Representative Dina Titus of Nevada’s First Congressional District celebrated House passage of the Build Back Better Act: "The Build Back Better Act is historic legislation that makes once-in-a-generation progress. It creates good jobs, cuts taxes for the middle class, addresses climate change, and is paid for by raising taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy who have avoided paying their fair share for decades. This plan also helps Nevada families by lowering the cost of everyday expenses and making overdue investments in education, child care, home care, and health care,” said Congresswoman Titus.
Washington, D.C. - Today Representative Dina Titus of Nevada’s First Congressional District released the following statement after House passage of the Build Back Better Act:
“The Build Back Better Act is historic legislation that makes once-in-a-generation progress. It creates good jobs, cuts taxes for the middle class, addresses climate change, and is paid for by raising taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy who have avoided paying their fair share for decades. This plan also helps Nevada families by lowering the cost of everyday expenses and making overdue investments in education, child care, home care, and health care,” said Congresswoman Titus.
“This is our opportunity to take transformational action to address the challenges facing Americans, our economy, and our planet. Struggling families cannot wait for assistance. Our threatened planet cannot wait. I urge the Senate to pass this legislation so that we can send it to President Biden’s desk before it’s too late.”
The Build Back Better Act Includes Provisions To:
Provide access to affordable child care. Child care is a major strain for families in Nevadans, where the average annual cost of a child care center for a toddler is $10,238, meaning that a Nevada family with two young children would on average spend 25% of their income on child care for one year. The lack of affordable options also makes it difficult for parents, and especially mothers, to remain in their jobs, contributing to the 21.9% gender gap in workforce participation between mothers and fathers in Nevada. The Build Back Better framework will enable Nevada to provide access to child care for 196,800 young children (ages 0-5) per year from families earning under 2.5 times the state median income (about $196,846 for a family of 4), and ensure these families pay no more than 7% of their income on high-quality child care.
Provide universal, high-quality, free preschool for every 3- and 4-year old in America. Today, only 17% of the 79,518 3- and 4-year-olds in Nevada have access to publicly-funded preschool, and it costs about $8,600 per year for those who can’t access a publicly-funded program. The Build Back Better framework will enable Nevada to expand access to free, high-quality preschool to more than 65,895 additional 3- and 4-year-olds per year and increase the quality of preschool for children who are already enrolled. Parents will be able to send their children to the preschool setting of their choice—from public schools to child care providers to Head Start—leading to lifelong educational benefits, allowing more parents to go back to work, and building a stronger foundation for Nevada’s future economic competitiveness.
Make the largest effort to combat climate change in American history. From 2010 to 2020, Nevada experienced 12 extreme weather events, costing up to $1 billion in damages. The Build Back Better framework will set the United States on course to meet its climate targets—a 50-52% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030—in a way that creates good-paying union jobs, grows domestic industries, and advances environmental justice. The framework represents the largest ever single investment in our clean energy economy—across buildings, transportation, industry, electricity, agriculture, and climate smart practices in our lands and waters. And the framework will create a new Civilian Climate Corps that will enlist a diverse generation of Nevadans in conserving our public lands, bolstering community resilience, and addressing the changing climate, all while putting good-paying union jobs within reach. In clean energy and in other sectors, the Build Back Better framework will also strengthen domestic manufacturing and supply chains for critical goods, benefiting American businesses, workers, consumers, and communities.
Expand health care coverage and lower costs. Health care should be a right, not a privilege, and residents of Nevada facing illness should never have to worry about how they are going to pay for treatment. The Build Back Better framework will close the Medicaid coverage gap to help millions of Americans gain health insurance, extend through 2025 the American Rescue Plan’s health insurance premium reductions for those who buy coverage on their own, and help older Americans access affordable hearing care by expanding Medicare. In Nevada, that means 71,000 uninsured people will gain coverage and 47,100 will on average save hundreds of dollars per year. In addition, the Build Back Better framework will support maternal health and invest in national preparedness for future pandemics.
Provide nutritious food options for children. 16% of children in Nevada live in food insecure households, harming their long-term health and ability to succeed in school. The Build Back Better framework will ensure that the nutritional needs of Nevada’s children are met by expanding access to free school meals to an additional 48,000 students during the school year and providing 298,639 students with resources to purchase food over the summer.
Reduce housing costs and expand housing options. 243,000 renters in Nevada are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent, while homeownership remains out of reach for many families. The Build Back Better framework will expand rental assistance for Nevada renters, while also increasing the supply of high-quality housing through the construction and rehabilitation of over 1 million affordable housing units nationwide. It will address the capital needs of the entire public housing stock in America and it includes one of the largest investments in down payment assistance in history, enabling more first-generation homebuyers to purchase their first home.
Cut taxes for families and workers. Prior to the pandemic, 14% of children under the age of 18 in Nevada lived in poverty. The Build Back Better framework will bolster financial security and spur economic growth in Nevada by reducing taxes on the middle class and those striving to break into it. The framework will extend Child Tax Credit (CTC) increases of $300/month per child under 6 or $250/month per child ages 6 to 17. This will continue the largest one-year reduction in child poverty in history. And critically, the agreement includes permanent refundability for the Child Tax Credit, meaning that the neediest families will continue to receive the full Child Tax Credit over the long-run. The framework will also provide a tax cut of up to $1,500 in tax cuts for 175,300 low-wage workers in Nevada by extending the American Rescue Plan’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansion.
