Build Back Better Plan


The Build Back Better Plan or Build Back Better Agenda was a legislative framework proposed by United States president Joe Biden between 2020 and 2021. Generally viewed as ambitious in size and scope, it sought the largest nationwide public investment in social, infrastructural, and environmental programs since the 1930s Great Depression-era policies of the New Deal.
The Build Back Better plan was divided into three parts:
  1. American Rescue Plan, a COVID-19 pandemic-relief bill;
  2. American Jobs Plan, a proposal to address long-neglected infrastructure needs and reduce America's contributions to destructive effects of climate change;
  3. American Families Plan, a proposal to fund a variety of social policy initiatives, some of which had never before been enacted nationally in the U.S.
The first part was passed as the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and was signed into law in March 2021. The other two parts were reworked into different bills over the course of extensive negotiations. Aspects of the AJP's infrastructure goals were diverted into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in November 2021.
Other AJP priorities were then merged with the AFP to form the Build Back Better Act. The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives but struggled to gain the support of Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona in the evenly divided Senate, with unified Republican opposition. Manchin and Sinema negotiated the reduction of the Build Back Better Act's size, scope, and cost significantly with Biden and Democratic congressional leaders, but Manchin, widely viewed as the key swing vote needed to pass the bill in the Senate, ultimately rejected it, citing unresolved disputes about the short- and long-term costs of the legislative package.
Continued negotiations between Manchin and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer eventually resulted in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which was signed into law in August 2022, and incorporated some of the Build Back Better Act's climate change, healthcare, and tax reform proposals while excluding its social safety net proposals.

General history of the term and plan

The term first appeared and was used in the report "Rebuilding a Better Aceh and Nias: Preliminary Stocktaking of the Reconstruction Effort Six Months After the Earthquake and Tsunami" published by the World Bank in May 2005, and prepared in collaboration with the Bureau of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation for Aceh and Nias and the international donor community. The initial preliminary report was revised and published in October 2005. Special United Nations Tsunami Envoy, President Bill Clinton, who visited Aceh during June 2005, was briefed by The World Bank, BRR and donors and included the term in his brief to the United Nations Economic and Social Council in July 2005. Clinton also released a special report in December 2006 entitled "Lessons Learned from Tsunami Recovery:Key Propositions for Building Back Better".
The term was subsequently used as a conceptual term by various leaders, at the backdrop of other natural disasters. Following this, the term was used more specifically in a report by the World Economic Forum on natural disasters on the 28th of April, 2011. In was mentioned again in a comprehensive report by the WEF in October 2015, and once more in WEF articles from 2016 and 2019. An overarching plan called 'Build Back Better', with outlines similar to Biden's eventual plan, was first published by the World Economic Forum in April 2020, and then again several times throughout May and July of the same year. The plan involved major social, economic and political reforms, at the backdrop of the Pandemic. The wording 'Build Back Better' and an associated plan, first appeared in American politics during Biden's presidential campaign, in July 2020. After having been introduced by President Biden, the term 'Build Back Better' became synonymous with his presidency's agendas.
In the years which followed Biden's introduction of his plan, other politicians across the world have also come to adopt various aspects of it, or call for its implementation. Some countries, such as Japan, have used the term to signify a 'disaster preparedness and resilience plan'. In 2023, Israeli politician Tamar Zandberg proposed that Israel should work by the environment and medical outlines of the plan.

Historical background of Biden's plan

The COVID-19 pandemic caused substantial job losses in the U.S., with a May 2020 estimate finding that it had resulted in the greatest unemployment crisis since the Great Depression. During his presidency, Donald Trump floated using low interest rates to spend on infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and tunnels, but specifically excluding the initiatives of the Green New Deal supported by some of the members in the Democratic Party.

Vision

Shortly before his inauguration as the 46th president of the United States, Biden laid out the following goals for his "Build Back Better" agenda:
  1. "Build a Modern Infrastructure": The United States has consistently under-invested in the development of workers and millions of positions in rising industries, such as construction and healthcare, have not been fulfilled. President Biden's Build Back Better Plan would invest in training initiatives to help the millions of American workers to create high-quality employment in expanding fields through high-quality career and technical education paths and registered apprenticeships.
  2. "Position the U.S. Auto Industry to Win the 21st Century with technology invented in America"
  3. "Achieve a Carbon Pollution-Free Power Sector by 2035"
  4. "Make Dramatic Investments in Energy Efficiency in Buildings, including Completing 4 Million Retrofits and Building 1.5 Million New Affordable Homes": Schools were faced with an estimated shortage of 100,000 teachers before the pandemic, which undermined the education of children.  President Biden's Build Back Better Plan will address the lack of teachers and enhance the education of teachers, including providing teacher residencies and by developing programs that provide greater results and generate more POC teachers. During the course of the school year, it would extend free school food to another 9.3 million students and assist families buy food in the summer. The plan includes investing in modernizing school infrastructure to ensure school buildings are up to date, energy efficient, robust, and have technology and laboratory equipment to educate children for the future.
  5. "Pursue a Historic Investment in Clean Energy Innovation"
  6. "Advance Sustainable Agriculture and Conservation"
  7. "Secure Environmental Justice and Equitable Economy Opportunity"

    American Rescue Plan

The first part of the plan resulted in a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. It was signed into law on March 11 using the procedure of reconciliation, allowing it to go into effect with unanimous Democratic support in the Senate and no Republican votes.

American Jobs Plan

Original proposal

On March 31, 2021, Biden unveiled details of his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, which he pitched as "a transformative effort to overhaul the nation's economy". The plan aimed to create millions of jobs, bolster labor unions, expand labor protections, and address climate change.

Physical infrastructure

The plan called for $621 billion of spending on transportation infrastructure. That included $115 billion towards highways and roads, $80 billion to improve American railways, $85 billion to modernize public transportation, $25 billion for airports, $174 billion to incentivize adoption of electric vehicles, and $17 billion for inland waterways, coastal ports, land ports of entry and ferries. It also called for electrifying at least 20% of the country's yellow school bus fleet. In March 2024, the Washington Post published an article called, "Biden’s $7.5 billion investment in EV charging has only produced 7 stations in two years."
The plan called for $100 billion in funding for American energy infrastructure, aiming to transition the country to 100% carbon-free electricity production by 2035. It intended to establish a "Grid Deployment Authority" within the Department of Energy to support the construction of high-voltage transmission lines.

Infrastructure "at home"

The plan included $213 billion for building and retrofitting more than 2 million homes and $40 billion to improve public housing. It also sought to end exclusionary zoning. The plan included $111 billion for modernizing drinking water, wastewater, and storm water systems. $45 billion of that was intended to replace 100% of the country's lead water piping. The plan aimed to deliver universal high-speed broadband coverage.
The AJP proposed a $16 billion investment in plugging "orphan wells", abandoned wells that continually release methane emissions. The plan contained $100 billion to construct and upgrade public schools, $25 billion to upgrade childcare facilities, and $12 billion to spend on community colleges. The AJP also contained a proposal for a Civilian Climate Corps modeled loosely after the Civilian Conservation Corps created during the New Deal. It proposed that $10 billion be allocated for the program, which the White House stated would create somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 jobs. In contrast, during its nine years in operation, around three million people participated in the original CCC.

Research and development

The plan would have spent $180 billion on research and development, including substantial expenditures in clean energy and basic climate research. It would also have spent $50 billion on semiconductor technology. The plan set aside $300 billion for manufacturing expenditures.