approved compared to the final year of the previous Administration, with over 20,000 7(a) loans under $150,000 approved in Fiscal Year 2024. It represents a one-third increase over last year, translating to 750 more businesses getting approved for a small dollar loans every month.
Through the American Rescue Plan’s State Small Business Credit Initiative approved over $8 billion in capital support for small businesses, leveraging significantly more in private sector funding. Funded by the American Rescue Plan, Treasury’s nearly $10 billion State Small Business Initiative (SSBCI) program delivers funding to states, territories, and tribal governments that spur lending and investing in small businesses, and provides critical technical assistance. So far, Treasury has approved $8.4 billion in allocations to 55 states and territories and 34 tribal governments that are expected to catalyze at least $10 in private investment for each dollar of SSBCI capital funding. Already $1.1 billion of approved funding has been deployed to support loans or investments to small businesses or investments in venture capital funds. To date, Treasury has also announced the approval of more than $135 million in technical assistance grants to 40 states and territories.
Delivering more than $250 billion to small businesses through SBA’s lending programs by the end of the decade. In 2021, SBA committed to delivering more than $250 billion in financing to more than 500,000 small businesses by the end of the decade. Under this Administration, SBA has taken numerous steps to expand access to capital including finalizing rules to increase small dollar lending, expanding programs that help connect traditionally underserved businesses with resources, and revamping its Lender Match portal. As a result, SBA has delivered nearly $124 billion in financing to small businesses through its 7(a), 504, and microloan programs, putting them on pace to reach their goal.
The Council of Economic Advisers under the leadership of Chair Jared Bernstein released the 2024 Economic Report of the President, the 78th report since the establishment of CEA in 1946. The 2024 Report brings economic evidence and data to bear on many of today’s most significant issues and questions in domestic and international economic policy:
Chapter 1, The Benefits of Full Employment, which is dedicated to the late Dr. William Spriggs, examines the labor market, distributional, and macroeconomic impacts of full employment, with a particular focus on the benefits for economically vulnerable groups of workers who are much more likely to be left behind in periods of weak labor markets.
Chapter 2, The Year in Review and the Years Ahead, describes macroeconomic and financial market trends in 2023 and presents the Federal government’s FY 2024 macroeconomic forecast.
Chapter 3, Population, Aging, and the Economy, explains how long-run trends in fertility and mortality are shaping the U.S. population and labor force.
Chapter 4, Increasing the Supply of Affordable Housing, explores the causes and consequences of the nation’s longstanding housing shortage and how the Biden-Harris administration’s policy agenda can significantly increase the production of more affordable housing.
Chapter 5, International Trade and Investment Flows, presents key facts about long-term trends in U.S. international trade and investment flows, including the role of global supply chains, and highlights the benefits and costs of global integration for American workers.
Chapter 6, Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition, applies a structural change framework to explain the factors that can accelerate the transition towards a clean energy economy.
Chapter 7, An Economic Framework for Understanding Artificial Intelligence, uses an economic framework to explore when, how, and why AI may be adopted, adapting standard economic models to explore AI’s potential effects on labor markets, while examining policy decisions that will affect social and macroeconomic outcomes.
Funding catalyzes $100 billion in private investment from Intel to build and expand semiconductor facilities in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon and create nearly 30,000 jobs. Here’s a fact sheet from the White House:
President Biden traveled to Chandler, Arizona, on March 20 to visit Intel’s Ocotillo campus and announce that the Department of Commerce has reached a preliminary agreement with Intel to provide up to $8.5 billion in direct funding along with $11 billion in loans under the CHIPS and Science Act. The announcement will support the construction and expansion of Intel facilities in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon, creating nearly 30,000 jobs and supporting tens of thousands of indirect jobs. During his visit to Arizona, President Biden will discuss the vision that he laid out in his State of the Union, underscoring how his Investing in America agenda is building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, creating good-paying jobs right here in America, strengthening U.S. supply chains, and protecting national security.
Semiconductors were invented in America and power everything from cell phones to electric vehicles, refrigerators, satellites, defense systems, and more. But today, the United States produces less than 10 percent of the world’s chips and none of the most advanced ones. Thanks to President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act, that is changing. Companies have announced over $240 billion in investments to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States since the President took office. Semiconductor jobs are making a comeback. And thanks to CHIPS investments like the one today, America will produce roughly 20% of the world’s leading-edge chips by the end of the decade.
The announcement is critical to realizing President Biden’s vision to reestablish America’s leadership in chip manufacturing. In particular, this CHIPS investment will support Intel’s construction and expansion projects across four states and will create nearly 30,000 jobs:
Chandler, Arizona: Funding will help construct two leading-edge logic fabs and modernize one existing fab, significantly increasing manufacturing capacity to produce Intel’s most advanced semiconductors in the United States. This investment will create over 3,000 manufacturing jobs, 7,000 construction jobs, and thousands of indirect jobs. Intel’s investment in Arizona is among the largest private sector investments in the state’s history.
New Albany, Ohio: Funding will establish a new regional economic cluster for U.S. chipmaking with the construction of two leading-edge logic fabs. This investment will create 3,000 manufacturing jobs, 7,000 construction jobs, and an estimated 10,000 indirect jobs. Intel’s investment in Ohio is the largest private-sector investment in the state’s history. Rio Rancho, New Mexico: Funding will support the nearly complete modernization and transformation of two fabs into advanced packaging facilities, where chips are assembled together to boost their performance and reduce costs. Advanced packaging is critical for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and the next generation of semiconductor technology. It also allows manufacturers to improve performance and function and shorten the time it takes to get many advanced chips to market. When completed, these facilities will be the largest for advanced packaging in the United States. This investment will create 700 manufacturing jobs and 1,000 construction jobs.
Hillsboro, Oregon: Funding will expand and modernize facilities to increase clean-room capacity and utilize advanced lithography equipment, further strengthening this critical innovation hub of leading-edge development and production in the United States. This investment will support several thousand new permanent and construction jobs and thousands of indirect jobs.
Creating Good-Paying and Union Jobs with Good Benefits Across America
President Biden promised to be the most pro-worker, pro-union President in American history, and his Administration has committed to ensuring that workers have the free and fair choice to join a union and equitable training pathways to good jobs. As part of the Administration’s effort to connect workers with good-paying jobs created by the President’s Investing in America agenda, the White House announced five initial Workforce Hubs across the country – two of which have focused on building pipelines to good jobs in the semiconductor industry: Phoenix, Arizona, and Columbus, Ohio. And, last year, the National Science Foundation and Intel announced $100 million to expand semiconductor workforce training opportunities, education, and research across the nation.
Under their preliminary agreement with the Department of Commerce, Intel has committed to work closely with workforce training providers (e.g., educational institutions, state and local agencies, labor unions) to develop and train workers for jobs created by the investment announced today. The Ohio State Building Trades signed a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for the Ohio construction site, and there is a majority-union construction crew in both the Arizona and Oregon sites. The Administration strongly supports workers’ right to organize and expects Intel to continue its longstanding tradition of creating good jobs and respecting workers’ rights, including expecting Intel to neither hold mandatory captive audience meetings nor hire anti-union consultants.
The announcement today also includes significant funding to train and develop the local workforce, including $50 million in dedicated CHIPS funding. The focus of this funding will be further determined in the coming months based on the Department of Commerce’s labor and workforce priorities in partnership with the Department of Labor. Those priorities include funding workforce intermediaries and labor-management partnerships, promoting inclusive and equitable training and hiring across the construction and facilities workforces, and providing supportive services, such as child care. Intel’s construction spending is contributing to union apprentice programs across all four sites—expected to amount to over $150 million in apprenticeship contributions. Additionally, Intel has committed to providing affordable, accessible, high-quality child care for its workers across its facilities. Intel will be increasing the reimbursement amount and duration for its back-up care program, adding additional access to discounted primary child care providers, and expanding access to a vetted network of child care providers for its employees. In addition, Intel will pilot a primary child care reimbursement program for non-salary employees.
Strengthening Local Economies
Today’s announcement is also poised to strengthen the local economies of these states and cities, and is part of the President’s commitment to investing in all of America and leaving no community behind. Intel’s investments in Arizona and Ohio are among the largest private-sector investments in each state’s history, and Arizona has received the highest level of private sector manufacturing investment per capita of any state since the President took office. Intel’s investment in Arizona is expected to create tens of thousands of indirect jobs across suppliers and supporting industries – on top of the nearly 30,000 manufacturing and construction jobs it will create, fostering a more resilient semiconductor supply chain in the U.S.
In Arizona, Intel’s investments have grown the surrounding community, attracting opportunities for professional growth and upward economic mobility for everyone – from graphic designers to restaurants and small businesses. And in Ohio, Intel continues expanding their partnerships with local businesses to support their construction projects and operations at other facilities – growing from 150 Ohio-based suppliers in 2022 to over 350 today.
Intel has also prioritized sustainability and being responsible stewards of the environment at its facilities. It currently uses 100% renewable electricity in its fabs and factories in the United States, and plans to achieve net-positive water and zero waste to landfill by 2030.
Building on Historic Progress Under the CHIPS and Science Act
Today’s announcement is the fourth and largest preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) under the CHIPS and Science Act:
In February 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced $1.5 billion for GlobalFoundries to support the development and expansion of facilities in Malta, NY, and Burlington, VT.
In January 2024, the Administration announced $162 million for Microchip Technology Inc. to increase its production of microcontroller units and other specialty semiconductors, and to support the modernization and expansion of fabrication facilities in Colorado Springs, CO, and Gresham, OR.
In December 2023, the Administration announced $35 million for BAE Systems Electronic Systems to support the modernization of the company’s Microelectronics Center in Nashua, NH. This facility will produce chips that are essential to our national security, including for use in F-35 fighter jets.
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda – including the CHIPS and Science Act – is spurring a manufacturing and clean energy boom. Since President Biden took office, companies have announced over $675 billion in private sector investments in manufacturing and clean energy, and over 50,000 infrastructure and clean energy projects are underway. This announcement is part of the President’s broader commitment to build an economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down, and invest in all of America.
Budget Details Vision to Protect Progress, Lower Costs, Protect and Strengthen Social Security and Medicare, Invest in America and the American People, and Reduce the Deficit
From Day One of this Administration, President Biden has tackled challenges head-on while delivering long-lasting results. Over the past three years, he has overseen a strong economic recovery, amassed one of the most successful legislative records in generations, grown the economy from the middle out and bottom up, and delivered important progress for the American people.
Since the President and Vice President took office, the economy has added about 15 million jobs, the unemployment rate has remained below 4 percent for two years in a row—a more than 50-year record—while inflation has fallen by two-thirds. Our strong labor market has meant higher paychecks for working Americans, with inflation-adjusted wages and wealth higher now than before the pandemic. The President’s top economic priority remains lowering costs for hardworking Americans. Under his leadership, the Administration is working to bring down prescription drug costs, health insurance premiums, utility bills, and costs for everyday goods and services—all while taking on junk fees that some banks, airlines, and other big corporations use to rip off Americans. At the same time, he has also restored U.S. leadership on the world stage while keeping Americans safe and promoting democracy at home and abroad.
The President has delivered this progress while fulfilling his commitment to fiscal responsibility. The deficit is over $1 trillion lower than when President Biden took office, thanks in large part to the strength of our economic recovery. In addition, the President has also enacted another roughly $1 trillion in savings over the next decade through the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and through Inflation Reduction Act provisions that empower Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, cap insulin at $35 per month for seniors, and make our tax system fairer by making billion-dollar corporations pay a minimum tax and enabling the IRS to crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats.
The Budget details the President’s vision to protect and build on his Administration’s progress by continuing to lower costs for working families, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, invest in America and the American people to make sure the middle class has a fair shot and we leave no one behind, and reduce the deficit by cracking down on fraud, cutting wasteful spending, and making the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. Building on the President’s record of fiscal responsibility, his Budget reduces the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years—on top of paying for new investments.
The President’s vision of progress, possibilities, and resilience is in stark contrast to Congressional Republicans, who have repeatedly fought to slash critical programs the American people count on and increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, including by attempting to repeal the parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that take on special interests like Big Pharma, big corporations, and wealthy tax cheats. The President’s Budget:
Lowers Costs for the American People
The President has made lowering costs for hardworking families his top domestic priority. Under his leadership we have seen significant progress bringing down inflation. Inflation is down by more than two-thirds, and costs have fallen for key household purchases from a gallon of gas to a gallon of milk. While Congressional Republicans have consistently taken actions that would raise costs for working families, the President’s Budget would continue lowering costs for families.
Lowers Drug Prices and Expands Access to Prescription Drugs. Thanks to action taken by the Administration, millions of seniors and people with disabilities are saving money on their drug costs, and the Administration announced the first ten drugs for which prices will be negotiated as it continues implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. The Budget builds on this success by significantly increasing the pace of negotiation, bringing more drugs into negotiation sooner after they launch, expanding the Inflation Reduction Act’s inflation rebates and $2,000 out-of-pocket prescription drug cost cap beyond Medicare and into the commercial market, and other steps to build on the Inflation Reduction Act drug provisions. In addition, the Budget extends the $35 cost-sharing cap for a month’s supply of insulin to the commercial market. The Budget also includes proposals to ensure Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are prudent purchasers of prescription drugs and limits Medicare Part D cost-sharing for high-value generic drugs, such as those used to treat hypertension and hyperlipidemia, to no more than $2 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. These reforms will not only cut costs for the Federal government by $200 billion; they will also save billions of dollars for seniors.
Cuts Taxes for Families with Children and American Workers. President Biden’s tax cuts cut child poverty in half in 2021 and are saving millions of people an average of about $800 per year in health insurance premiums today. Going forward, in addition to honoring his pledge not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 annually, President Biden’s tax plan would cut taxes for middle- and low-income Americans by $765 billion over 10 years. The Budget restores the full Child Tax Credit enacted in the American Rescue Plan, which helped cut child poverty nearly in half in 2021 to its lowest level in history and narrowed racial disparities in access to the credit. The President’s Budget would restore the expanded Child Tax Credit, lifting 3 million children out of poverty and cutting taxes by an average of $2,600 for 39 million low- and middle-income families that include 66 million children. This includes 18 million children in low-income families who would be newly eligible for the full credit, and 2 million children living with a caregiver who is at least 60 years old. It would also provide breathing room for day-to-day expenses by allowing families to receive their tax credit through monthly payments. And by strengthening the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-paid workers who aren’t raising a child in their home, the President’s Budget would cut taxes by an average of $800 for 19 million working individuals or couples. That includes 2 million older workers age 65 and older and 5 million young adults age 18 to 24 who would be newly eligible for the credit.
Lowers Child Care Costs for Hard-Working Families. The President is committed to providing relief to hard-working families. His Budget creates a historic new program under which working families with incomes up to $200,000 per year would be guaranteed affordable, high-quality child care from birth until kindergarten, with most families paying no more than $10 a day, and the lowest income families paying nothing—providing a lifeline to the parents of more than 16 million children. The Budget also includes $8.5 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) which will help states expand child care assistance to serve over 2 million low-income children.
Increases Affordable Housing Supply to Reduce Housing Costs. The President believes that all Americans should be able to afford a quality home, which is why the Budget includes a historic investment of more than $258 billion that would build or preserve over 2 million units. The Budget builds on previous investments and actions by this Administration to boost housing supply and lower housing costs, particularly for lower- and middle-income households. The Budget expands the existing Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and proposes a new Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit. To further address the critical shortage of affordable housing in communities throughout the Nation, the Budget provides $20 billion in mandatory funding for a new Innovation Fund for Housing Expansion. The Budget invests $1.3 billion in the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) to construct and rehabilitate affordable rental housing and provide homeownership opportunities. The Budget also provides $7.5 billion in mandatory funding for new Project-Based Rental Assistance contracts to incentivize the development of new climate-resilient affordable housing. Together these proposals would expand the supply of safe and affordable housing, bring new units to market, and ultimately help curb cost growth across the broader rental market.
Expands Access to Homeownership and Affordable Rent and Reduces Down Payments for First-Time and First-Generation Homebuyers. The Budget proposes a new Mortgage Relief Credit to help increase access to affordable housing. The proposal includes a new tax credit for middle-class first-time homebuyers of up to $10,000 over two years to ease affordability challenges. In addition, to unlock starter home inventory and allow middle-class families to move up the housing ladder and empty nesters to right size, the President is calling on Congress to provide a one-year tax credit of up to $10,000 to middle-class families who sell their starter home. The Budget also provides $10 billion in mandatory funding for a new First-Generation Down Payment Assistance program to address homeownership and wealth gaps. For renters, the Budget proposes $32.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program to maintain and protect critical services for all currently assisted families and support an additional 20,000 households. The Budget also provides $9 billion to establish a housing voucher program for all 20,000 youth aging out of foster care annually, and provides $13 billion to incrementally expand rental assistance for 400,000 extremely low-income veteran families, paving a path to guaranteed assistance for all who have served the Nation and are in need.
Reduces the Cost of College and Lifts the Burden of Student Debt. From Day One of his Administration, President Biden vowed to fix the student loan system and make sure higher education is a pathway to the middle class—not a barrier to opportunity. Already, the President has cancelled more student debt than any President in history, approving debt cancellation for nearly 4 million borrowers through more than two dozen executive actions. The Budget includes a $12 billion mandatory Reducing the Costs of College Fund that will fund strategies to lower college costs for students, including a new Classroom to Career Fund that will enable students to more affordably obtain postsecondary degrees by increasing access to career-connected dual enrollment opportunities. The Budget also builds on the President’s historic actions to reduce student debt and the cost of college by eliminating the origination fees charged to borrowers on every new federal student loan, which costs families billions. In addition, to help low- and middle-income students overcome financial barriers to postsecondary education, the Budget proposes to increase the discretionary maximum Pell Grant by $100 and thereby expand the reach of the program to help over 7.2 million students attend a public or non-profit college. The Budget builds on successful bipartisan efforts to increase the maximum Pell Grant award by $900 over the past two years—the largest increase in more than 10 years. The Budget also expands free community college through a Federal-State partnership and provides two years of subsidized tuition for students from families earning less than $125,000 enrolled in a four-year Historically Black College and University (HBCU), Tribally Controlled College and University (TCCU), or Minority-Serving Institution (MSI).
Lowers Health Care Costs. The President believes that healthcare is a right, not a privilege. With enrollment in Marketplace coverage at an all-time high, the Budget builds on the incredible success of the Affordable Care Act by making permanent the expanded premium tax credits that the Inflation Reduction Act extended, and providing Medicaid-like coverage to individuals in States that have not adopted Medicaid expansion, paired with financial incentives to ensure States maintain their existing expansions. For Medicaid and CHIP, the Budget allows States to extend the existing 12-month continuous eligibility for all children to 36 months, and allows States to provide continuous eligibility for children from birth until they turn age 6. Further, the Budget prohibits enrollment fees and premiums in CHIP.
Reduces Home Energy and Water Costs. The Budget provides $4.1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), helping families access home energy and weatherization assistance—vital tools for protecting families from extreme weather and climate change. In addition, the Budget proposes to allow States the option to use a portion of their LIHEAP funds to provide water bill assistance to low-income households.
Protects and Strengthens Social Security and Medicare
Social Security and Medicare are more than government programs, they’re a promise—a rock-solid guarantee that generations of Americans have counted on—that after a life of hard work, you will be able to retire with dignity and security. As the President has made clear, he will reject any efforts to cut or undermine the Medicare or Social Security benefits that seniors and people with disabilities have earned and paid into their entire working lives. The Budget honors that ironclad commitment by firmly opposing benefit cuts to either program and by embracing reforms that would protect and strengthen these programs. The President remains committed to working with the Congress to protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security for this and future generations and strongly rejects Congressional Republicans’ attempts to cut benefits for hardworking Americans.
Protects and Strengthens Medicare. The Budget strengthens Medicare by extending the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund indefinitely by modestly increasing the Medicare tax rate on incomes above $400,000, closing loopholes in existing Medicare taxes, and directing revenue from the Net Investment Income Tax into the HI trust fund as was originally intended. The Budget closes the loophole that allows certain business owners to avoid paying Medicare taxes on these profits and raises Medicare tax rates on earned and unearned income from 3.8 percent to 5 percent for those with incomes over $400,000. In addition, the Budget directs an amount equivalent to the savings from the proposed Medicare drug reforms into the HI trust fund.
Protects the Social Security Benefits that Americans Have Earned. The Administration is committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security. In particular, the Administration looks forward to working with Congress to responsibly strengthen Social Security in a way that ensures no benefit cuts; extends solvency by asking the highest-income Americans to pay their fair share; and improves financial security for seniors and people with disabilities, especially those who face the greatest challenges making ends meet.
Ensures That Americans Can Access the Benefits They’ve Earned. The Budget also invests in staff, information technology, and other improvements at the Social Security Administration (SSA), which will improve customer service at SSA’s field offices, State disability determination services, and teleservice centers for retirees, individuals with disabilities, and their families.
Cuts the Deficit by Promoting Tax Fairness
The President has demonstrated that we can invest in America while achieving meaningful deficit reduction. The deficit is over $1 trillion lower than when President Biden took office, and the President has enacted roughly $1 trillion in additional deficit reduction, including through provisions that empower Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, cap insulin at $35 per month for seniors and people with disabilities, and establish a minimum tax for large corporations. The Administration looks forward to building on this progress with responsible investments that continue to grow America’s economy from the middle out and bottom up while improving the long-term budget outlook. The Budget proposes another roughly $3 trillion in savings over the next 10 years by making the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share and closing tax loopholes and cutting wasteful spending on Big Pharma, Big Oil, corporate jets and other special interests, and cracking down on wealthy tax cheats. The President’s proposals to reduce the deficit are in sharp contrast to Congressional Republicans plans for tax giveaways skewed to wealthy and big corporations.
Requires Billionaires to Pay at Least 25 Percent of Income in Taxes. Billionaires make their money in ways that are often taxed at lower rates than ordinary wage income, or sometimes not taxed at all, thanks to giant loopholes and tax preferences that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest taxpayers. As a result, many of these wealthy Americans are able to pay an average income tax rate of just 8 percent on their full incomes—a lower rate than many firefighters or teachers. To finally address this glaring inequity, the President’s Budget includes a 25 percent minimum tax on the wealthiest 0.01 percent, those with wealth of more than $100 million.
Raises Tax Rates for Large Corporations. Corporations received an enormous tax break in 2017. While their profits soared, their investment in their workers and the economy did not. Their shareholders and top executives reaped the benefits, without the promised trickle down to workers, consumers, or communities. The President’s Budget would set the corporate tax rate at 28 percent, still well below the 35 percent rate that prevailed prior to the 2017 tax law. In addition, the Budget would raise the Inflation Reduction Act’s corporate minimum tax rate on billion-dollar corporations that the President signed into law from 15 percent to 21 percent, ensuring the biggest corporations pay more of their fair share. These policies are complemented by other proposals to incentivize job creation and investment in the United States to help ensure broadly shared prosperity.
Cracks Down on Tax Avoidance by Large Multinationals and Big Pharma. For decades, countries have competed for multinational business by slashing tax rates, at the expense of having adequate revenues to finance core services. Thanks in part to the Administration’s leadership, more than 130 nations signed on to a global tax framework to finally address this race to the bottom in 2021. Many of our international partners, including many of the world’s largest economies, have implemented or will soon implement this transformational agreement. The President’s Budget proposes to do the same by reforming the international tax system to reduce the incentives to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions, stopping corporate inversions to tax havens, and raising the tax rate on U.S. multinationals’ foreign earnings from 10.5 percent to 21 percent. These reforms would ensure that profitable multinational corporations, including Big Pharma pay their fair share.
Denies Corporations Deductions for All Compensation Over $1 Million Per Employee. Executive pay has skyrocketed in recent decades, with CEO pay averaging more than 300 times that of a typical worker in 2022. The 2017 tax law’s corporate tax cuts only made this problem worse, producing massive boosts to executive compensation while doing nothing for low- and middle-income workers. While corporations can choose to give huge pay packages to their executives, President Biden believes that they don’t deserve a tax break when they do. His Budget proposes new policy to deny deductions for all compensation over $1 million paid to any employee of a C corporation, which would discourage companies from giving their executives massive pay packages and help level the playing field across C corporations.
Ends Capital Income Tax Breaks and Other Loopholes for the Very Wealthy. The President’s Budget will end one of the most unfair aspects of our tax system—the fact that the tax rate the wealthy pay on capital gains and dividends is less than the tax rate that many middle-class families pay on their wages. Households making over $1 million—the top 0.3 percent of all households—will pay the same 39.6 percent marginal rate on their income just like a high-paid worker pays on their wages. Moreover, the Budget eliminates the loophole that allows the wealthiest Americans to entirely escape paying taxes on their wealth by passing it down to heirs.
Ensures That the IRS Can Continue to Collect Taxes Owed by Wealthy Tax Cheats. The Inflation Reduction Act addressed long-standing IRS funding deficiencies by providing stable, multi-year funding to improve tax compliance by finally cracking down on high-income individuals and corporations who too often avoided paying their lawfully owed taxes, and to improve service for the millions of Americans that do pay their taxes. Already, the IRS is using these resources to crack down on tax evasion by the wealthy and big businesses. It has collected more than $500 million in unpaid taxes from fewer than 2,000 delinquent millionaires, is recouping taxes from thousands of millionaires who did not fulfill their basic civic duty by filing a tax return, and is cracking down on high-end tax evasion like deducting personal use of corporate jets as a business expense. At the same time, the IRS is improving customer service and modernizing IT infrastructure. The President’s Budget would restore the full Inflation Reduction Act investment and provide new funding over the long-term to continue cutting the deficit by making sure that wealthy Americans and big corporations pay the taxes they owe through tax compliance initiatives and to continue improving service for taxpayers who are just trying to pay what they owe.
Invests in America and the American People
Expands and Protects Access to Health Care
Supports Family Planning Services, Maternal Health, and Health Equity. Americans deserve access to the healthcare they need, including maternal healthcare, contraception, and family planning services, which are essential to ensuring control over personal decisions about their own health, lives, and families. The Budget includes $390 million for the Title X Family Planning program to increase the number of patients served to 3.6 million. The Budget also builds on a nearly 200 percent funding increase for key programs that address maternal mortality over the course of the Administration, including $376 million to support the ongoing implementation of the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates, and address the highest rates of perinatal health disparities.
Saves Lives by Advancing Behavioral Healthcare. In 2022, almost a quarter of adults had a mental illness, 13 percent of adolescents had serious thoughts of suicide, and overdose deaths continued near record highs. As a core pillar of his Unity Agenda, the President released a national strategy to transform how we understand and address mental health in America—and the Budget makes progress on this agenda by improving access to care for individuals and communities. The Budget requires all health plans to cover mental health and substance use disorder benefits, ensures that plans have an adequate network of behavioral health providers, and improves the Department of Labor’s (DOL) ability to enforce the law. The Budget builds on historic investments to improve access to mental health services, and makes significant investments in expanding the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline that is projected to respond to 7.5 million contacts from individuals in distress in 2025 alone and expands mental health care and support services in schools. Additionally, the Administration has made historic advances in expanding access to treatment for opioid use disorder, including signing into law a bipartisan provision to expand the number of medical providers who can initiate treatment for opioid use disorder from 129,000 to nearly 2 million. The Budget increases funding for the State Opioid Response grant program, which has provided treatment services to over 1.2 million people and enabled States to reverse more than 500,000 overdoses with over 9 million purchased overdose reversal medication kits.
Drives Healthcare Innovation to Discover New Treatments and Improve Health Outcomes. Investing in health care innovation and new treatments is a direct investment in the American people. The President’s Budget advances progress toward Biden Cancer Moonshot Goals and the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, enhances biodefense and public health infrastructure, and directly invests in treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. The Budget makes significant investments to work toward the President and First Lady’s signature Cancer Moonshot goals of reducing the cancer death rate by at least 50 percent over 25 years and improving the experience of people and families who are living with or who have survived cancer. The President and the First Lady launched the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, recognizing that women have been understudied and underrepresented in health research for far too long. The Administration proposes to transform the way the government funds women’s health research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including by increasing interdisciplinary research at NIH and creating a new nationwide network of centers of excellence and innovation in women’s health—and the Budget would double existing funding for the Office of Research on Women’s Health at NIH, to improve women’s health outcomes. Additionally, over the past three years, substantial progress has been made toward developing and implementing transformational capabilities to increase the Nation’s ability to respond to and prepare for emerging health threats. Building upon this progress, the Budget invests $9.8 billion to bolster public health capacity that will enable the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to better serve and protect the American public. The Budget also invests in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, including Hepatitis C, HIV, and vaccine-preventable diseases.
Expands Healthcare, Benefits, and Services for Environmental Exposures. The Honoring our PACT Act of 2022 (PACT Act) represents the most significant expansion of veterans’ healthcare and disability compensation benefits for veterans exposed to toxins and other environmental exposures, including burn pits and Agent Orange, in 30 years. As part of the PACT Act, Congress authorized the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF) to fund increased costs above 2021 funding levels for healthcare and benefits delivery for veterans exposed to certain environmental hazards—and ensure there is sufficient funding available to cover these costs without shortchanging other elements of veteran medical care and benefits delivery. The Budget continues this commitment and includes $24.5 billion for the TEF in 2025, through funds appropriated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which is $19.5 billion above the 2023 enacted level.
Prioritizes Veterans’ Mental Health Services and Suicide Prevention for Veterans and Military Servicemembers. The Budget invests $135 million within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) research programs, together with $17 billion within the VA Medical Care program, to increase access to quality mental healthcare, with the goal of helping veterans take charge of their treatment and live full, meaningful lives. In addition, the Budget provides funding to further advance the Administration’s veteran suicide prevention initiatives and to support the Department of Defense’s efforts on Suicide Prevention and Response.
Supports America’s Workforce and Prepares America’s Economy for 21st Century Challenges
Continues Implementation of the President’s Investing in America Agenda. The Budget provides a total of $78.4 billion for highway, highway safety, and transit formula programs, supporting the amounts authorized for year four of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Budget also reflects an additional $9.5 billion in advance appropriations provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for bridge replacement and rehabilitation, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and other programs to improve the safety, sustainability, and resilience of America’s transportation network.
Provides National, Comprehensive Paid Family and Medical Leave and Calls for Paid Sick Days. The Budget proposes a national, comprehensive paid family and medical leave program, providing up to 12 weeks of leave to allow eligible workers to take time off to care for and bond with a new child; care for a seriously ill loved one; heal from their own serious illness; address circumstances arising from a loved one’s military deployment; or find safety from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The President also calls on Congress to require employers to provide seven job-protected paid sick days each year to all workers.
Empowers, Protects, and Invests in Workers. Workers power America’s economic prosperity, building the economy from the middle out and bottom up. To ensure workers are treated with dignity and respect in the workplace and are paid the wages they’re owed, the Budget invests $2 billion in the Department of Labor’s worker protection agencies. The Budget also proposes funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to support implementation and enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and advancement of pay equity through the collection and analysis of employer pay data. Additionally, the Budget includes funding to strengthen the National Labor Relations Board’s capacity to enforce workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions.
Confronts the Climate Crisis While Spurring Clean Energy Innovation, Increasing Resilience, and Protecting Natural Resources
Lowers Energy Costs and Catalyzes Clean Energy and Economic Growth in Rural Communities. The Budget builds on the President’s historic Inflation Reduction Act to reduce energy bills for families, expand clean energy, transform rural power production, and create thousands of good-paying jobs for people across rural America. The Budget provides funding for loan guarantees for renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements for farmers and rural small businesses, and authority for rural electric loans to support additional clean energy, energy storage, and transmission projects that would create good-paying jobs.
Invests in Clean Air and Reduces Health and Environmental Hazards for At-Risk Communities. The Budget provides a total of $1.5 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation to continue the development of national programs, policies, and regulations that control air pollution and radiation exposure. The Budget provides $8.2 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE) to address legacy waste and contamination in communities, as well as funding for EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act enforcement. The Administration will ensure the investments for the management of toxic chemicals, including per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, cleanup of legacy pollution, and long-term stewardship of these sites align with the Justice40 Initiative to benefit disadvantaged communities.
Creates Jobs by Building Clean Energy Infrastructure. The Budget invests $1.6 billion through the DOE to support clean energy workforce and infrastructure projects across the Nation, including funding to weatherize and retrofit homes of low-income Americans, create good jobs and ensure reliable supply chains by manufacturing clean energy components here at home, electrify Tribal homes and transition Tribal colleges and universities to renewable energy, and support utilities and State and local governments in building a grid that is more secure, reliable, resilient, and able to integrate electricity from clean energy sources. These investments, which complement and bolster the historic funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, will create good-paying jobs and revitalize American manufacturing while driving progress toward the Administration’s climate goals, including 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035.
Strengthens Climate Resilience in Communities and Ecosystems. Building on the National Climate Resilience Framework, the Budget invests $23 billion in climate adaptation and resilience across the federal government to address the increasing severity of flood, wildfire, drought, and other extreme weather events fueled by climate change, including funding to support the wildland firefighting workforce through permanent and comprehensive pay reform. The Budget also provides funding to help farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners meet production goals in the face of a changing climate while conserving, maintaining, and restoring natural resources on their lands. The Budget complements the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which dedicate more than $50 billion across the Federal government to advance climate resilience strategies in every community in America.
Supports and Expands the American Climate Corps. Last year, the Administration announced the launch of the American Climate Corps (ACC) to mobilize a new, diverse generation of more than 20,000 clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience workers, and this year, the first cohort of ACC members will begin their service. The Budget would provide mandatory funding to expand the ACC over the next decade by supporting an additional 50,000 ACC members annually by 2031. The ACC will provide job training and service opportunities on a wide range of projects that tackle climate change in communities around the country.
Doubles Down on America’s Global Climate Leadership. Beyond leading by example through domestic investments, the Budget provides a path to achieving the President’s $11 billion commitment for international climate finance. The Budget also supports $3 billion contribution through mandatory funding to finance the Green Climate Fund. The Budget builds on historic international climate finance progress made over the course of this Administration, in which estimated 2023 levels of $9.5 billion represent a near-sixfold increase from 2021.
Invests in America’s Families
Supports a Strong Nutrition Safety Net. The Budget provides $8.5 billion for critical nutrition programs, including $7.7 billion to fully fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to serve all eligible participants, which is critical to the health of pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and young children. By investing in outreach and modernization, WIC would reach 800,000 more women, infants, and children each month, providing vital nutrition assistance to nearly 7 million individuals, up from 6.2 million in 2021. In addition, the Budget includes an emergency contingency fund that would provide additional resources when there are unanticipated cost pressures.
Builds a Strong Foundation for Families with Universal Pre-K and Head Start. The Budget funds voluntary, universal, free preschool for all four million of America’s four-year-olds and charts a path to expand preschool to three-year-olds. High-quality preschool would be offered in the setting of the parent’s choice—from public schools to child care providers to Head Start. The Budget also increases Head Start funding by $544 million to support the Administration’s goal to reach pay parity between Head Start staff and public elementary school teachers with similar qualifications over time. Together these proposals would support healthy child development, help children enter kindergarten ready to learn, and support families by reducing their costs prior to school entry and allowing parents to work.
Expands Opportunity and Advances Equity
Advances Efforts to End Homelessness. The Budget provides $4.1 billion for Homeless Assistance Grants to continue supporting approximately 1.2 million people experiencing homelessness each year and to expand assistance to approximately 25,000 additional households, specifically survivors of domestic violence and homeless youth. These new resources build on Administration efforts that have expanded assistance to roughly 140,000 additional households experiencing homelessness since the President took office. The Budget further reflects the Administration’s commitment to make progress toward ending homelessness by providing $8 billion in mandatory funding for the acquisition, construction, or operation of housing to expand housing options for people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, as well as $3 billion in mandatory funding for grants to provide counseling and emergency rental assistance to older adult renters at-risk of homelessness.
Honors Commitments to Support Tribal Communities. Incorporating feedback from Tribal consultations, the Budget continues to provide robust support for Tribal Nations and Native communities in keeping with our federal trust and treaty responsibilities. For example, the Budget invests $4.6 billion for the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Tribal programs. This investment in DOI’s Tribal programs build on historic investments in Indian Country under the American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and promote long-term success by addressing critical infrastructure and climate adaptation needs in Native communities.
Expands Access to Capital for Small Businesses. Building on the historic growth in small business applications under the President and Vice President’s leadership, the Budget supports historic lending levels across the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) business lending programs. The over $58 billion in lending provided in the Budget would address the need for greater access to affordable capital, particularly in underserved communities. The Budget proposes a new direct 7(a) lending program, which would further enable SBA to address gaps in access to small dollar lending.
Promotes Equity in Education and Builds a Diverse, Capable STEM Workforce. The Budget increases institutional capacity at HBCUs, TCCUs, MSIs, and under-resourced institutions, including community colleges, and doubles funding by providing $100 million for four-year HBCUs, TCCUs, and MSIs to expand research and development infrastructure. In support of the CHIPS and Science Act’s priority of building a diverse, STEM-capable workforce, the Budget provides $1.4 billion for STEM education and workforce development programs at the National Science Foundation that have an emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The Budget also includes funding for programs focused on increasing the participation of groups historically underrepresented in science and engineering fields, including women and girls and people of color.
Protects Americans at Home and Abroad
From taking action to combat hate in America’s communities, tackle gun violence, and strengthen trust in the Nation’s democratic institutions, to defending freedom around the globe, and rebuilding key alliances, the Administration has taken decisive action to strengthen America at home and abroad, all with the goal of keeping Americans safe. The Budget builds on this progress with proposals to continue investing in State, local, Tribal, and Federal law enforcement, reducing gun violence and crime, securing the border and strengthening the immigration system, and revitalizing U.S. alliances and partnerships while confronting global threats and strengthening America’s military.
Secures the Border and Strengthens the Immigration System. In October 2023, the Administration transmitted an emergency supplemental request for managing the southwest border and migration totaling $13.6 billion. The Budget includes, and therefore reiterates the need for, the unmet needs from the October supplemental request. The Budget includes investments to build longer-term capacity in the areas of border security, immigration enforcement, and countering illicit fentanyl. This amount includes funding to hire 1,300 additional Border Patrol Agents to secure the border, 1,000 additional Customs and Border Protection Officers to stop illicit fentanyl and other contraband from entering the U.S., an additional 1,600 Asylum Officers and support staff to facilitate timely immigration dispositions, as well as $849 million for cutting-edge detection technology at ports of entry. The Budget also reiterates the ask for funding to hire 375 new immigration judge teams to help reduce the immigration case backlog. Taken together, these long-term capacity building investments equip the Nation’s border security and immigration system to more effectively respond to challenges present along the border.
Tackles Crime, Reduces Gun Violence, and Makes America’s Communities Safer. The Budget makes significant investments to bolster Federal law enforcement capacity to strengthen public safety and it also pursues new mandatory investments to combat violent crime and support victims. The Budget includes $17.7 billion for Department of Justice law enforcement, including $2 billion, an increase of over 30 percent since 2021, for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to effectively investigate and prosecute gun crimes. To support state, local, and Tribal law enforcement efforts, the Budget proposes $31.8 billion in mandatory funding to support President Biden’s Safer America Plan, and complements this plan with proposed discretionary investments of $270 million for the COPS Hiring Program and $100 million for community violence intervention and prevention. The Budget also builds upon the Safer America Plan by investing an additional $1.2 billion over five years to launch a new Violent Crime Reduction and Prevention Fund to give law enforcement the support they need to focus on violent crime, including support to hire 4,700 detectives to help drive down the high rate of unsolved violent crimes. In support of victims of crime, the Budget also requests $7.3 billion to replenish and reform the Crime Victims Fund to ensure a stable and predictable source of funding is available to support critical victim service and compensation programs over the next decade.
Prioritizes Efforts to End Gender-Based Violence. The Administration has prioritized funding for programs under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA). These programs have seen funding increased by over 35 percent since 2021 and the Budget proposes further expansion to $800 million for programs under VAWA, including key investments in sexual assault services, transitional housing, and legal assistance for survivors. The Budget also makes clear the Administration’s priority to strongly support underserved and Tribal communities by providing $15 million for culturally-specific services, $5 million for underserved populations, $25 million to assist enforcement of Tribal special domestic violence jurisdiction under VAWA 2022’s expansions, $3 million to support Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and $10 million for a new special initiative to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).
Combats Narcotics Trafficking. The Budget provides $3.3 billion to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat drug trafficking, including $1.2 billion to combat opioid trafficking, save lives, and make our communities safer. The Budget invests an additional $18 million in Domestic Counter-Fentanyl Threat Targeting Teams at the Drug Enforcement Administration to enhance America’s fight against the transnational criminal networks pushing deadly illicit fentanyl in America’s communities. The Budget also provides $494 million in grants supporting efforts to address substance use. The Budget includes funding to disrupt the international synthetic drug trade which would counter the worldwide flow of fentanyl and other synthetics that endanger public safety and health, and contribute to tens of thousands of drug-overdose deaths in the United States annually.
Reiterates the Administration’s Request for Immediate Funding for Urgent National Security Priorities Related to Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. In October 2023, the Administration transmitted an emergency supplemental request totaling $92 billion to Congress for urgent national security needs. This request included funding to support Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russian aggression, Israel’s defense against terrorism, the Indo-Pacific’s regional security, life-saving humanitarian assistance, including for the Palestinian people, and other national security priorities. The request would also make significant and much needed investments in the American defense industrial base, benefitting U.S. military readiness and helping to create and sustain jobs in dozens of states across America. Absent congressional action on this emergency request, the United States will not be able to continue to provide support to Ukraine to meet their battlefield needs as they defend against Russian attacks every day, provide urgently needed military support to allies and partners, make critical DIB investments, or sustain life-saving assistance and development in some of the world’s most vulnerable areas. The Administration appreciates the bipartisan supplemental legislation that passed the Senate, which would address these urgent needs and advance our own national security.
Supports Ukraine, European Allies, and Partners. The Budget continues critical support for Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, and other European partner states by prioritizing funding to enhance the capabilities and readiness of U.S., allied, and partner forces in the face of continued Russian aggression. However, this Budget cannot address the critical support to Ukraine that requires congressional action on the Administration’s October 2023 National Security Supplemental request.
Promotes Integrated Deterrence in the Indo-Pacific and Globally. To sustain and strengthen deterrence, the Budget prioritizes China as America’s pacing challenge in line with the 2022 National Defense Strategy. The Department of Defense’s 2025 Pacific Deterrence Initiative highlights some of the key investments the Federal government is making, focuses on strengthening deterrence in the region, and demonstrates the Administration’s long-term commitment to the Indo-Pacific. DOD is building the concepts, capabilities, and posture necessary to meet these challenges, working to integrate deterrence efforts across the U.S. Government and with U.S. allies and partners.
Ensures Readiness Across America’s Armed Forces. The Budget continues to ensure that U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Guardians remain the best trained and equipped fighting forces in the world. The Budget places additional emphasis on foundational investments to sustain current weapon systems and support increased training across DOD.
Invests in the Submarine Industrial Base. DOD conducted the 2025 Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) study to determine how to complete the once-in-a-generation recapitalization of the Submarine Force needed to increase the United States’ ability to build and sustain attack submarines to meet U.S. military requirements. These investments will also support the Administration’s commitments under AUKUS, the first major deliverable of which was the historic decision to support Australia acquiring conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines. In line with the results on this study, the Budget includes $3.4 billion for the SIB in 2025.
Provides Life-Saving Humanitarian Assistance and Combats Global Food Insecurity. The Budget provides $10.3 billion in life-saving humanitarian and refugee assistance to support more than 330 million people in need in more than 70 countries in addition to the emergency supplemental request of $10 billion to address unprecedented global humanitarian needs, including the dire humanitarian situation facing Palestinians in Gaza. The Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development will have to reduce life-saving assistance around the globe without the additional $10 billion in humanitarian assistance requested in the Administration’s October 2023 National Security Supplemental Request.
Led to the Strongest Jobs Recovery on Record and the Strongest Recovery in the World: When President Biden came into office, there was tremendous economic uncertainty. Unemployment was at 6.4% when President Biden took office. Unemployment was not projected to drop below 4% until the end of 2025 in CBO’s February 2021 (Pre-ARP) Forecast. Instead, unemployment was below 4% for the past 25 months in a row – the strongest record in more than five decades.
ARP drove historic 3-year job growth with 15 million jobs added since President Biden took office.
Not only recovered all the lost jobs but added an additional 5.5 million more jobs versus pre-Covid.
Powered the strongest recovery in the world: After the American Rescue Plan passed, the U.S. saw by far the fastest recovery in the G7, with significantly higher real wage growth. US has lower apples to apples core inflation than all major European allies.
Powered the Most Equitable Recovery in Memory: In past recessions, persistent high long-term and youth unemployment as well as high numbers foreclosures and evictions led to long-term harms – “scarring” for millions of Americans and hard, long roads back for Black and Latino Americans. President Biden’s Rescue Plan ensured that didn’t happen this time:
Historic drops in unemployment for Black and Latino workers: With the strong recovery powered by ARP, Black unemployment saw its largest 1-year drop since the early 1980s and reached its lowest-ever annual rate in 2023; Hispanic unemployment saw its fastest 1-year drop and reached its lowest 2-year rate ever in 2022 & 2023.
Least scarring in any recovery in memory: The American Rescue Plan led to the fastest drop in long-term and youth unemployment ever. It kept foreclosures historically low and evictions 20% below historic avgs.
Led to dramatic reduction in inequality: Economists have found that the strong post-ARP labor market’s wage increases for middle-income and lower-income workers erased nearly 40% of the rise in wage inequality increases from the previous four decades.
Lowest women’s annual unemployment rate since 1953: This recovery has seen a dramatic decline in women’s unemployment to an average of 3.5% in 2023, the lowest annual average since 1953.
Strong recovery for Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian communities: Asian American unemployment averaged 2.9% over the last two years and AA NHPI small business formation surged. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander unemployment also fell by half from a 9% avg. in 2020 to 4% in 2022-2023.
Led to the Largest Federal Investments in Preventing Crime, Reducing Violence, and Investing in Public Safety in History. Since the passage of the American Rescue Plan, we’ve had the largest federal investment in advancing public safety and preventing violence in our history through ARP funding and other federal funding.
Over $15 billion in ARP funds committed to preventing crime and reducing violence, with investments by over 1,000 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.
That includes $1.2 billion for 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 in Family Violence Prevention and Services Program to reduce domestic violence with immediate crisis intervention, health supports, and safety.
American Rescue Plan’s Expansion of the Affordable Care Act Led to Record-Breaking Health Care Enrollment and Savings: ARP substantially increased consumer subsidies, eligibility to middle-income families and provided strong incentives for states to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Result:
ARP/IRA-extended ACA extension led to over 21 million Americans enrolling in coverage, an increase of 9 million from when POTUS took office.
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, millions of Americans are saving an average of $800 a year on premiums. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to keeping health insurance premiums low, giving families more breathing room and the peace of mind that health insurance brings. To do that, the President is calling on Congress to make the expanded premium tax credits that the Inflation Reduction Act extended permanent.
Provided health coverage to 3 million Americans who would have otherwise had no health insurance.
Provided affordable health coverage to millions of middle-class Americans who were previously excluded from receiving consumer subsidies.
Provided more than $3 billion in Medicaid funding to North Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota for Medicaid expansion, covering over one million people.
Gave states an easier pathway to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage for a full 12 months – ensuring access to critical care for nearly 700,000 women in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
Largest Small Business Boom in History Due to ARP-Driven Strong Recovery and Small Business Investments: The Biden-Harris Administration:
Increased COVID EIDL 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 Initiativeleveraging up to $100 billion in capital for small businesses.
Invested in innovative Community Navigators program that delivered training to over 350,000 entrepreneurs and 1:1 counseling services to over 33,000 small business owners
Invested $125 million through the Capital Readiness Program to 43 non-profit community-based organizations to help underserved entrepreneurs launch and scale their small businesses – winners ranged from Asian/Pacific Islander Chamber of Commerce to Urban League of Greater Atlanta. This, and the strong recovery that ARP powered, led to:
A record 16 million new business applications over the past 3 years; 55% higher than year before pandemic.
Share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled, and Latino and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander small business formation surged as well.
Women-owned businesses formation substantially outpaced overall business formation.
Led to Lowest Child Poverty Rate in American History: The American Rescue Plan expanded the Child Tax Credit, made it fully refundable, and delivered it monthly in 2021. This historic expansion drove:
Child poverty cut nearly in half to lowest rate ever.
Black child poverty cut by over 50%, Hispanic child poverty cut by 43%, and dramatic drops in Native American, white and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander child poverty—all record lows.
Over 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 60 million children in 40 million working families received largest Child Tax Credit in history.
Historic expansion to ~240,000 Puerto Rican families: For the first time, ARP permanently made Puerto Rican families eligible for the same Child Tax Credit as other American families. ARP also quadrupled funding available for Puerto Rico’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
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, while closing the racial gap in vaccine access.
First-Ever National Eviction Policy Called “The most important eviction prevention policy in American history.”
Emergency Rental Assistance and other American Rescue Plan assistance helped over 8 million hard-pressed renters stay in their homes without sacrificing other basic needs.
Emergency Rental Assistance and Other ARP housing policies cut eviction filings to 20% below historic averages since start of Biden-Harris Administration.
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 – supporting those at risk of or experiencing homelessness or housing instability, and those fleeing domestic violence.
Helped Keep Over 225,000 Child Care Programs Open and Provided Historic Nationwide Support for Medicaid Home-Based Care
American Rescue Plan Stabilization Assistance has reached over 225,000 Child Care Providers – that employ 1 million child care workers – and have the capacity to serve as many as 10 million children.
Led to lower child care costs by $1,250 per child, helped bring hundreds of thousands of women with young children into the workforce, and increased wages for child care workers by 10%, according to Council of Economic Advisors Report.
More than 8-in-10 licensed child care centers nationwide received ARP assistance.
Benefited 30,000 rural child care programs – in most states, 97% of rural counties or more received aid.
Invested $37 billion to expand access to home-based care and support direct care workers: Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, President Biden delivered $37 billion that all 50 states and the District of Columbia chose to invest to expand access to home care and improve the quality of caregiving jobs.
Investing in ALL of America:
For First Time in History, Direct Relief to Every Town, City, County, Tribe and State – No Matter How Big or Small, Urban or Rural – So they Could Design their Own Recovery:
Before ARP, 70% of cities forecasted 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. This has led to:
Immediately reversed planned layoffs in cities and states across the country – and helped drive a recovery of 1.3 million state and local jobs, recovering all of the state and local jobs lost in roughly one-third the time it took to recover state and local jobs after the Great Recession.
Major investments in critical areas:
$25 billion to jumpstart universal broadband access – including Broadband Connections for 18 million students through the Emergency Connectivity Fund so that schools and libraries could close the homework gap.
$12.8 billion in State & Local Funds invested in over 4,300 workforce investments by state and local governments.
Over $20 billion in State & Local Funds invested in water infrastructure.
$18.5 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.
Largest Ever Investment in Tribal Communities
ARP provided largest one-time investment in Tribal communities in history – providing more than $32 billion specifically allocated for Tribal communities and Native people, including $20 billion in Fiscal Recovery Funds that were quickly and directly distributed to Tribal governments in 2021 to stabilize Tribal economies devastated by the pandemic.
Invested in first-ever Tribal Small Business Credit Initiative Awards.
Focus on Tribal Communities in Place-Based grants including $45 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBB-RC) grant to the Mountain Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition to grow the Native finance sector and expand economic opportunity.
Investing in Rural America: Innovative rural-focused investments include:
ARP provided direct fiscal recovery funding to every single rural government so that they could avoid painful layoffs and design their own recovery. Past recovery bills only sent direct fiscal relief to largest cities.
ARP Child Care Stabilization Reached 30,000 rural child care programs – in most states, 97% of rural counties or more received aid.
USDA invested $1 billion to expand independent meat and poultry processing capacity to give farmers more market options and fairer prices, and reduce reliance on a handful of meat and poultry corporations.
Rural unemployment rates in 2023 were at their lowest point (3.6 percent) since before 1990.
Full rural jobs recovery: Rural employment has returned fully to pre-COVID levels.
Major Investment in Workforce Training and Connecting Americans to Good Jobs:
Tens of billions from the American Rescue Plan have gone to workforce training efforts, including $12.8 billion in State and Local Funds invested in over 4,300 workforce investments across the country, including pre-apprenticeships and other programs to prepare for new infrastructure, health care & care jobs.
$500 million in competitive Good Jobs Challenge Awards for 32 Workforce High-Quality 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, 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 in mental health workforce.
Rapid deployment of 14,000+ community outreach workers (in 150+ national & local organizations). For example, the Association of Asian/Pacific Community Health Organizations used American Rescue Plan funds to establish the CHW Workforce Collaborative (the Collaborative). The Collaborative has since hired, trained, and deployed more than 250 CHWs who speak over 36 Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander languages in 12 continental U.S. states and Hawaii.
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 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.
Provided recovery funding for more than 15,000 School Districts to Safely Reopen K-12 Schools, Support Academic Recovery, and Invest in Student Mental Health:
ARP provided critical relief to more than 15,000 school districts 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, focusing on efforts to support academic recovery:
Nearly 60% of funds are committed to investments like staffing, tutoring, afterschool and summer learning programs, new instructional resources and 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.
Nearly half of school districts invested in summer learning programs which proven to boost math scores.
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.
Led to a major increase in staffing and investments to address student mental health: Schools now employ 31% more school social workers and 31% more school nurses than pre-pandemic. School districts have added more than 600,000 local education jobs since January 2021 and recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Eighteen Million College Students Have Received Direct Financial Assistance from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fundthat was expanded by ARP:
Colleges reached an estimated 18 million students with direct financial assistance from the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEERF) fund since the beginning of 2021.
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 assistance. In 2021, 77% of HBCUs used HEERF funds to discharge unpaid student balances.
Historic Investment in 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 nearterm will now have solvency and able to pay full benefits until at least 2051.
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
Most significant effort to protect the solvency of the multiemployer pension system in almost 50 years.
First-Ever Summer Nutrition Benefit for Students w/ Nationwide Reach – Extended Permanently:
ARP created the first-ever summer nutrition benefit with nationwide reach, helping children who rely on free and reduced-price school meals afford food over the summer.
30 million young people: Reached the families of 30 million students.
Permanent: Congress extended this innovative program permanently in 2022’s Omnibus bill, the first major new permanent food assistance program in nearly five decades
During the inaugural convening of the new White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience, President Biden will unveil more than 30 new actions to strengthen America’s supply chains
You don’t hear anything about it because 1) it’s lots of facts and figures and 2) the nonstop criminality, latest court craziness of Trump and his scheme to become a dictator are dominating news. But the collapse of supply chains during the COVID pandemic was the biggest reason for triggering inflation, and the Biden administration focus to develop Made in America manufacturing and reduce dependency on foreign production is one of the biggest factors in reducing costs for Americans (despite greed-based price hikes). Here’s a Fact sheet from the White House:
As part of his Bidenomics agenda to lower costs for American families, President Biden is announcing nearly 30 new actions to strengthen supply chains critical to America’s economic and national security. These actions will help Americans get the products they need when they need them, enable reliable deliveries for businesses, strengthen our agriculture and food systems, and support good-paying, union jobs here at home.
President Biden announced these actions alongside members of his Cabinet and other senior Administration officials at the inaugural meeting of the new White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience. The Council, which President Biden established, will support the enduring resilience of America’s critical supply chains.
Robust supply chains are fundamental to a strong economy. When supply chains smooth, prices fall for goods, food, and equipment, putting more money in the pockets of American families, workers, farmers, and entrepreneurs. That is why President Biden made supply chain resilience a priority from Day One of his Administration—including by signing an Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains and establishing a Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force that worked with states, Tribes, local governments, businesses, family farms, labor, and allies and partners to address the acute supply chain crises caused by the pandemic. Since then, the Administration has made historic investments to strengthen supply chains and prevent future disruptions by expanding production capacity in key sectors and building infrastructure through the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
These efforts helped unsnarl supply chains, re-normalize the flow of goods, and lower inflation. From October 2021 to October 2023, supply chain pressures as measured by the New York Fed declined from near-record highs to a record low, helping lower inflation, which has fallen by 65% from its peak.
Today, President Biden is building on this progress by announcing bold new actions to further strengthen supply chains, lower costs for families, and help Americans get the goods they need, including:
The creation of the Council on Supply Chain Resilience. Today, President Biden will convene the inaugural meeting of the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience, which will advance his long-term, government-wide strategy to build enduring supply chain resilience. The Council will be co-chaired by the National Security Advisor and National Economic Advisor, and include the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs; the Attorney General; the Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration; the Directors of National Intelligence, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy; the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; the U.S. Trade Representative; and other senior officials from the Executive Office of the President and other agencies.
Use of the Defense Production Act to make more essential medicines in America and mitigate drug shortages. President Biden will issue a Presidential Determination to broaden the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) authorities under Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to enable investment in domestic manufacturing of essential medicines, medical countermeasures, and critical inputs that have been deemed by the President as essential to the national defense. HHS has identified $35 million for investments in domestic production of key starting materials for sterile injectable medicines. HHS will also designate a new Supply Chain Resilience and Shortage Coordinator for efforts to strengthen the resilience of medical product and critical food supply chains, and to address related shortages. HHS intends to institutionalize this coordination to advance the department’s supply chain resilience and shortage mitigation goals over the long term. The Department of Defense (DOD) will also soon release a new report on pharmaceutical supply chain resilience aimed at reducing reliance on high-risk foreign suppliers. These actions are a subset of the Administration’s broader work to increase access to essential medicines and medical products.
New cross-governmental supply chain data-sharing capabilities. The Administration has developed several cross-government partnerships to improve supply chain monitoring and strategy, including:
The Department of Commerce’s new, first-of-its-kind Supply Chain Center is integrating industry expertise and data analytics to develop innovative supply chain risk assessment tools, and is coordinating deep-dive analyses on select critical supply chains to drive targeted actions to increase resilience. This Center is building broad partnerships across government, industry, and academia, including collaborating with the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct deep-dive analyses on clean energy supply. Additionally, Commerce is partnering with HHS to assess industry and import data that can help address foreign dependency vulnerabilities and points of failure for critical drugs.
The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Freight Logistics Optimization Works (“FLOW”) program is a public-private partnership that brings together U.S. supply chain stakeholders to create a shared, common picture of supply chain networks and facilitate a more reliable flow of goods. DOT is announcing a new milestone for FLOW, in which participants are beginning to utilize FLOW data to inform their logistics decision making, helping to avoid bottlenecks, shorten lead times for customers, and enable a more resilient and globally competitive freight network through earlier warnings of supply chain disruption. As the effort continues to mature, DOT will work with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to increase data transparency for containerized shipments of agricultural products in the United States, efforts that can help producers and sellers avoid disruptions that can increase food prices.
These new analytical capabilities will enable the Council to coordinate a more complete, whole-of-government critical supply chain monitoring function.
Additional actions to support stronger supply chains and access to affordable, reliable energy and critical technology:
Investing in critical supply chains:
DOE today announced $275 million in grant selections for its Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program, investments that will revitalize communities affected by coal mine or coal power plant closures through investment in clean energy supply chains, including production of critical materials, components for grid-scale batteries and electric vehicles, onshore wind turbines, and energy conservation technologies. DOE also announced up to $10 million of funding for a “critical material accelerator” and a $5.6-million prize to develop circular clean energy supply chains. These efforts build on action by President Biden to authorize DOE’s use of the DPA to increase domestic production of five key clean energy technologies—including electric heat pumps—as well as DOE’s recently announced $3.5-billion investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to boost domestic production of advanced batteries and battery materials needed for essential clean energy technologies such as stationary storage and electric vehicles.
USDA is making investments worth $196 million to strengthen our domestic food supply chains and create more opportunity for farmers and entrepreneurs in 37 states and in Puerto Rico. These investments—which build on prior investments in diversified food processing, resilient agricultural markets, and fertilizer production—expand farmer income opportunities, create economic opportunities for people and businesses in rural areas, and lower food costs.
DOD, building on the $714 million in DPA investments it has made in 2023 to support defense-critical supply chains, will publish the first ever National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS). The NDIS will guide engagement, policy development, and investment in the defense industrial base over the next three to five years. It will ensure a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to and focus on the multiple layers of suppliers and sub-suppliers that make up these critical supply chains.
Planning for long-term industrial resilience and future supply chain investments:
Launch of the quadrennial supply chain review. The Council will complete the first quadrennial supply chain review by December 31, 2024. As part of the review, the Council will update criteria on industries, sectors, and products defined as critical to national and economic security. In addition, 12 months after the Council promulgates the criteria, and annually thereafter, the Council will apply the criteria to review and update the list of critical sectors, as appropriate.
Smart manufacturing plan. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) is sponsoring a study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to develop a nationwide plan for smart manufacturing. The report will establish key priorities for investment to support new digital and artificial intelligence technologies. These investments will enhance the productivity and security of the manufacturing systems that are critical for maintaining domestic supply chains.
Deploying new capabilities to monitor existing and emerging risks:
New Resilience Center and tabletop exercises for supply chain disruptions. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is announcing the launch of a new Supply Chain Resilience Center (SCRC), which will be dedicated to ensuring the resilience of supply chains for critical infrastructure needed to deliver essential services to the American people. Near-term priorities will include addressing supply chain risks resulting from threats and vulnerabilities inside U.S. ports. Additionally, in 2024, in collaboration with other federal agencies and foreign governments, DHS will facilitate at least two tabletop exercises designed to test the resilience of critical cross-border supply chains. Further, DHS and the Department of Commerce will collaborate to continue to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain and further the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act.
Launch of DOT Multimodal Freight Office. As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (“BIL”) implementation, DOT is launching its Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy (“Multimodal Freight Office”). This office is responsible for maintaining and improving the condition and performance of the nation’s multimodal freight network including through the development of the National Multimodal Freight Network, review of State Freight Plans, and the continued advancement of the FLOW initiative in partnership with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Monitoring of climate impacts. The White House National Security Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Council of Economic Advisers will co-lead an interagency effort in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to monitor global developments related to El Niño, including this climate phenomenon’s impact on U.S. and global commodity prices, agriculture and fishery output, disruptions to global and trade supply chains, and resulting impacts on food security, human health, and social instabilities.
Energy and critical mineral supply chain readiness. To more consistently track risk and opportunity across energy supply chains, DOE is developing an assessment tool that accounts for raw materials, manufacturing, workforce, and logistics considerations. Additionally, to help assess the potential for trade disruptions of select critical minerals and materials, the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will map and develop geospatial databases for select global critical product supply chains, with a current focus on semiconductor components; and will seek designation by the Chief Statistician of the United States of a federal statistical unit providing the nation’s official minerals statistics. Additionally, the National Science and Technology Council’s Critical Minerals Subcommittee plans to launch a new criticalminerals.gov website in January 2024 that will highlight cross-governmental supply chain efforts.
Defense supply chain mapping and risk management. DOD is increasing supply chain visibility through the creation of a Supply Chain Mapping Tool to analyze supplier data for 110 weapon systems. This capability will be used to develop defense industrial base wargaming scenarios to identify vulnerabilities and develop mitigation strategies.
Engaging public and private stakeholders to expand supply chain risk modeling:
Supply Chain Data and Analytics Summit. The Department of Commerce will convene a diverse array of public and private stakeholders at a Supply Chain Data and Analytics Summit in 2024. A key aim of the summit will be to invite expert input into supply chain risk assessment models and tools. The summit will also assess data availability, utility, and limitations and consider actions to improve data flows.
AI hackathons to strengthen critical mineral supply chains. USGS, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), building on their 2022 prize challenges announcement, will host a series of hackathons beginning in February 2024 to develop novel artificial intelligence approaches to assess domestic critical mineral resources.
Risk mapping for labor rights abuses. The Department of Labor (DOL) updated its Comply Chain guidance for identifying and addressing labor rights violations in global supply chains. In addition, DOL is providing $8 million for two four-year projects to identify supply chain traceability methods and technologies to address child labor or forced labor risks in diverse supply chains, such as the cobalt and cotton sectors. DOL will also undertake new supply chain research on mining and agriculture products across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
In addition to the announcements above, the Administration continues to deepen engagement with allies and partners to strengthen global supply chains, including:
Deepening international early warning systems to detect and respond to supply chain disruptions in critical sectors with allies and partners, including:
With the European Union. In May 2023, the United States and the EU established an early warning system for semiconductor supply chain disruptions under the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council.
With Japan and the Republic of Korea. In August, the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea committed at Camp David to launch early warning system pilots, starting by identifying priority products and materials such as critical minerals and rechargeable batteries and establishing mechanisms to rapidly share information on disruptions to critical supply chains.
With Mexico and Canada. Through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the United States, Canada, and Mexico established a trilateral Sub-Committee on Emergency Response to coordinate North American efforts to maintain regional trade flows during emergency situations.
With Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the World Health Organization. The Global Regulatory Working Group on Drug Shortages, currently chaired by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meets quarterly to discuss product shortages participating jurisdictions are encountering and ways such shortages are being addressed. The group’s exchange of information helped address product shortages experienced by each partner during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent “tripledemic” including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus.
With global partners. Through the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE), the U.S. government funds activities to improve the weather, water, and climate observing capabilities and data sharing in regions and countries that are needed to produce actionable local, regional, and global climate information and minimize impacts upon infrastructure, water, health, and food security.
Strengthening global supply chains through other innovative multilateral partnerships:
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Supply Chain Agreement. The United States and 13 IPEF partners concluded a first-of-its-kind Supply Chain Agreement that gives partners new tools to build diversified, competitive supply chains for critical sectors, including an IPEF Supply Chain Council to coordinate action. The Department of Commerce is kickstarting this effort through pilot projects to enhance the resilience of key supply chains, including those related to semiconductors, critical minerals, and cold chain services. In addition, the Supply Chains Agreement establishes a Crisis Response Network that will allow IPEF partners to better prepare for and respond to supply chain disruptions through emergency communication channels and joint crisis simulations, as well as a Labor Rights Advisory Board to promote worker rights across supply chains.
Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (Americas Partnership). The Americas Partnership is focused on, among other things, strengthening and diversifying supply chains. In its first year of work, the Americas Partnership will focus on the development of regional competitiveness plans in three critical sectors: semiconductors, clean energy, and medical supplies.
North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS). Through NALS, the United States, Canada, and Mexico are enhancing the resilience of North America’s supply chains for critical minerals, semiconductors, and other essential goods. This trilateral effort includes partnering with regional industry and academia to create quality jobs, promote investment, grow talent, and catalyze innovation.
Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI). Through PGI, the United States is mobilizing public and private financing to incentivize investments and develop transformative economic corridors to diversify global supply chains and create new opportunities for American workers and businesses. From the development of the Lobito Corridor, connecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia with global markets through Angola, to the launch of the landmark India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor—through PGI, the United States is creating novel interconnections across regions to facilitate trade and secure clean energy, digital, food security, and other critical supply chains.
Global Labor Directive. On November 16, President Biden signed the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally. The President directed several departments to address labor rights abuses in global supply chains and identify innovative approaches to promote internationally recognized labor rights throughout the supply chain, including by collaborating with labor organizations, workers, and other labor stakeholders to consider efforts that support worker-led monitoring of labor rights compliance.
The Mineral Security Partnership (MSP). The Department of State, along with partners including Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (represented by the European Commission), established the MSP to accelerate the development of diverse and sustainable critical energy minerals supply chains. The MSP works with host governments and industry to facilitate targeted financial and diplomatic support for strategic projects along the value chain with an emphasis on those projects which adhere to and promote the highest labor, environmental and sustainability standards.
International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund. Created by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the ITSI Fund promotes the diversification of the global semiconductor supply chain. State will partner with countries to develop the most attractive economic environments for private investment. With ITSI Fund support, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development has established the Semiconductor Exchange Network allowing policymakers in the semiconductor industry to examine risks and interdependencies on the current state of the semiconductor ecosystem. Additionally, the ITSI Fund is supporting ecosystem reviews in key partner countries that will inform future collaboration on developing this critical sector.
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.
