Opinion | The Bogus Bashing of Build Back Better

December 13, 2021 ☼ bidenbuild-back-better

Source: The New York Times - Link

Build Back Better — the Biden administration’s effort to create a better future for America — is resting on a political knife edge. It’s anyone’s guess whether it will become law. What we do know is that to make it through Congress it will have to weather a perfect storm of bad faith, bad logic and bad arithmetic.

First things first: Build Back Better is primarily a plan to invest in America’s future. Roughly a third of the proposed spending is on children: pre-K, child care and tax credits that would greatly reduce child poverty. Another third is spending to help restructure the economy to limit climate change. If you include the already enacted infrastructure bill, the Biden agenda is overwhelmingly future-oriented.

This is expensive unless you compare it to the defense budget. It reflects decades of deferred investment.