A morning thread on the American Rescue Plan. There are a number of outcomes from this legislation that have gotten less attention, but will change a lot of lives:
It makes healthcare more affordable:
-The 12m people getting healthcare through the exchanges will likely get a tax credit
- A family of four making $90k could see their monthly premium drop by $200
-No one will pay more than 8.5% of household income on the benchmark plan
It expands healthcare coverage:
- By making healthcare more affordable, it will reduce the number of uninsured by at least 1.3 million by next year.
It provides a tax cut to essential workers:
- It raises the maximum EITC for childless workers from ~$530 to ~$1500, and allows more low income workers to qualify
- It makes young adults aged 19-24 who aren’t full time student and people over 65 eligible
(Cont.)
- This will put money in the pockets of 17m low income workers, incl the 6m people who the federal tax system taxes deeper into poverty bc of a low EITC.
- The occupations with most workers who would benefit: cashiers, food preparers, servers, and home health aides
It makes the most significant childcare investment since WW II; $40bn to:
- Reduce child care costs for families
- Help women who left jobs to take on caregiving
- Rebuild the child care providers; mostly small, community-based bizs
- Increase pay & benefits of childcare workers
It makes major progress on housing assistance:
- $27.4b in rental assistance
- $10b in homeowner assistance
- $5b in Section 8 housing vouchers
- $5b in homelessness assistance
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
@POTUS’s announcement today on actions to limit junk fees is an important step in lowering costs for consumers & promoting competition
It’s also a milestone for behavioral economics – decades of scholarship bearing fruit in policies that make a difference whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
Scholars like @kahneman_daniel, @R_Thaler, and @umalmend demonstrated that, contrary to assumptions, “some people behave like humans, at least some of the time”
They also ID’d how companies exploit human behavior with hidden or surprise charges – what we call junk fees
The goal of our junk fee initiative is to protect consumers from this exploitation while making markets more competitive—creating a more even playing field so businesses that price transparently don’t fall behind those that hide real prices w/ hidden fees bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Since announcing record new business applications for '21-22, we’ve only seen more evidence of a historic expansion in entrepreneurship - Yelp found '22 was a record year for new biz openings & new biz growth in 86% of states exceeded pre-pandemic levels yelpeconomicaverage.com/business-openi…
And these new businesses are job creators. Yesterday, Axios highlighted that these last two years set new records for applications for businesses that are expecting to hire employees. axios.com/2023/01/25/pan…
A WSJ analysis of labor data bolsters the case for a small business job boom, finding that small companies have been responsible for the net job growth we’ve experience since the start of the pandemic wsj.com/articles/surge…
The historic declines in unemployment we have seen were far from pre-ordained 2 yrs ago. Before Biden’s economic plan, the @USCBO projected that the unemployment rate would be 4.9% in the final quarter of 2022, rather than the 3.5% it actually reached.
@POTUS’s policy priority on driving a strong labor market recovery was grounded in decades of economic research showing that long spells of unemployment have severe and long-lasting “scarring” impacts on workers, families, and communities.
The President is in Arizona today to mark TSMC’s historic investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
BUT this is just one aspect of something bigger that’s happening across Arizona and the entire U.S. economy.
A 🧵
TSMC is one of many major private investments that the State of Arizona is benefiting from:
$30B semiconductor fab expansion by Intel in Chandler
$1B+ lithium-ion battery mfg facility by KORE Power in Buckeye
$100M fiber-optic mfg facility by Corning in Gilbert
Meanwhile, new infra funding has already given 300K Arizonans more affordable internet
And $2B will be invested in new transportation projects:
Renovating the Sky Harbor Airport
Building a pedestrian/bike bridge over the Rio Salado River
Replacing the city’s aging transit fleet
In Jul ‘21, @POTUS’ Competition EO directed HHS to consider proposing rules for hearing aids to be sold OTC w/o a prescription
Fast forward to today, affordable hearing aids are now available on retail shelves across the country
An outcome millions of Americans long hoped for
Starting today, Walgreens is selling hearings aids at stores nationwide and online for $799 per pair.
According to Walgreens, comparable models sold by specialists range from $2,000 to $8,000 a pair.
Walmart will offer hearing aids, starting today, on Walmart.com, SamsClub.com, and in 1,000+ Vision Centers in stores across CO, MI, MO, OH, PA, TN, and TX.
Prices ranging from $199 to $999/pair compared to prescription versions at $4,400-$5,500/pair.
Today, I joined @TheCityClub in Cleveland to discuss how the historic legislation of the past year - the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS & Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act - fit together under a Modern American Industrial Strategy.
A 🧵
There’s hardly a better place than Cleveland that embodies the impact of this strategy.
1. Home to the first electrified streetcar, traffic light and public square
2. Pioneer of the earliest EVs 100 yrs ago
3. A vital transportation hub for the oil and steel industries
However, after decades we stopped investing in ourselves and neglected our country’s industrial strength. Many places like Cleveland saw a decline in their productive and innovative capacities.
Fortunately, @POTUS has put us on a new path to grow.