August 12, 2021 - Washington - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Wednesday released the following statement on the Democratic infrastructure budget resolution passed by the Senate:

“The Democratic budget resolution is a historic investment in the American people, one that will make a huge difference for Californians.

“The resolution provides a real boost to working families. In California, 16.4 percent of the population and more than 17 percent of children under age five live in poverty. This resolution builds on previous efforts to reduce poverty by increasing access to education at every level, investing in American ingenuity and manufacturing, making child care more affordable and reducing drug prices for seniors.

“The resolution also recommits the United States to fighting climate change. This is a global leadership role that we absolutely must play. It would reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent and would be the most significant investment in tackling climate change in U.S. history.

It also helps us reverse the dangerous effects of climate change that are becoming all too common. In California, six of the seven largest wildfires have been in the past year and projections are for things to get even worse.

“This budget accomplishes all of that without raising taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. Instead, it will require the wealthiest individuals and large corporations to pay a fairer share of taxes to pay for these life-changing investments.”

Families:

• Establishes or expands programs for families, including:
  
  
  • Universal Pre-K for 3-and-4-year olds.
    
    
  • Child care.
    
    
  • Tuition-free community college for two years.
    
    
  • Pell Grants for college students.
    
    
  • Paid family and medical leave benefit.
    
    
  • Extends several tax credits that benefit families, including the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.
    
    
  • Ensures that families won’t have to spend more than 7 percent of their income on child care and child care providers have enough funding to provide high-quality early childhood education and care.
    
    

Climate Change:

• Creates a new program to incentivize utilities to generate clean energy.
  
  
• Provides tax credits for clean energy, electric vehicles and manufacturing.
  
  
• Imposes new fees on methane and carbon-intensive products.
  
  
• Invests in climate-smart agriculture and forest management.
  
  
• Electrifies the federal vehicle fleet and federal buildings.
  
  
• Creates a Civilian Climate Corps.
  
  
• Creates a Clean Energy Technology Accelerator.
  
  

Infrastructure and Jobs:

• Calls for building more affordable housing, investing in workforce development and manufacturing and rehabilitating VA hospitals.
  
  
• Scales up investments in our existing public housing stock and creates incentives that encourage the development of more affordable housing.
  
  
• Invests in workforce and job-training programs that place Americans in good-paying jobs as the economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 public health crisis.
  
  
• Strengthens our country’s manufacturing supply chains.
  
  
• Improves transit to support more sustainable housing.
  
  
• Provides aging VA buildings and hospitals with the resources necessary to improve the delivery of care to our veterans.
  
  

Health Care:

• Expands Medicare to include a new dental, vision and hearing benefit.
  
  
• Invests in home and community-based services to help seniors and individuals with disabilities stay in their homes.
  
  
• Expands insurance coverage for low-income adults who fall in the Medicaid coverage gap due to their income.
  
  
• Extends the expansion of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies to ensure health insurance is affordable for middle-class families.
  
  
• Reduces prescription drug prices by giving Medicare the authority to negotiate the best drug prices. The CBO estimates that allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices would save more than $450 billion over the next 10 years.
  
  

Immigration and Border Security:

• Provides for the legalization of qualified immigrants, such as DACA recipients and agricultural workers, while allocating funds for “smart” border security measures like electronic sensors at the border.
  Source: Senator Dianne Feinstein