![]() The U.S. Senate is once again reviewing legislation earlier proposed by President Biden that would, if passed, provide up to $555 billion for clean energy and climate change projects nationally. The Build Back Better Act was originally proposed last spring and underwent a series of revisions to win Congressional approval. The sticking point to the plan has always been its price tag, which originally stood at $6 trillion, but was eventually reduced to around $2 trillion. On a close 220 to 213 vote, the legislation won approval in the House in late November, only to stall in the Senate where it has continued to lack majority support. Seen as a bill that would prove a counterpart to Biden’s successful infrastructure act, the Build Better Act from the start has been largely designed to deal with an array of social issues and includes $400 billion in funding for childcare and preschool programs, as well as $150 billion for home care. In December, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer announced plans to schedule a vote for the overall legislation later this month, although he remains uncertain of the outcome. Speaking to reporters, Schumer said he wanted a new vote taken on the measure so that members will have the “opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television.” Congressional observers have said that the legislation may finally win passage with a yet even smaller price tag, or that aspects of the big bill may be broken down into smaller proposals. Noting that the original legislation summoned up images of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his sweeping New Deal economic reform legislation, the Financial Times recently predicted that if the Build Back Better bill survives at all, “its scope will be far narrower than the original FDR-like idea.” By Garry Boulard
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