经过几个月的谈判，众议院民主党人周三晚些时候提出了一项关键立法，该立法将帮助乔·拜登总统实施一项价值3.5万亿美元的大规模人力基础设施计划，其中充满了社会和进步的优先事项。
13个众议院委员会花了数不清的时间来起草立法，以满足9月15日的最后期限。委员会通过的法案语言现在将被起草成最终法案，预计将在未来几周与参议院版本的法案结合。
本周的谈判并非没有戏剧性，因为民主党人正在处理众议院进步派和温和派之间日益增长的政策分歧，以及对整体支出感到担忧的持怀疑态度的民主党参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)和基斯顿·西内马(Kyrsten Sinema)。
曼钦此前呼吁在推进和解法案方面“战略暂停”，并多次表示不支持通过另一项数万亿美元的支出法案。
拜登周三与曼钦和西内马分别举行了会议，作为个人外联的一种形式。
白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基周三表示:“总统当然相信会有持续的讨论。“并不是说今天一定会有结论，但这是这些会议的主要焦点和目的。”
最终的法案将包括在医疗保健、儿童保健、高等教育、劳动力培训以及带薪家庭和医疗假方面的重大新投资，其中将包括大多数工作的美国人的12周带薪家庭和医疗假。
它还将包括永久缩小医疗补助覆盖差距的计划，通过向老年人提供听力、牙科和视力福利来扩大医疗保险;延长若干税收抵免;加强患者保护与平价医疗法案，投资孕产妇保健，并为公共卫生提供额外投资。它还将对移民、气候和税法做出重大改变。
民主党人打算通过提高美国富人、盈利企业和投资者的税收来抵消一揽子计划的成本。
众议院筹款委员会发布了一项计划，将收入超过500万美元的企业的公司税率提高到26.5%。对于收入低于40万美元的小企业，公司税率将降至18%;所有其他企业将继续支付目前21%的利率。
该法案还将把申报应税收入超过45万美元的已婚夫妇和申报应税收入超过40万美元的个人的最高所得税税率从37%提高到39.6%。该提案还包括对超过5%的个人收入征收3%的附加税，并将资本收益(出售资产的收益)的最高税率从20%提高到25%。
无党派人士联合税收委员会估计，和解提案包括增加近2.1万亿美元的税收，这可能有助于为这项庞大法案的部分内容提供资金。
JCT还发现，大部分增税将落在收入在100万美元或以上的家庭身上，而收入在20万至50万美元之间的家庭的税收可能会增加2%。
“大公司和超级富豪必须开始缴纳他们应缴纳的税款。早该如此了。我不是来惩罚任何人的。我是资本家。如果你能赚一百万或十亿美元，那太好了。上帝保佑你。我所要求的是你支付你的公平份额。支付你应得的份额，”拜登周四说。
拜登说:“我知道我们还有很长的路要走，但我有信心国会将把我提出的两党有形基础设施计划和‘重建得更好’计划送到我的办公桌上。
预计众议院委员会主席将在周五向民主党人简要介绍他们在支出法案中的部分。众议院将于周一结束为期六周的休会。
“我要感谢在此过程中得到指示的所有13个委员会，感谢他们在其管辖范围内为《重建更美好法案》报告建议。我还想对辛勤工作的委员会工作人员表示感谢和钦佩，他们今年夏天牺牲了睡眠，在许多情况下，牺牲了与家人在一起的时间，以确保这项关键的立法反映出民主党人专注于帮助美国人获得机会和实现真正的经济安全。我们将在未来几天继续这项立法的工作，因为我们将采取行动实现拜登总统的“重建得更好”的计划，”众议院多数党领袖斯坦尼·霍耶在周三晚些时候的一份声明中说。
“这个一揽子计划，加上两党的基础设施计划，代表了我们的坚定信念，即不仅仅是让你工作的道路需要资金，像儿童保育和带薪休假这样的基本支持也是值得投资的社会基本特征。随着更广泛的谈判继续进行，我必须强调，现在不是妥协的时候。美国人民期待我们作为民主党的成员来推动自己，为可能的事情设定尽可能高的标准。众议院筹款委员会主席理查德·尼尔(Richard E. Neal)在一份声明中表示:“12周的普遍带薪家庭和医疗假期、有保障的儿童护理、应对气候变化的强有力建议以及负责任地资助我们的优先事项，只是必须保留在这一一揽子计划中并成为法律的一些措施。
但严重的问题依然存在。
当药物定价计划在众议院通过时，三名温和的众议院民主党人站出来反对民主党庞大的议程。
众议员凯瑟琳·赖斯、斯科特·彼得斯和库尔特·施拉德周三在众议院能源和商业委员会反对让联邦政府在药品价格谈判中发挥更大作用的语言。周三晚些时候，另一个关键的众议院小组批准了该药物定价计划，但领导层可能还没有足够的票数将其作为更大法案的一部分通过。
这是领导道路上的又一次颠簸，凸显了拜登白宫和民主党微弱多数面临的挑战。
“民意调查始终显示，民主党人的药品价格谈判立法获得了两党的巨大支持，包括绝大多数共和党人和独立人士，他们厌倦了大型制药公司向美国人收取的费用远远高于他们在海外对相同药品收取的费用。众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)的发言人亨利·康诺利(Henry Connolly)在给美国广播公司(ABC News)的一份声明中表示:“降低药品成本是美国人民的首要任务，并将继续是《重建更美好法案》的基石，因为众议院、参议院和白宫仍在就最终法案进行工作。
东北部的立法者也希望最终的方案废除共和党人在2017年对州和地方税的扣除上限。纽约民主党众议员汤姆·苏兹(Tom Souzzi)明确表示，如果没有SALT，他对整体和解方案是“不”的。
索齐在一份声明中说:“我已经坚持了六个月:‘没有SALT，就没有交易’。
众议院民主党人表示，他们将对州和地方税收的联邦扣除限额1万美元进行“有意义的”修改。然而，反对者表示，取消冲销上限可能主要有利于富裕家庭。
该措施一直是高税收州议员谈判的一个症结。
虽然民主党不需要共和党的支持来通过他们3.5万亿美元的支出法案，但由于和解过程允许立法以简单多数通过，他们必须获得每个民主党参议员和几乎每个众议院议员的投票。
众议院民主党人计划在未来几天调整他们的法案，但他们在紧迫的最后期限内与参议院达成协议，以便一项法案能够在两院获得通过。他们的目标是在9月27日之前完成工作——佩洛西承诺，她将允许众议院开始考虑一项1万亿美元的两党基础设施法案。
佩洛西长期以来一直发誓要坚持这一两党法案，直到更大的、价值3.5万亿美元的“人力”基础设施法案首先获得通过。
Democratic drama as House advances Biden's agenda: What's in the draft reconciliation bill?
Following months of negotiations, House Democrats advanced critical legislation late Wednesday that will help President Joe Biden deliver on a massive $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package filled with social and progressive priorities.
Thirteen House committees spent countless hours over the week marking up legislation to meet a self-imposed Sep. 15 deadline. The bill language passed by the committees will now be drafted into a final bill that is expected to be married with the Senate’s version of the bill in the coming weeks.
The negotiations this week were not without drama, as Democrats are dealing with growing disagreements on policy between progressives and moderates in the House, as well as skeptical holdouts Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema who have concerns with overall spending.
Manchin has previously called for a "strategic pause" in moving forward with the reconciliation bill and has repeatedly said he does not support passing another multi-trillion dollar spending bill.
Biden on Wednesday held separate meetings with both Manchin and Sinema as a form of personal outreach.
"The president certainly believes there’ll be ongoing discussions," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. "Not that there’s necessarily going to be a conclusion out of those today, but that was the primary focus and purpose of these meetings."
The final bill will include significant new investments in health care, child care, higher education, workforce training, and paid family and medical leave which would include 12 weeks paid family and medical leave for most working Americans.
It will also include plans to permanently close the Medicaid coverage gap, expand Medicare by offering seniors access to hearing, dental and vision benefits; extend several tax credits; strengthen the Affordable Care Act, invest in maternal health, and provide additional investments in public health. It would also make major changes to immigration, climate, and tax laws.
Democrats intend to off-set the costs of the package by raising taxes on wealthy Americans, profitable corporations and investors.
The House Ways and Means Committee released a plan to raise the corporate tax rate to 26.5% for businesses earning more than $5 million in income. The corporate rate would be lowered to 18% for small businesses earning less than $400,000; all other businesses would continue to pay the current rate of 21%.
The legislation would also raise the top income tax rate to 39.6% from 37% for married couples who report taxable income of more than $450,000 and for individuals who report more than $400,000. The proposal also includes a 3% surcharge on individual income above 5% and increases the top tax rate for capital gains – the proceeds from selling an asset – to 25%, up from 20%.
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the reconciliation proposal includes nearly $2.1 trillion in increased tax revenues, which could help fund parts of the mammoth bill.
The JCT also found that the bulk of the tax increases would fall on households making $1 million or more, while taxes could go up by as much as 2 percent on households making between $200,000 and $500,000.
“Big corporations and the super wealthy have to start paying their fair share of taxes. It’s long overdue. I’m not out to punish anyone. I’m a capitalist. If you can make a million or a billion dollars, that’s great. God bless you. All I’m asking is you pay your fair share. Pay your fair share,” Biden said Thursday.
“I know we still have a long way to go, but I’m confident the Congress will deliver to my desk both the bipartisan physical infrastructure plan and the Build Back Better plan that I have proposed,” Biden said.
House committee chairs are expected to brief Democrats on their portions of the spending bill on Friday. The House is set to return from a six-week recess on Monday.
"I want to thank all thirteen committees given instructions in this process for reporting recommendations within their jurisdictions for the Build Back Better Act. I also want to express my gratitude and admiration for the hardworking committee staff who sacrificed sleep and, in many cases, time with their families this summer in order to make sure that this critical legislation reflects Democrats’ focus on helping Americans access opportunity and achieve real economic security. We will continue our work on this legislation in the coming days, as we take action to deliver on President Biden's plan to Build Back Better," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement late Wednesday.
"This package, coupled with the bipartisan infrastructure plan, represents our firm belief that it’s not just the roads that get you to work that require funding, basic supports like child care and paid leave are also essential features of society worthy of investment. As the broader negotiations continue, I must emphasize that now is not the time to settle for less. The American people are looking to us as members of the Democratic Party to push ourselves and set the highest possible standards for what’s possible. Twelve weeks of universal paid family and medical leave, guaranteed access to child care, strong proposals to combat climate change, and responsibly funding our priorities are just some of the measures that must remain in this package and become law," said House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal in a statement.
But serious issues remain.
A trio of moderate House Democrats came out against the drug pricing plan in Democrats' sprawling agenda as it made its way through the House.
Reps. Kathleen Rice, Scott Peters, and Kurt Schrader on Wednesday opposed language in the House Energy and Commerce Committee that would give the federal government a greater role in negotiating drug prices. Another key House panel endorsed the drug pricing plan later Wednesday evening, but leadership may not yet have the votes to pass it as part of a larger bill.
It’s another bump in the road for leadership that underscores the challenge facing the Biden White House and the Democrats' narrow majority.
"Polling consistently shows immense bipartisan support for Democrats’ drug price negotiation legislation, including overwhelming majorities of Republicans and independents who are fed up with Big Pharma charging Americans so much more than they charge for the same medicines overseas. Delivering lower drug costs is a top priority of the American people and will remain a cornerstone of the Build Back Better Act as work continues between the House, Senate and White House on the final bill," Henry Connolly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement to ABC News.
Northeastern lawmakers are also hoping the final package repeals a cap on deductions for state and local taxes – SALT – imposed by Republicans in 2017. Rep. Tom Souzzi, D-NY, has made clear that without SALT, he’s a “no” on the overall reconciliation package.
"I have been consistent for six months: 'No SALT, no deal'," Suozzi said in a statement.
House Democrats have said they will pursue "meaningful" change to the $10,000 limit on the federal deduction for state and local taxes. However, repealing the cap on the write-off may primarily benefit wealthy households, opponents have said.
The measure has been a sticking point in negotiations among lawmakers in high tax states.
While Democrats don’t need GOP support to pass their $3.5 trillion spending bill, due to the reconciliation process which allows legislation to pass with a simple majority, they have to get votes from every Democratic senator and nearly every House member.
House Democrats plan to tweak their bill in the coming days ahead, but they are under a tight deadline to get agreement with the Senate so that a bill can clear both chambers. Their goal is to finish their work before Sept. 27 – when Pelosi has promised she will allow the House to begin considering a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Pelosi has long vowed to hold on to that bipartisan bill until the much larger, $3.5 trillion "human" infrastructure bill filled with Democratic priorities is passed first.
