House Ways And Means Committee advances Build Back Better Act

The House Committee on Ways and Means voted this week to approve the sections of the Build Back Better Act within its jurisdiction, following a markup that ran for nearly 35 hours over four days.

The Ways and Means subtitles of the bill, which has the largest portion of any House committee, include tax, climate, health, retirement, childcare, and paid leave provisions. Ways and Means’ vote to advance the legislation by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Sept. 15 deadline for completed committee consideration paves the way for the reconciliation bill to receive consideration on the House Floor.

“The work of the past week in the House Committee on Ways and Means included some of the most historic and monumental legislative policy objectives attempted in my lifetime,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-08). “The bill we helped draft will be the single most important piece of climate legislation we have ever had the chance of passing. It contains some of the most important benefits for the American worker ever contemplated by Congress, including finally providing universal paid family and medical leave, which nearly every other country has already done.

“These provisions would lead to a more just, equitable, and prosperous society, and create millions of jobs in a way that is fiscally responsible. I applaud my colleagues, our Chairman Richard Neal, and the Ways and Means Committee staff for a job well done, and look forward to continued work to pass the Build Back Better Act in the full House,” Beyer said.

The Build Back Better Act subtitles advanced by the House Committee on Ways and Means would make sweeping changes to benefit America’s middle class, including universal paid family and medical leave, reduced prescription drug prices, climate change-fighting provisions that would spur the creation of green jobs, and an extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit.

The Committee passed revenue measures that would finance these investments in America’s human infrastructure by requiring the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share of the tax burden, closing loopholes that benefit the rich, and increasing enforcement to prevent tax cheats from evading laxly-enforced tax laws.

A number of measures introduced by Beyer were adopted during the Build Back Better Act markup.

The bill’s climate provisions including Beyer-authored measures to provide tax incentives for zero-emission commercial vehicles, and to promote the development of Direct Air Capture technology, as well as Beyer co-led measures to provide tax incentives to spur a shift towards green infrastructure, to promote development of green hydrogen technology, and to pave the way for increased solar energy generation.

The revenue portions of the bill included a surtax on the income of multimillionaires similar to one introduced by Beyer and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Millionaires Surtax Act. And a provision that would significantly expand tax credits for the construction of affordable housing units was adopted after a large push in the House spearheaded by Beyer and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA).