President Biden Is Working For Tennessee Families

P20210125AS-1208, 1300: President Joe Biden, joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, delivers remarks on his “Buy American” initiative Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz).

President Biden is producing results for Tennessee families in these areas:

Economic Recovery

President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan on March 11, 2021. This law includes $1.9 trillion to help America recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts estimate that as much as $30 billion of this money will be sent to Tennessee. The key benefits of this bill to Tennesseans include:

  • Direct payments of up to $1,400 to individuals.
  • Relief for local governments and schools, including money to help re-open schools safely.
  • Temporarily expanding unemployment benefits and paid leave.
  • Expanding the earned-income tax credit, child tax credit, child care deduction, and making student loan forgiveness tax-free.
  • Grants to small businesses.
  • Closing tax loopholes for corporations.

Every Republican in the United States House of Representatives voted against the American Rescue Plan.

In addition to signing the American Rescue Plan, President Biden has also taken executive actions to help struggling Americans, including extending student loan deferments.

COVID-19 Vaccines
  • Over 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were distributed in President Biden’s first 100 days in office.
  • The Biden administration is protecting Americans by ensuring federal workers and health care workers are vaccinated.
Protecting The Planet

Under President Biden, America is rejoining the global community in fighting against Climate Change. Under his leadership:

  • America has committed to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent before 2030.
  • The Keystone XL pipeline has been canceled.
  • Sensible, science-based regulations needed to keep Americans safe that were rolled back by the Republican administration are being put back in place.
  • The United States participated fully in the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Infrastructure

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This new law does the following:

  • Provides funds to expand access to clean drinking water and to repair existing pipes and water plants – including almost $700 million for clean water for Tennesseans (source).
  • Invests $65 billion for expanding access to broadband Internet; almost one-third of Tennesseans will become eligible for the new Affordability Connectivity Benefit, which will help to reduce the cost of Internet service for working families (source).
  • Invests $110 billion fo repairing and rebuild our nation’s roads and bridges – including over $6 billion for roads and bridges in Tennessee, particularly the over-20,000 bridges in this state which are classed as”structurally-deficient” (source) (source).
  • Expands public transit, including a massive investment in passenger rail.
  • Funds upgrades and improvements to our nation’s airports and seaports.
  • Creates a national network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
  • Upgrades and strengthens our nation’s electrical grid.
  • Makes the largest investment in American history for cleaning up industrial pollution and Superfund sites. Note that there are 21 Superfund sites in Maury County, some of which still require cleanup activity (source).

Peace

President Biden ended the War in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of U.S. involvement.

The Build Back Better Act passed by the House on November 19, 2021 (and currently being debated in the Senate) includes the following:

  • Universal preschool for 3- and 4- year olds.
  • A cap on the cost of childcare for working and middle class families.
  • Four weeks of paid family and medical leave.
  • Affordable housing and rental assistance programs.
  • Expanding Medicare to include hearing aids and rehabilitation services.
  • Limiting the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and capping the cost of insulin.
  • Extending the $300-per-child monthly Child Tax Credit through 2022.
  • Expanding access to Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies, and extending the Premium Tax Credit previously passed as part of the American Rescue Plan, to help families left behind by the Tennessee GOP’s refusal to expand Tenncare (source) (source).

The bill is based on President Biden’s Build Back Better vision.

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