During his career, Joe Biden has built a reputation as a moderate. However, in comparison to the leading Democratic primary candidates from 2016, the cost of Biden's 2020 spending platform puts him much closer to Senator Bernie Sanders than to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Biden's platform also includes 68 proposals whose cost estimates are currently indeterminate, meaning the final price tag of his plan could be even higher.
NTUF analyzed the proposals detailed in the 48 issue pages included in the Joe's Vision section of Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden’s campaign website for policy proposals that would lead to a net change in federal outlays. For proposals to expand an existing program, NTUF used a current policy baseline where possible, by comparing the net change in spending to existing funding levels (excluding emergency and supplemental appropriations enacted this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic) available in federal agency documents. Cost estimates for changes to refundable credits only include outlay estimates for the refundable portion, i.e., payments where the credits exceed tax liability.
The Biden campaign provided estimates for several proposals. Where an estimate was not provided, NTUF matched up the proposals with legislation in Congress (except where noted, the cited bills are from the current 116th Congress) and used data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the federal budget, and other independent, third party sources.
Biden's Vision also included five platforms with recommendations for immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic that were excluded from this analysis.
The totality of Joe Biden’s spending agenda would equal an increase of $1.3 trillion in new spending per year. If fully enacted, Biden's $1.3 trillion annual agenda would:
Cost $10,189 per household
Nearly double FY 2021's projected $1.8 trillion deficit
Consume 83 percent of projected individual income tax receipts for FY 2021 ($1.6 trillion)
Exceed the current projection of payroll taxes for FY 2021 ($1.2 trillion)
Add $13 trillion to the budget baseline over ten years, boosting CBO's projection of total spending ($54.2 trillion, excluding net interest payments) by 24 percent.
Categories of Spending
Economy, Labor, Transportation, and Infrastructure
Community Advantage (CA) Loan Program
“Biden will … [make] permanent the … Community Advantage loan program, originally created during the Obama-Biden Administration. The program, which provides capital for startups and growing small businesses located in particularly underserved communities through CDFIs and other mission-driven lenders, has been run as a pilot program since 2011.”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
“Improve and expand the Small Business Administration programs that most effectively support minority-owned businesses, especially the Community Advantage Program … .”
https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: A cost estimate is currently unavailable. The Small Business Administration (SBA) notes that the CA Pilot program is riskier than other loan programs in its portfolio. The Pilot “has had higher default rates than other 7(a) loan products. Based upon an evaluation of the CA Pilot Program, the SBA extended the pilot by 2 1/2 years, to September 30, 2022. The Agency made changes to the pilot program to provide a firmer foundation for further evaluation regarding the permanency of the program. The Agency also imposed a moratorium on new CA lenders joining the program. The Agency anticipates that Community Advantage loans will average below $150,000 per loan.”
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/FY%202021%20CJ-508_FINAL.pdf
Community Development Financial Institutions
“Biden will also double funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund … .”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
Annualized Cost: $262 million ($1.31 billion over five years)
Notes: The CDFI Fund, administered by the Department of the Treasury, provides funds and technical assistance to financial institutions in low-income areas. Congress appropriated $262 million to the Fund in FY 2020. NTUF assumes the funding would be doubled in the first year. Related legislation, S. 3712, would authorize additional funding of $1 billion to the Fund “to remain available until expended.”
https://cdfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/FY-21-Appropriations-Fact-Sheet-2.17.20.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3702/text
Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program
“The Obama-Biden Administration successfully used the USDA Community Facility Direct Loan & Grant Program to build rural hospitals and mental health clinics across rural America and equip them with the best technology. As president, Biden will expand this grant funding, with a focus on accelerating the deployment of telehealth for mental health and specialty care.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. The FY 2020 budget supported $3.3 billion in direct and guaranteed loans and provided $50 million in grant funding.
https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-fy2021-budget-summary.pdf
Critical Supply Chains Workforce Development Fund
“Biden will create a new Critical Supply Chains Workforce Development Fund that will invest in the workforce skills needed to help bring back manufacturing of key supply chain products and components. He will partner with state, local, and tribal governments to maintain adequate base production capacity in every region of the country and to put in place executive functions that have clear chains of command. This will ensure that that [stet] in future times of crisis the U.S. will be able to quickly ramp up production … .”
https://joebiden.com/supplychains/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: It is unclear whether this would be included under Biden’s proposed $50 billion worker training proposal, included below under Biden’s Postsecondary Education “Beyond High School” Platform, or if this would be funded separately.
Digital Equity Act
“As President, Biden will … increase funding for states to expand broadband by passing the Digital Equity Act to help communities tackle the digital divide.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Cost: $263 million ($1.315 billion over five years), partial estimate
Notes: The Digital Equity Act was introduced as S. 1167. The text authorizes $1.315 billion over five years for grant funding and auditing oversight, plus additional “such sums as may be necessary” for policy research and data analysis. Biden’s proposal indicates that this funding would be in addition to other broadband infrastructure he has proposed.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1167
Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Act
“... Biden will … [s]ign into law Senator Harris and Congresswoman Jayapal’s Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights … .”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Act was introduced as H.R. 3760 and S. 2112. The text of the bill authorizes “such sums as may be necessary.” A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3760
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2112
Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act
“Biden will ensure that informal or family caregivers receive the support they need to care for their family members by … [p]assing legislation that will provide 12 weeks of paid leave for all workers for their own or a family member’s serious health condition.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
“Biden will create a national paid family and medical leave program to give all workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave, based on the FAMILY Act.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Cost: $54.72 billion ($547.2 billion over ten years)
Notes: The FAMILY Act was introduced as H.R. 1185 and S. 463. CBO estimated that the proposal would increase outlays by $547.2 billion over the next ten years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1185
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/463/text
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/56129
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
“Quadruple the Manufacturing Extension Partnership … .”
https://joebiden.com/madeinamerica/
Annualized Cost: $146 million ($584 million over four years)
Notes: The Manufacturing Extension Partnership was funded at $146 million in FY 2020. NTUF assumes the budget will be quadrupled over four years.
https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/FY_2021_DOC_BiB-021020.pdf
Minority Business Development Agency
“Increase the funding and stature of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). … Biden will protect the agency and call on Congress to increase its funding dramatically. Biden will elevate the Director of the MBDA to the Assistant Secretary level and instruct the MBDA to coordinate all federal offices charged with reducing barriers to procurement for underrepresented groups. With additional resources and authority, MBDA will also be able to create new business development grants and other programs … . In addition, Biden will provide MBDA with $5 billion in annual lending and investment authority to ensure capital flows directly to minority-owned businesses and investments in critical infrastructure in Black, Latino, AAPI, and Native American communities.”
https://joebiden.com/racial-economic-equity/
Annualized Cost: $5 billion ($25 billion over five years)
Notes: The Agency was estimated to spend $43 million in FY 2020.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/appendix_fy21.pdf
Occupational Licensing
“As president, Biden will build on the Obama-Biden Administration’s efforts to incentivize states to reduce unnecessary licensing requirements and to ensure licenses are transferable from one state to the next.”
https://joebiden.com/empowerworkers/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. In 2016, the Obama Administration provided a $7.5 million Occupational Licensing Review and Portability Grant.
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=284696
Paratransit Services
“Improve paratransit Services. Biden will create a pilot program with transit agencies that will address transportation challenges in paratransit services as called for in the Disability Access to Transportation Act. Biden will also work to end long wait times in processing applicants for paratransit services and ensure that riders who receive paratransit services in one jurisdiction can be eligible for the services in another jurisdiction.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $199 million ($994 million over five years)
Notes: The Disability Access to Transportation Act was introduced as H.R. 6248. The text authorizes $375 million over five years for a new One-stop Paratransit Pilot Program and increases authorizations for the Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities program by a net of $619 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6248
Paycheck Fairness Act
“The Obama-Biden Administration protected more workers against retaliation for discussing wages and required employers to collect and report wage gaps to the federal government. As President, Biden will codify this into law, and he’ll make it easier for workers to join together in class action lawsuits, shift the burden to employers to prove pay gaps exist for job-related reasons, and increase penalties against companies that discriminate, as called for in the Paycheck Fairness Act.”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
Annualized Cost: $14 million ($68 million over five years)
Notes: The Paycheck Fairness Act was introduced as H.R. 7 in the 116th Congress. CBO estimated that it would increase outlays through the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by $68 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/55031
Protect Our Workers from Exploitation and Retaliation (POWER) Act
“As president, Biden will further extend ...protections to victims of any workplace violations of federal, state, or local labor law by securing passage of the POWER Act.”
https://joebiden.com/empowerworkers/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The POWER Act was introduced as H.R. 5225 and S. 2929 in the 116th Congress. The text of the bill authorizes appropriations of “such sums as may be necessary.” A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5225/
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2929
Protecting the Right to Organize Act
“Biden will include in the economic recovery legislation he sends to Congress a series of policies to build worker power to raise wages and secure stronger benefits. This legislation will … includ[e] the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act … and a broad definition of ‘employee’ and tough enforcement to end the misclassification of workers as independent contractors.”
https://joebiden.com/madeinamerica/
Annualized Cost: $1 million ($3 million over four years)
Notes: The PRO Act was introduced as H.R. 2474 in the 116th Congress.. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that it would increase outlays by $3 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2474
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-12/hr2474_0.pdf
Public Safety Employer Employee Cooperation Act
“Biden will establish a federal right to union organizing and collective bargaining for all public sector employees … by fighting for and signing into law the Public Safety Employer Employee Cooperation Act … .”
https://joebiden.com/empowerworkers/
Annualized Cost: $9 million ($44 million over five years)
Notes: The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act was introduced as H.R. 1154 in the 116th Congress. In 2003 and in 2007, CBO estimated that previous versions of the bill would increase outlays by $44 million over five years to establish federal standards regarding the collective bargaining and conflict resolution measures for public safety employees. A more recent cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1154/
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/108th-congress-2003-2004/costestimate/s60610.pdf
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/110th-congress-2007-2008/costestimate/hr9800.pdf
Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program
“The Biden Administration will dramatically expand funding for … the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program to help rural entrepreneurs.
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. The Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program was funded at $6 million in FY 2020.
https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-fy2021-budget-summary.pdf
Small Business Administration Program for Women-owned Businesses
“Recognizing that women, and particularly women of color, face disproportionate and systemic barriers to securing capital for their small businesses, the Obama-Biden Administration also redesigned SBA loan programs to better serve women business owners. Biden will build on this work and expand SBA programs that target women.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. The SBA administers programs focused on women-owned businesses that received funding in FY 2020, including at least $29.9 million for Women’s Business Ownership Entrepreneurship programs.
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/FY%202021%20CJ-508_FINAL.pdf
Small-Medium Manufacturers Credit Program
“Provide Capital for Small-Medium Manufacturers to Invest and Compete: Biden will establish a credit facility to supply capital, especially to smaller manufacturers, so that our aging factories can modernize, compete, and reduce carbon.”
https://joebiden.com/madeinamerica/
Annualized Cost: $315 million ($1.258 billion over four years)
Notes: Related legislation introduced as S. 3483 in the 116th Congress, the Scale-Up Manufacturing Investment Company Act of 2020. The bill establishes a scale-up manufacturing investment company program within the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide support for debt and equity investments in qualifying manufacturing projects of specified small and emerging manufacturers. The proposal was originally introduced in 2015 as S. 1934 and was also included in President Obama’s FY 2016 budget request at a cost of $1.258 billion over four years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3483
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1934
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2016-BUD/pdf/BUDGET-2016-BUD.pdf
State Small Business Credit Initiative
“Biden will … [d]ouble funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative. The Obama-Biden Administration created the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) to support small businesses … . Biden will extend the program through 2025 and double its federal funding to $3 billion … .”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
Annualized Cost: $375 million ($1.5 billion over four years).
StrikeForce
“The Biden Administration will create a White House StrikeForce consisting of agency leaders who will partner with community-building organizations in persistent poverty rural communities and help them unlock federal resources.”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Transformation to Competitive Employment Act
“Biden will work to pass the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act … .”
Annualized Cost: $50 million ($300 million over six years)
Notes: The Transformation to Competitive Employment Act was introduced as S. 260 in the 116th Congress. The text of the bill authorizes $300 million over six years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/260/
Union and Bargaining Rights for Public Service Workers
“Biden will include in the economic recovery legislation he sends to Congress a series of policies to build worker power to raise wages and secure stronger benefits. This legislation will … includ[e] … union and bargaining rights for public service workers … .”
https://joebiden.com/madeinamerica/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced as companion bills, H.R. 3463 and S. 1970, the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act. The text authorizes “such sums as may be necessary.” A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3463
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1970
Workforce Diversity Data Reporting and Grants
“Biden will require companies to make public their overall workforce diversity and senior-level diversity. He will support employers in increasing diverse hiring and promotion by providing federal grants to states, cities, and organizations to develop and implement evidence-based practices and innovative solutions, such as ban the box legislation, to push employers to hire and retain diverse employees and end discriminatory hiring policies.”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Workplace Harassment and Discrimination
“As President, Biden will make systemic changes to address sexual harassment and other discrimination so workplaces are safe and fair for all. He will advocate for and sign into law the Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination in the Workplace (BE HEARD) Act.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Cost: $1 million (first-year) partial estimate
Notes: The BE HEARD in the Workplace Act was introduced as H.R. 2148 in the 116th Congress. The text authorizes appropriations of $1 million for a national survey on the prevalence of harassment in employment. In addition, it authorizes “such sums as may be necessary” for establishing an Office of Education and Outreach within the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a report on harassment in the federal government, and additional reports and research. A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2148/text
Education, Science, and Research
Educator Training on Needs of Military-connected Youth
“As president, Biden will … [p]rovide financial incentives for school districts to train educators on the unique needs and barriers faced by military-connected youth so that they are able to help military children thrive, no matter where they receive their education.”
https://joebiden.com/militaryfamilies/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
English Language Learning Support
“ .... [A] Biden Administration will improve access to federal agencies and better support local initiatives, such as … [e]nsuring that all public schools have sufficient English-language learning support to help all children … .”
https://joebiden.com/immigration
Annualized Cost: $423 million ($2.115 billion over five years)
Notes: In FY 2020, the federal government provided $787 million for English Language Acquisition programs. According to The Century Foundation (TCF) think tank, federal funding for ELA programs has not kept pace with the increase in English language students. TCF argues that funding ought to be at least $1.21 billion, and suggest that “policymakers could reasonably consider doubling, or even tripling Title III funding.” NTUF assumes Biden would, at a minimum, support an increase to $1.21 billion per year.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget21/justifications/h-ela.pdf
https://tcf.org/content/commentary/case-expanding-federal-funding-english-learners
High School Competitive Program Challenge
“Biden will create a new competitive program challenging local communities to reinvent high school to meet these changing demands of work. This funding will be targeted first toward building the best schools in the country in low-income communities and communities of color.
Annualized Cost: $25 million ($125 million over five years)
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. The Obama administration had proposed a related Next Generation High Schools” program. The FY 2016 budget request included a $125 million competitive grant program to “promote the whole school transformation of the high school experience order to provide students with challenging and relevant academic and career-related learning experiences that prepare them to transition to postsecondary education and careers.” NTUF assumes the Biden administration would model this previous proposal, and that the funding would be spread over five years.
https://ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget16/summary/16summary.pdf (cache link)
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
“Biden will fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including Part C, which provides resources and support for infants and toddlers with disabilities, and Section 619, which provides resources for preschool children with disabilities.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $12.721 billion ($63.603 billion over five years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced as companion bills in the 116th Congress, H.R. 1878 and S. 866, known as the IDEA Full Funding Act. The text of the bill specifies authorizations of appropriations for the next several years. Relative to FY 2020 appropriations, the IDEA Full Funding Act would increase outlays by $57.397 billion over the next five years. This excludes Part C and Section 619. Related legislation introduced as H.R. 4107, the Funding Early Childhood is the Right IDEA Act, increases authorizations for Part C and Section 619 funding. Relative to FY 2020 appropriations, the bill would increase outlays by $6.206 billion over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1878/text
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/866/
https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget21/summary/21summary.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4107/
Keeping All Students Safe Act
“Biden will ... support the passage of the Keeping All Students Safe Act, which will end the use of seclusion and prevent and decrease the use of physical restraints in schools.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $51 million ($254 million over five years)
Notes: The Keeping All Students Safe Act was introduced in the 115th Congress as H.R. 7124. The text authorizes “such sums as may be necessary.” In 2010, a similar version of the bill was passed by the House of Representatives. CBO estimated that it would increase outlays by $254 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/7124
https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/4247/
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/111th-congress/house-report/417/1
Postsecondary Education “Beyond High School” Platform
Biden’s plan for Education Beyond High School includes the following elements:
Tuition-free Colleges and Universities
“Make public colleges and universities tuition-free for all families with incomes below $125,000. … Biden has added to his education beyond high school agenda by adopting Senator Sanders’ proposal to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for all students whose family incomes are below $125,000. This proposal, part of Senator Sanders and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s College for All Act of 2017 … .”Community Colleges Student Success Grant Program
“Creating a new grant program to assist community colleges in improving their students’ success. The Biden Administration will support community colleges implementing evidence-based practices and innovative solutions to increase their students’ retention and completion of credentials. Reforms could include academic and career advising services; dual enrollment; credit articulation agreements; investing in wages, benefits, and professional development to recruit and retain faculty, including teacher residencies; and improvements to remediation programs. The Biden plan will also help community colleges around the country scale successful programs to help a larger number of students.”State Incentives for Community Colleges Wraparound Support Services
“In addition, the Biden plan will give states financial incentives to foster collaboration between community colleges and community-based organizations to provide wraparound support services for students, especially veterans, single parents, low-income students, students of color, and students with disabilities … .”Community Colleges Student Emergency Grant Program
“And, Biden will establish a federal grant program to help community colleges create emergency grant programs for students who experience an unexpected financial challenge that threatens their ability to stay enrolled.”Workforce Training and Community College Partnerships
“Make a $50 billion investment in workforce training, including community-college business partnerships and apprenticeships.”Community College Facilities and Technology
“Biden will invest $8 billion to help community colleges improve the health and safety of their facilities, and equip their schools with new technology that will empower their students to succeed in the 21st century.”Pell Grants
“Biden will double the maximum value of the Pell grant … and will automatically increase the value based on inflation.”Student Loans: Income-based Repayment Program Simplification and Expansion
“ … President Biden will … [m]ore than halve payments on undergraduate federal student loans by simplifying and increasing the generosity of today’s income-based repayment program. Under the Biden plan, individuals making $25,000 or less per year will not owe any payments on their undergraduate federal student loans and also won’t accrue any interest on those loans. Everyone else will pay 5% of their discretionary income (income minus taxes and essential spending like housing and food) over $25,000 toward their loans. … After 20 years, the remainder of the loans for people who have responsibly made payments through the program will be 100% forgiven. Individuals with new and existing loans will all be automatically enrolled in the income-based repayment program, with the opportunity to opt out if they wish. … The Biden Administration will also return to the Obama-Biden Borrower’s Defense Rule, forgiving the debt held by individuals who were deceived by the worst for-profit college or career profiteers.”Student Loans - Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program
“Biden will create a new, simple [PSLF] program which offers $10,000 of undergraduate or graduate student debt relief for every year of national or community service, up to five years. Individuals working in schools, government, and other non-profit settings will be automatically enrolled in this forgiveness program; up to five years of prior national or community service will also qualify. Additionally, Biden will fix the existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness program by securing passage of the What You Can Do For Your Country Act of 2019. Biden will ensure adjunct professors are eligible for this loan forgiveness, depending on the amount of time devoted to teaching.”Grant Program for Under-Resourced Schools
“ … President Biden will … Create a “Title I for postsecondary education” to help students at under-resourced four-year schools complete their degrees. The Biden Administration will establish a new grant program to support under-resourced four-year schools that serve large numbers of Pell-eligible students. … And, Biden will ensure that these funds can be used to help colleges create emergency grant programs for students who experience an unexpected financial challenge that threatens their ability to stay enrolled.”Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions
“In addition, Biden will invest over $70 billion in [Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs)] colleges and universities to:Make HBCUs, TCUs, and under-resourced MSIs more affordable for their students. The Biden plan will invest $18 billion in grants to these four-year schools, equivalent to up to two years of tuition per low-income and middle class student … .
The Biden Administration will invest $10 billion to create at least 200 new centers of excellence … .
Biden will invest $20 billion in infrastructure for HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs to build the physical research facilities and labs … . …
Biden will invest $5 billion in graduate programs in teaching, health care, and STEM and will develop robust internship and career pipelines at major research agencies … . …
Triple and make permanent the capacity-building and student support for HBCUs … and MSIs. … The Biden Administration will make permanent $750 million per year in Title III and Title V funding, which will provide a dedicated revenue stream of $7.5 billion over the first ten years.”
Low-Endowment Private Colleges and Universities Innovation Competitive Grant
“Additionally, Biden recognizes the critical role low-endowment private colleges and universities play in providing educational opportunities and jobs in many rural communities. As president, he will establish an innovation competitive grant fund for these institutions, giving them additional funds to invest in increasing graduation rates; closing ethnic, racial, and income disparities; and increasing career outcomes for low-income students, students of color, first-generation students, and students with disabilities.”
Annualized Cost: $302.7 billion ($3.027 trillion over ten years)
Notes: When the plan was first published online in October, 2019, it included language that it would cost $750 billion over ten years. Originally, the plan included a proposal to provide for “two years of community college without debt.” In March, 2020, the information about the campaign’s estimated cost of the program was removed and the tuition plan was expanded to, as noted above, make “public colleges and universities tuition-free for all families with incomes below $125,000.”
Student Loan Planner, a private company that assists clients with student loan programs and financing, estimated that the price tag of Biden’s student loan forgiveness and free tuition plans could reach $2.926 trillion over ten years:
Eliminate tuition at 2 and 4-year public colleges for borrowers making less than $125,000 ($1.19 trillion)
Reduce income-driven payments and eliminate taxes on student loan forgiveness (for old and new loans, $828 billion)
Expand Pell grants ($598 billion)
Create a yearly loan forgiveness benefit over five years for public sector workers ($178 billion)
Cancel $10,000 of student loan debt for lower-income borrowers ($68 billion)
Allow Public Service Loan Forgiveness for federal loans that do not normally qualify ($64 billion)
Student Loan Planner’s cost estimate does not include the cost of the specified grant funding totaling $100.5 billion over ten years included above in Biden’s “Beyond High School” plan: $50 billion for workforce training, $8 billion for community college facilities, $10 billion for HBCU and MSI centers of excellence, $20 billion for HBCU and MSI facilities, $5 billion for specified graduate programs, and $7.5 billion for capacity building at HCBUs and MSIs.
An archive of Biden’s original “Beyond High School” plan can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20191009212438/https://joebiden.com/beyondhs/
More sources:
https://joebiden.com/beyondhs/
https://www.studentloanplanner.com/biden-student-loan-plan-cost/
Postsecondary Program for Students with Disabilities
“As President, Biden will increase funding for programs such as the Model Comprehensive Transition and Postsecondary Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities Coordinating Center and the Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities provide funding to community colleges and 4-year colleges and universities to create inclusive postsecondary programs for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. The Model Transition Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities into Higher Education (TPSID) was appropriated $11.8 million for FY 2020.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget21/summary/21summary.pdf
Research and Development
“Make a New $300 Billion Investment in Research and Development (R&D) and Breakthrough Technologies — from electric vehicle technology to lightweight materials to 5G and artificial intelligence … Joe Biden is proposing a dramatic, accelerated Research & Development investment of $300 billion over 4 years … . Specifically, Biden will allocate funding to [m]ajor increases in direct federal R&D spending, including new National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Biden’s new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and other peer-reviewed science research grants to colleges and universities.”
https://joebiden.com/madeinamerica/
Annualized Cost: $75 billion ($300 billion over four years)
School Mental Health Professions
“President Biden will make an unprecedented investment in school mental health professionals in order to double the number of psychologists, guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, and other health professionals employed in our schools, and partner with colleges to expand the pipeline of these professionals.”
https://joebiden.com/education/
Annualized Cost: $4.9 billion ($24.5 billion over five years)
Notes: Biden added that the “current school psychologist to student ratio in this country is roughly 1,400 to 1, while experts say it should be at most 700 to 1. That’s a gap of about 35,000 to 60,000 school psychologists.” The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP0 estimates that “if we are short by between 35,163 and 63,135 school psychologists then it would cost our public education system between $2.7 and $4.9 billion annually to meet NASP’s recommended ratios.” This estimate assumes that the federal government would assume the full cost of the expansion.
Title I Funding
“Biden will work to ... nearly tripling Title I funding, which goes to schools serving a high number of children from low-income families. This new funding will first be used to ensure teachers at Title I schools are paid competitively, three- and four-year olds have access to pre-school, and districts provide access to rigorous coursework across all their schools ... .”
https://joebiden.com/education/
Annualized Cost: $12.233 billion ($48.93 billion over four years)
Notes: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies received appropriations of $16.31 billion for FY 2020. NTUF assumes the funding would be tripled over four years.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget21/summary/21summary.pdf
Title IX Training
“Expand prevention and services to public K-12 schools. Sexual assault, harassment, and dating violence don’t only affect college students. … Biden will also work to create new funding for public K-12 schools to implement Title IX trainings for administrators and staff.”
Annualized Cost: $80 million ($400 million over five years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced as H.R. 3513 and S. 1964, the Patsy T. Mink and Louise M. Slaughter Gender Equity in Education Act of 2019, to support educational entities in fully implementing title IX and reducing and preventing sex discrimination in all areas of education, and for other purposes. The bill would establish an Office for Gender Equity in the Department of Education to provide for support and training related to enforcement of Title IX. The bill would authorize $80 million per year over five years for grants and administration.
Energy, the Environment, and Agriculture
Conservation Stewardship Program
“ … [T]he Biden Administration will dramatically expand and fortify the pioneering Conservation Stewardship Program ... to support farm income through payments based on farmers’ practices to protect the environment, including carbon sequestration. In addition to seeking full federal funding for the program, the Biden Administration will ensure the program can participate in carbon markets.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Conservation Stewardship Program was funded at $2.56 billion for FY 2020. It is unclear how Biden would expand this program. The Congressional Research Service notes that total mandatory budget authority for conservation programs in FY 2020 amounted to $6.7 billion.
https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-fy2021-budget-summary.pdf
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40763.pdf
Microloan Program for New and Beginning Farmers
“The Biden Administration will expand the Obama-Biden Administration’s microloan program for new and beginning farmers, doubling the maximum loan amount to $100,000.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Department of Agriculture’s FY 2021 budget justification includes information from FY 2019 on the farm ownership microloan program noting that it provided 167 loans totaling $6.3 million. Increasing the maximum loan amount could increase the subsidy cost for defaults and delinquencies. The Office of Management and Budget notes that “demand for the micro-loan program continues to grow while delinquencies and defaults remain at or below those of the regular [Farm Service Agency] operating loan program,” which was 3.9 percent in FY 2019. A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fpac-fsa-fy2021-congressional-justifications.pdf
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ap_18_credit_fy21.pdf
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/agr_fy21.pdf
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
“The Biden Administration will reinvest in agricultural research by bolstering funding for ... the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
FY 2020. In total, NIFA received $1.7 billion. It is unclear how Biden would “bolster” this funding.
https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-fy2021-budget-summary.pdf
Puerto Rico Energy Infrastructure
“A Biden-Harris Administration will … [s]trengthen and improve Puerto Rico’s power system.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional information about this proposal. In 2019, Puerto Rico released a $20 billion plan to modernize its grid. In September, 2020, the Trump administration said that $9.6 billion in federal funding would be provided to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to repair and improve the grid. It is unclear whether Biden would provide additional assistance. Puerto Rico was not mentioned in Biden’s $2 trillion clean energy and infrastructure plan listed below.
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program
“The Biden Administration will reinvest in agricultural research by bolstering funding for the Sustainable Agriculture Research … .”
Annualized Cost: $8 million ($40 million over five years)
Notes: The SARE program, administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture , was funded at $37 million in FY 2020. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has urged lawmakers to increase SARE grant funding to $45 million. NTUF assumes that Biden would, at a minimum, support this level of increase.
https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-fy2021-budget-summary.pdf
Government Reform
Accessible Voting Act
“Biden will ... work to pass the Accessible Voting Act, which will require states and localities to provide accessible voting information, training for poll workers, and accommodations for older adults and voters with disabilities.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $55 million ($276 million over five years)
Notes: The Accessible Voting Act was introduced as S. 3206 in the 116th Congress. The text authorizes $276 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3206
Federal Elections ‒ Public Match for Small Dollar Donations
“ Biden will … [e]nact legislation to provide voluntary matching public funds for federal candidates receiving small dollar donations. While we work toward a constitutional amendment [to entirely eliminate private dollars from our federal elections], meaningful change can be made by legislation. Biden will propose legislation to provide public matching funds for small dollar donations to all federal candidates.”
https://joebiden.com/governmentreform/
Annualized Cost: $107 million ($1.07 billion over ten years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced as H.R. 1, the For the People Act, in the 116th Congress. The bill includes a proposal to provide for matching federal funds for qualified donations to candidates for the Presidency and the House of Representatives. CBO did provide a formal cost estimate but indicated that this proposal, along with a temporary My Voice Voucher Pilot Program to provide vouchers to voters to be used for campaign contributions, would exceed $1 billion over a decade. NTUF estimates that including a federal match for Senate candidates would increase the cost by roughly 7 percent. Biden also supports an amendment to the constitution to eliminate all private financing of elections. A 2011 Congressional Research Service report noted that a proposal to provide for public funding of primary and general congressional elections would cost “somewhat less than $2 billion” ($2.35 billion in current dollars) each election cycle.
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-03/hr1.pdf
https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33814.html
Party Conventions - Public-funding
“Biden will propose legislation establishing that any political party that receives more than 5% of the national vote should have its national convention publicly financed.”
https://joebiden.com/governmentreform/
Annualized Cost: $11 million ($105 million over ten years)
Notes: Legislation enacted in 2014 cut off federal funding for political party conventions. In 2012, the major parties received a total $36 million. From 2000 through 2012, the federal contribution to party conventions increased by an average of 11 percent each cycle. Extrapolating this rate of increase would see total outlays of $105 million for the 2024 and 2028 elections.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-113publ94/pdf/PLAW-113publ94.pdf
https://www.thoughtco.com/who-pays-for-the-political-conventions-3367642
Same-day Voter Registration
“ … [H]e will make sure every vote counts by ... promoting automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration [and] … e-mail registration … .”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $125 million ($750 million over six years)
Notes: H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019, includes Election Assistance Grants to the states to implement online and automatic voter registration. CBO estimated this would increase outlays by $750 million over six years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/55003
Health Care
Early Childhood Development Expert Grants
“President Biden will invest in our children at birth. Biden will provide funds to ensure that there is an early childhood development expert in every community health center. He will also provide grants to help cities place early childhood development experts in pediatrician offices with a high percentage of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program patients.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Early Childhood Development Home Visiting Programs
“ … Biden will double funding for home visiting.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $400 million ($2 billion over five years)
Notes: The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program was authorized to spend $400 million per year.
https://www.ffyf.org/issues/miechv/
Health Care Reform
Biden’s plan for health care includes the following elements:
Medicare - Public Option
“ … [T]he Biden Plan will give you the choice to purchase a public health insurance option like Medicare.”Health Insurance Premium Tax Credits
“The Biden Plan will help middle class families by eliminating the 400% income cap on tax credit eligibility and lowering the limit on the cost of coverage from 9.86% of income to 8.5%. This means that no family buying insurance on the individual marketplace, regardless of income, will have to spend more than 8.5% of their income on health insurance. Additionally, the Biden Plan will increase the size of tax credits by calculating them based on the cost of a more generous gold plan, rather than a silver plan.”Medicaid Expansion, Public Option, and Automatic Enrollment
“Governors and state legislatures in 14 states have refused to take up the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility, denying access to Medicaid for an estimated 4.9 million adults.Biden’s plan will ensure these individuals get covered by offering premium-free access to the public option for those 4.9 million individuals who would be eligible for Medicaid but for their state’s inaction, and making sure their public option covers the full scope of Medicaid benefits. States that have already expanded Medicaid will have the choice of moving the expansion population to the premium-free public option as long as the states continue to pay their current share of the cost of covering those individuals. Additionally, Biden will ensure people making below 138% of the federal poverty level get covered. He’ll do this by automatically enrolling these individuals when they interact with certain institutions (such as public schools) or other programs for low-income populations (such as SNAP).”Medical Surprise Billing
“Stop ‘surprise billing.’ … The Biden Plan will bar health care providers from charging patients out-of-network rates when the patient doesn’t have control over which provider the patient sees (for example, during a hospitalization).”Medicare Prescription Drug Negotiation
“The Biden Plan will repeal the existing law explicitly barring Medicare from negotiating lower prices with drug corporations.”Prescription Drugs - Price Review Board
“For … cases where new specialty drugs without competition are being launched, under the Biden Plan the Secretary of Health and Human Services will establish an independent review board to assess their value. The board will recommend a reasonable price, based on the average price in other countries (a process called external reference pricing) or, if the drug is entering the U.S. market first, based on an evaluation by the independent board members. This reasonable price will be the rate Medicare and the public option will pay. In addition, the Biden Plan will allow private plans participating in the individual marketplace to access a similar rate.”Prescription Drugs - Importation
“ ... [T]he Biden Plan will allow consumers to import prescription drugs from other countries, as long as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has certified that those drugs are safe.”Prescription Drugs - Generics
“The Biden Plan supports numerous proposals to accelerate the development of safe generics, such as Senator Patrick Leahy’s proposal to make sure generic manufacturers have access to a sample.”Community Health Centers
“As president, Biden will be a champion for improving access to health care and the health of all by … [d]oubling America’s investment in community health centers.”
https://joebiden.com/healthcare/
Annualized Cost: $75 billion ($750 billion over ten years)
Notes: In July 2019 the Biden campaign published its health care plan to its website. According to press accounts at the time, Biden campaign officials said the plan would cost $750 billion over ten years.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-new-plan-for-health-care-is-a-nod-to-the-past-11563184800
The information below provides additional details regarding the proposals included in Biden’s health care plan. Cost estimates and data are included to provide budgetary context.
Medicare - Public Option
Notes: The Kaiser Family Foundation notes that the cost of a public option would depend on several factors including “benefits, subsidies, the number of people who enroll, and the extent to which costs shift from individuals and other payers to the public option. Federal spending could also rise due to induced demand resulting from more people with coverage, and lower cost-related barriers to care. New federal costs could be offset somewhat to the extent the public option uses lower provider payment rates.” For comparison, in 2019 Medicare covered over 61 million people with outlays of $775 billion.
https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/10-key-questions-on-public-option-proposals/
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/56020
Health Insurance Premium Tax Credits
Notes: A related proposal was included in section 101 of H.R. 1425, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, in the 116th Congress. CBO estimated that the expansion of the premium tax credits, which are refundable, would increase direct spending by $137.337 billion over ten years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1425
Medicaid Expansion, Public Option, and Automatic Enrollment
Biden is proposing to expand Medicaid to non-expansion states through the public option he has proposed. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Medicaid buy-in program “for working people with disabilities is an option authorized under the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act that allows working individuals with disabilities whose income and/or assets exceed the limits for other eligibility pathways to ‘buy-in’ to Medicaid coverage.”
A cost estimate is currently unavailable but a related proposal to incentive Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act was included in section 201 of H.R. 1425, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act. CBO estimated that incentivizing Medicaid expansion would increase outlays by $17373 billion over ten years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1425
Medical Surprise Billing
Notes: The Biden campaign has supported banning balance billing but has not specified a dispute resolution process. A related proposal was included in Title I of S. 1895, the Lower Health Care Costs Act. According to CBO, it would “require insurers to reimburse out-of-network
providers on the basis of their own median rates for in-network providers.” CBO estimated that it would lead to lower premiums in certain areas, thereby lowering subsidy costs on health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, somewhat offset by increased costs for insurers to cover out-of-network care. NTU Policy and Government Affairs Manager Andrew Lautz points out:
“CBO estimates that ‘more than 80 percent of the estimated budgetary effects of title I would arise from changes to in-network payment rates.” In essence, the benchmark takes money from doctors (both in-network and out-of-network) and directs it to insurers, who can then decrease premiums, which then decreases federal subsidies for insurance and increases federal revenues from wage income.
Doctor groups have warned that a benchmark will give insurers significant leverage over them in contract negotiations, and that the resulting decline in both in-network and out-of-network rates would lead some providers to exit the market. This could lead to shortages, particularly in rural and/or poor areas that already struggle to attract and retain doctors.’
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1895/
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-07/s1895_0.pdf
https://www.ntu.org/publications/detail/why-a-contract-based-solution-to-surprise-billing-is-best-
Medicare Prescription Drug Negotiation
The Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations document clarifies that the proposal would set negotiated prices that are capped to a level associated with average OECD median prices. The limits would be enforceable by tax penalties. A related proposal was included in Title III of the Rules Committee Print 116-56, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act. CBO estimated that the Title would reduce outlays by $37.18 billion over five years and by $528.55 billion over ten years. However, this proposal is more akin to price-setting than an actual negotiation. In a more detailed cost analysis of a similar “negotiation” plan tied to average international prices, CBO noted that there would be “several points of uncertainty regarding the savings estimate, including the possibility that pharmaceutical manufacturers “might respond to the negotiation process in ways that CBO has not considered.” CBO also noted that there would be an impact on innovation with fewer drugs coming to market. Any drugs newly launched on the market would likely have significantly higher prices as well.
https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1895
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2020-06/Combined%20Tables.pdf
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-10/hr3ltr.pdf
Prescription Drugs - Price Review Board
Notes: A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
Prescription Drugs - Importation
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 447 and S. 97, the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act. CBO scored a version of the bill introduced in 2017 and estimated that it would reduce direct spending by $5.119 billion over ten years. A more recent cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/447
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/97
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/costestimate/s469preliminary.pdf
Prescription Drugs - Generics
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 965 and S. 340, the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act of 2019. CBO estimated that generic drugs would enter the market earlier, reducing federal direct spending by $3.284 billion over ten years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/965
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/340
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-05/hr965_Judiciary.pdf
Community Health Centers
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as S. 962, the Community Health Center and Primary Care Workforce Expansion Act of 2019. Community Health Centers were authorized to spend $4 billion in FY 2020. S. 962 would increase community health center funding, doubling the authorization over four years. Relative to FY 2020 levels, authorizations of appropriations would increase by $12.724 billion over four years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/962/text
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:42%20section:254b-2%20edition:prelim)
Medicaid - Disaster Relief Medicaid Act
“As President, Biden will secure passage of the … Disaster Relief Medicaid (DRM) Act, which will make it possible for people who depend on Medicaid and must move out of state because of a disaster to continue to receive Medicaid.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The DRM Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as S. 1754. The proposal would provide “a limited time one hundred percent federal match for displaced individuals, technical assistance and support to develop innovative state strategies to respond to an influx of out-of-state individuals. The bill creates a grant to help states develop an emergency response corps to provide home and community-based services. The legislation also guarantees that a 100 percent federal matching payment for medical assistance is provided to states in disaster areas.” A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1754
https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/DRMA%20One%20Pager%20and%20Section-by-Section.pdf
Medicaid - Money Follows the Person (MFP)
“Biden will secure reauthorization of the MFP program and increase funding for it.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $112 million ($448 million over four years)
Notes: The MFP demonstration program “provides states with enhanced federal matching funds for services and supports to help seniors and people with disabilities move from institutions to the community.” It was originally established in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and has been temporarily extended several times since then. The program was funded at $338 million for FY 2020. Related legislation introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 1342 and S. 548, the EMPOWER Act, would reauthorize the program at $450 million for four years.
https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/long-term-services-supports/money-follows-person/index.html
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:42%20section:1396a%20edition:prelim)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1342
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/548
Medicaid - Puerto Rico
“The federal government caps annual Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico and contributes at a far lower rate than if federal matching funds for Puerto Rico were determined the same way as for states. Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program, Vital, caps eligibility at one-third of the eligible income level in the states, provides only 10 of 17 essential services, pays providers less, and spends less per enrollee. Congress passed a short-term fix, but Puerto Rico will be in the same situation again after September 2021. As President, Biden will work to ensure that Puerto Rico is able to participate in the Medicaid program on par with other U.S. jurisdictions.”
https://joebiden.com/the-biden-harris-plan-for-recovery-renewal-and-respect-for-puerto-rico/
Annualized Cost: $3.019 billion ($15.095 billion over five years) partial estimate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 3371, the Puerto Rico Health Care Fairness, Accountability, and Beneficiary Access Act of 2019. According to a press release from the bill’s sponsor, the Act would provide Puerto Rico “$15.1 billion in federal funding at an 83% FMAP for the Medicaid program for a five-year period … . Starting in [the fifth year after passage], the bill begins a 10-year transition period, after which Puerto Rico would receive the same financial treatment and FMAP as state Medicaid programs. During that period, it requires Puerto Rico to incrementally cover mandatory benefits under Medicaid that currently are not covered by the territory.” A cost estimate is unavailable for the transition period.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3371
Medicare - 24-Month Waiting Period for Recipients of Social Security Disability Benefits
“Biden will … [e]liminate the two-year waiting period for Medicare. Biden will work to pass legislation to ensure working people who develop a condition or disability are able to get their Social Security support as well as their Medicare benefits as soon as they qualify.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $9.685 billion ($96.85 billion over ten years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 4386 and S. 2496, the Stop the Wait Act. Section 3 of the bill would phase-out the waiting period for Medicare disability benefits over ten years. In 2010, CBO estimated that reducing the waiting period to 12 months would increase outlays by $64.8 billion over ten years. A cost estimate of the Stop the Wait Act is currently unavailable. Also in 2010, the Medicare Rights Center estimated that a proposal at the time to initially reduce the waiting time to 18 months and then reduce it by 2 months per year would increase Medicare costs by “$113 billion over ten years, while decreasing federal Medicaid spending by about $32 billion over the same period” for a net cost of $81 billion ($96.85 billion in current dollars).
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4386
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2496
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/110th-congress-2007-2008/reports/12-18-healthoptions.pdf
https://www.medicarerights.org/pdf/two_year_waiting_period_fact_sheet.pdf
National Health Service Corps (NHSC)
“Biden will increase funding for the National Health Service Corps … .”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $728 million ($3.639 billion over five years)
Notes: This proposal to increase funding for the NHSC is also included in the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations. The funding level for the increase is not specified, but Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has introduced related legislation in the 116th Congress, S. 962, the Community Health Center and Primary Care Workforce Expansion Act of 2019. The text increases authorizations for the NHSC by $3.639 billion relative to FY 2020 appropriation levels.
https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/962
Opioid and Substance Use Disorder
“To deal with the immense scope of the opioid and substance use disorder crisis, Biden will dramatically scale up the resources available, with an unprecedented investment of $125 billion over ten years. Funds will be used to ...
invest $75 billion in flexible grants to states and localities for prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts. ...
provid[e] $20 billion for grants to dramatically expand capacity to administer [Make Medication Assisted Treatment] across the country …
invest $10 billion to provide local communities with the tools needed to prevent overdoses and respond to emergencies emanating from this crisis. …
[i]nvest [$10 billion] in research by doubling funding for the NIH HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-Term) Initiative.
invest $10 billion in efforts specifically designed to support populations with unique situations or needs.
Annualized Cost: $12.5 billion ($125 billion over ten years)
Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and Research
“Biden will fully fund the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which provides services to individuals with HIV/AIDS, and will increase federal funding for HIV/AIDS research and support increased funding for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program.”
https://joebiden.com/lgbtq-policy/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Ryan White HIV/AIDS program was funded at $2.39 billion in FY 2020. The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/hhs_fy21.pdf
Trauma Care Centers Network
“Create a network of trauma care centers. Biden will bring together offices within the federal government to establish specialized trauma care centers for survivors of violence, with a special focus on survivors of domestic and sexual violence.”
https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Homeland Security and Law Enforcement
Crack and Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
“End, once and for all, the federal crack and powder cocaine disparity. … The Biden Administration will eliminate this disparity completely, as then-Senator Biden proposed in 2007. And, Biden will ensure that this change is applied retroactively.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: A cost estimate is currently unavailable, but related enacted laws reduced outlays. The Fair Sentencing Act, enacted in 2010, reduced the sentencing disparity and was estimated by CBO to reduce Bureau of Prison (BOP) outlays by $42 million over five years. The FIRST STEP Act, enacted in 2018, included a provision to implement the sentencing reform retroactively. CBO estimated this would reduce BOP outlays by $212 million over ten years.
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/111th-congress-2009-2010/costestimate/s17892.pdf
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2018-08/s1917.pdf
Crime Prevention Evidence-based Interventions
“Biden will create a $900 million, eight-year initiative to fund evidence-based interventions in 40 cities across the country – the 20 cities with the highest number of homicides, and 20 cities with the highest number of homicides per capita.”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
Annualized Cost: $113 million ($900 million over eight years)
Crime Prevention Grants
“Create a new $20 billion competitive grant program to spur states to shift from incarceration to prevention. To accelerate criminal justice reform at the state and local levels, Biden will create a new grant program inspired by a proposal by the Brennan Center. States, counties, and cities will receive funding to invest in efforts proven to reduce crime and incarceration, including efforts to address some of the factors like illiteracy and child abuse that are correlated with incarceration. In order to receive this funding, states will have to eliminate mandatory minimums for non-violent crimes, institute earned credit programs, and take other steps to reduce incarceration rates without impacting public safety.”
Annualized Cost: $2 billion ($20 billion over ten years)
Notes: The Brennan Center proposal to reduce incarceration calls for $20 billion in new grant funding over 10 years.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/reverse-mass-incarceration-act
Decriminalize Use of Cannabis
“Decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis use convictions.”
Annualized Cost: -$3.96 billion (-$19.8 billion over five years)
Notes: In 2018, Jeff Miron of the Cato Institute estimated that federal expenditures related to the prohibition of marijuana totaled $3.96 billion.
https://www.cato.org/publications/tax-budget-bulletin/budgetary-effects-ending-drug-prohibition
Domestic and Sexual Violence Friends and Family Public Awareness Campaign
“Launch a new friends and family public awareness campaign: ... Biden will launch a new public awareness campaign focusing on what to say and do when someone discloses abuse and how to get that person help.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Drug Courts
“End all incarceration for drug use alone and instead divert individuals to drug courts and treatment. ... Biden will require federal courts to divert these individuals to drug courts so they receive treatment to address their substance use disorder. He’ll incentivize states to put the same requirements in place. And, he’ll expand funding for federal, state, and local drug courts.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Department of Justice’s Drug Court Program was expected to spend $74 million in FY 2020. The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/jus_fy21.pdf
Elder Justice AmeriCorps
“Biden will … expand the Elder Justice AmeriCorps program to include a dedicated focus on legal advocacy for domestic violence and sexual assault victims, including the sexual abuse of older adults in nursing homes, and increase funding for communities to build multidisciplinary teams to prevent and address violence against older women, with a focus on investing in rural communities with aging populations.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Elder Justice AmeriCorps was a two-year program established in 2016 that received $2 million in funding from the Justice Department “to provide legal assistance and support services to victims of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.” The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-observes-world-elder-abuse-awareness-day
End Racial and Religious Profiling Act
“[Biden] will work with Congress to pass ... the End Racial and Religious Profiling Act.”
https://joebiden.com/lgbtq-policy/
Annualized Cost: $3 million ($6 million over two years)
Notes: End Racial and Religious Profiling Act was introduced as S. 2355 in the 116th Congress. The text authorizes appropriations of $5.5 million over two years for a data collection demonstration project and “such sums as may be necessary” for new best practices development grants.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2355
Equality Act
“Biden … [will work] to enact stronger protections through new legislation including the Equality Act … ..”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $10 million ($52 million over five years)
Notes: The Equality Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 5. The bill would amend federal antidiscrimination laws to add protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. CBO estimated that it would increase outlays by $52 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2020-03/hr5.pdf
Guns - Background Checks
“Require background checks for all gun sales. … Biden will enact universal background check legislation, requiring a background check for all gun sales with very limited exceptions, such as gifts between close family members.”
https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/
Annualized Cost: $9 million ($45 million over five years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, to require all sellers of firearms to request such checks, except in certain cases (such as sales to law enforcement agencies for official duties). CBO estimates the proposal would increase outlays by $45 million over five years to expand the Federal Bureau of Investigations workforce to handle the additional workload.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/8
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-03/hr8.pdf
Guns - Licensing
“Biden will enact legislation to give states and local governments grants to require individuals to obtain a license prior to purchasing a gun.”
https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Guns - Red Flag Laws, Relinquishment Process Model and State Assistance
“As president, Biden will direct the FBI and ATF to outline a model relinquishment process, enact any necessary legislation to ensure relinquishment when individuals newly fall under one of the federal prohibitions, and then provide technical and financial assistance to state and local governments to establish effective relinquishment processes on their own. … Incentivize state ‘extreme risk’ laws. Extreme risk laws, also called ‘red flag’ laws, enable family members or law enforcement officials to temporarily remove an individual’s access to firearms when that individual is in crisis and poses a danger to themselves or others. Biden will incentivize the adoption of these laws by giving states funds to implement them. And, he’ll direct the U.S. Department of Justice to issue best practices and offer technical assistance to states interested in enacting an extreme risk law.”
https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as S. 506, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019, to support state, tribal, and local efforts to remove access to firearms from individuals who are a danger to themselves or others pursuant to court orders. The text of the bill authorizes appropriations of “such sums as may be necessary” for a new grant program. A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/506
Guns and High-capacity Magazines Buy Back Program
“Biden will also institute a program to buy back weapons … . This will give individuals who now possess assault weapons or high-capacity magazines two options: sell the weapons to the government, or register them under the National Firearms Act.”
https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Related legislation in the 116th Congress, H.R. 1296 and S. 66, the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2019, would allow states and localities to use Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program funds to compensate individuals who participate in the program. JAG was funded at $517 million in FY 2020. A cost estimate is currently unavailable. The Trace, an “independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to shining a light on America’s gun violence crisis,” estimates that a buyback program for AR-15-style weapons could cost between $700 million and $3.3 billion. Under an expanded definition of assault weapons, costs could be significantly higher.
https://www.justice.gov/doj/page/file/1246736/download
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1296
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/66
https://www.thetrace.org/2019/09/assault-weapon-buyback-policy-cost-estimates/
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Training
“Biden will increase resources for training and demand transparency in and independent oversight over ICE and CBP’s activities. “
https://joebiden.com/immigration/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Custody, Transportation, and Removal Programs
“ … Biden will reprioritize money away from the Department of Homeland Security’s budget for detention, which has skyrocketed under Trump’s inhumane and unnecessary policies, in favor of more effective and cost-efficient alternatives to detention. The savings from not locking migrants away like criminals or separating families will be much better used to improve conditions in the region and help people feel safe in their home countries.”
https://joebiden.com/centralamerica/
Annualized Cost: -$1 billion (-$4 billion over four years) savings
Notes: This proposal would offset an increase in foreign aid to Central America, listed below. Outlays for Enforcement and Removal programs (which include Custody and Fugitive Operations, the Criminal Alien Program, Alternatives to Detention, and the Transportation and Removal Program) have increased from $4.1 billion in FY 2018 to $5.2 billion in FY 2020. NTUF assumes funding would be reduced by $1 billion, in accordance with Biden’s four-year aid increase.
Immigration Judges and Support
“Double the number of immigration judges, court staff, and interpreters.”
https://joebiden.com/immigration/
Annualized Cost: $71 million ($355 million over five years)
FY 2020 funding for immigration judges and support in the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review totaled approximately $71 million in FY 2020. This estimate assumes that the funding would be doubled in the first year.
https://www.justice.gov/jmd/page/file/1142486/download
Immigration Reform & Border Security
“Creates a roadmap to citizenship for the nearly 11 million people who have been living in and strengthening our country for years. … . Biden will aggressively advocate for legislation that creates a clear roadmap to legal status and citizenship for unauthorized immigrants who register, are up-to-date on their taxes, and have passed a background check.”
https://joebiden.com/immigration/
“As president, Biden will … [i]nvest in better technology coupled with privacy protections at the border, both at and between ports of entry, including cameras, sensors, large-scale x-ray machines, and fixed towers. Biden will also invest heavily in improving the aging infrastructure at all of our ports of entry.”
https://joebiden.com/immigration/
Annualized Cost: $22.728 billion ($113.64 billion over five years)
Notes: During the 113th Congress, the Senate passed S. 744, which would have overhauled the federal immigration system by providing a path to legal status for many current illegal aliens and authorizing additional funding for border security measures. A CBO estimate of the bill as passed by the Senate in 2013 indicated it would increase mandatory spending by $89 billion over the first five years and discretionary spending by $12 billion in that same time. In current dollars, that would total $113.64 billion. The bill also included increased funding for border security. A more recent cost estimate for comprehensive immigration reform is unavailable.
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/costestimate/s744aspassed.pdf
Incarcerated Individuals Education and Skills Training
“ … [A]ll incarcerated individuals should have the opportunity to pursue education and skills training so they can more easily find employment after their release. Incarcerated individuals should have the opportunity to learn to read, earn a GED, or learn a new trade while imprisoned. The Biden Administration will expand funding for all of these programs and services, during and after incarceration.”
Annualized Cost: $170 million ($1.19 billion over seven years)
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 2635 and S. 1377, the Promoting Reentry through Education in Prisons Act of 2019. The bill would establish an Office of Correctional Education and would provide that “for fiscal years 2020 through 2026, of the amounts appropriated to the Bureau of Prisons, $170,000,000 shall be used to carry out” the new programs in the bill. Because the bill does not include offsetting proposals, NTUF assumes that new funding would be required to implement the bill if it were enacted into law. Biden’s running mate, Senator Kamala Harris is a cosponsor of S. 3588.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2635
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1337
Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act
“ ... [Biden] will work with Congress to pass … the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, which will improve hate crime reporting and data collection … .”
https://joebiden.com/lgbtq-policy/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The NO HATE Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as S. 2043 to provide incentives for hate crime reporting and provide grants for state-run hate crime hotlines. The text does not include an authorization of appropriations. A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2043
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act
“Invest $1 billion per year in juvenile justice reform. … The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act allows states to use funds for purposes such as providing children with legal representation and helping them seal and expunge records. … Congress recently reauthorized this Act at a funding level of $176 million per year, but only appropriated $60 million in funds for fiscal year 2019. As president, Biden will push for full funding of the Act and then go further, investing a total of $1 billion per year to reform our juvenile justice system.”
Annualized Cost: $895 million ($4.475 billion over five years)
Notes: $105 million was provided for JJDP programs in FY 2020.
https://www.njjn.org/article/federal-juvenile-justice-update---february-2020-
Juvenile Justice Non-violent Youth Pilot Grant Program
“President Biden will create a new grant program to encourage states to (1) place non-violent youth in community-based alternatives to prison, and (2) repurpose empty prisons for the community’s benefit so they cannot be used in the future for detention. This initiative will begin as a $100 million pilot program in 15-30 states and counties.”
Annualized Cost: $33 million ($100 million over three years)
Notes: In 2018, California Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer proposed a related three-year, $100 million Youth Justice Reinvestment Fund to support alternatives to incarceration. NTUF assumes Biden’s pilot program will be over three years.
Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program
“Biden will significantly expand the Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program in the Violence Against Women Act … .”
Annualized Cost: $23 million ($115 million over five years)
Notes: The Legal Assistance for Victims Grant would be extended in H.R. 1585, the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2019, at current authorization levels of $57 million. Related legislation, S. 1959, the Ensuring Representation for Survivors Act, would reauthorize the program at $80 million per year over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1959
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:34%20section:20121%20edition:prelim)
Legal Services Corporation
“Biden will … support expanded funding for the Legal Services Corporation to ensure lawyers are available to help domestic violence survivors in civil and criminal proceedings.”
Annualized Cost: $78 million ($390 over five years)
Notes: The Legal Services Corporation was funded at $404 million in FY 2020. The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. The American Bar Association has advocated for Congress “to restore funding for the Legal Services Corporation to 2010 levels – $482 million, after adjusting for inflation.” NTUF assumes that Biden would, at a minimum, support this level of increase.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/oia_fy21.pdf
LGBTQ Essential Data Act
Biden will also work to pass ... the LGBTQ Essential Data Act to help collect a wide variety of critical data about anti-trans violence and the factors that drive it.”
https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/
Annualized Cost: $5 million ($25 million over five years)
Notes: The LGBTQ Essential Data Act was introduced as H.R. 3280 in the 116th Congress. The text authorizes $25 million for the first fiscal year to fund the data collection. NTUF assumes the outlays would occur over five years.
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act Enforcement
“In addition, he will strengthen enforcement of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Act by increasing funding for anti-bias and hate crimes investigation training.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
National Girls Initiative
“As president, Biden will reinvest in the National Girls Initiative of the Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to support communities and schools to develop gender-specific and trauma-informed prevention and treatment programs and services as alternatives to girls being placed in juvenile detention.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The National Girls Initiative, also known as Girls in the Juvenile Justice System, was funded at $2 million in FY 2020.The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/jus_fy21.pdf
Online Abuse Law Enforcement
“Allocate new funding for law enforcement training to tackle online abuse. The Biden Administration will dedicate new funding to federal, state, and local law enforcement officials for investigating and prosecuting online sexual harassment, stalking, and threats while also supporting victims.”
“Establish a new Task Force on Online Harassment and Abuse to focus on the connection between mass shootings, online harassment, extremism, and violence against women.”
https://joebiden.com/gunsafety
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Public Defenders’ Offices
“Invest in public defenders’ offices to ensure defendants’ access to quality counsel. To create a fairer criminal justice system, we must ensure that individuals who cannot afford counsel have quality representation. And, access to counsel should be available starting at the moment someone appears before a judge. But, right now, defenders’ resources and support are too decentralized and too hard to access. And, as Vice President Biden knows from his own experience leaving a law firm to be a public defender, the wage disparity for prosecutors and defenders limits the ability of defenders’ offices to recruit the best and brightest. As president, Biden will expand the Obama-Biden effort to expand resources for public defenders’ offices.”
Annualized Cost: $305 million ($1.525 billion)
Notes: Biden’s statement on the Obama-Biden effort to expand resources links to an archived page of the Department of Justice with links to numerous programs. Related legislation has been introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 2868 and S. 1377, the Equal Defense Act of 2019 to create a new Public Defense Grant Program funded at $250 million per year, provide $5 million per year in new grants to train public defenders, and extend and increase the student loan repayment program a from $25 million to $75 million. Biden’s running mate Senator Kamala Harris introduced S. 1377. NTUF assumes Biden would support the funding increase in the proposal.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2868
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1377
Refugee and Entrance Assistance
“Biden will dramatically increase U.S. government resources to support migrants awaiting assessment of their asylum claims and to the organizations providing for their needs. …
“ … [A] Biden Administration will improve access to federal agencies and better support local initiatives, such as … [e]stablishing Offices of Immigrant Affairs in city halls, or at the county and state levels … [and] [c]reating neighborhood resource centers or welcome centers to help all residents find jobs; access services and English-language learning opportunities; and navigate the school system, health care system, and other important facets of daily life.”
https://joebiden.com/immigration/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Note: The Refugee and Entrance Assistance program was funded at $2.58 billion in FY 2020. Additional support funding may also be provided through other programs. The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/hhs_fy21.pdf
Regional Sexual Assault Investigative Training Academies
“Biden will invest $20 million per year in creating Regional Sexual Assault Investigative Training Academies which will provide cutting-edge, evidence-based and trauma-informed training on investigating and prosecuting sexual assault crimes and offer incentive grants for teams of law enforcement, victim advocates, and prosecutors all over the United States to attend.”
Annualized Cost: $20 million ($100 million over five years)
Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act
“Biden calls for the immediate passage of Congressman Bobby Scott’s SAFE Justice Act, an evidence-based, comprehensive bill to reform our criminal justice system ‘from front-end sentencing reform to back-end release policies.’”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The SAFE Justice Act was introduced in the 115th Congress as H.R. 4261. A cost estimate is unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4261
Savanna’s Law
“ … [T]he Biden Administration will commit to expanding enrollment for all tribal law enforcement agencies to participate in the Tribal Access Program, a Department of Justice initiative to provide American Indian and Alaska Native police with access to national crime information databases. ... To this end, Biden’s plan supports the proposals to tackle the data gaps fueling the epidemic of missing and murdered Native women and girls outlined under Savanna’s Act.”
Annualized Cost: $3 million ($14 million over five years)
Notes: Savanna’s Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as S. 227. CBO estimates that it would increase outlays by $14 million over five years “to provide training to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies on how to record information about tribal affiliation in federal crime databases with respect to Indians who are victims of crimes.”
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/227
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/55982
Sexual Assault Kit Initiative
“Increase funding for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) to $100 million annually and ensure that law enforcement training addresses attitudes that lead to the neglect of testing for rape kits. In addition, Biden will require that local law enforcement ensures that SAKI prioritizes the needs of survivors and their recovery when seeking to test old rape kits in order to be eligible for funding. This includes funding for rape crisis centers and advocates to ensure accountability to the survivor-centered model.”
Annualized Cost: $55 million ($275 million over five years)
Notes: SAKI was funded at $45 million in FY 2020.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/jus_fy21.pdf
Task Force on Prosecutorial Discretion
“The Biden Administration will create a new task force, placed outside of the U.S. Department of Justice, to make recommendations for tackling discrimination and other problems in our justice system that results from arrest and charging decisions.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Victims of Crime Act Funding Cap
“[Biden] will also raise the funding cap for the Victims of Crime Act programs, which provide financial support to help victims of crimes pay for expenses … .”
https://joebiden.com/lgbtq-policy/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Crime Victims Fund is financed by fines and penalties paid by convicted federal offenders. “Starting in Fiscal Year (FY) 2000, in response to large fluctuations in deposits, Congress placed a cap on funds available for distribution (also known as obligations). These annual caps were intended to maintain the Fund as a stable source of support for future victim services. From FY 2000 to 2018, the amount of the annual cap varied from $500 million to more than $4 billion. In FY 2020, the cap was set at $2.641 billion.” Outlays from the Fund are scored as direct spending. The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
https://ovc.ojp.gov/about/crime-victims-fund
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/reports/45318-hbc-qfrsoutlook.pdf
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
“ … Joe Biden will make enacting the VAWA reauthorization one of his top first 100 day priorities.”
Annualized Cost: $243 million ($1.217 billion over five years)
Notes: The VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2019 was introduced as H.R. 1585, to extend and increase spending on VAWA programs for five years. CBO estimated it would increase outlays by $1.217 billion over five years. A current-policy baseline is unavailable for the legislation.
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-06/hr1585.pdf
Violence Against Women Act - College Campus Grant
“Finally, Biden will secure an additional $20 million in annual funding to VAWA’s college campus grant for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges, and community colleges to enable them to implement culturally and environmentally-specific prevention and survivor support initiatives.”
Annualized Cost: $20 million ($100 million over five years).
Violence Against Women Act - Consolidated Youth Program
“ … Biden will also expand funding for the VAWA Consolidated Youth Program.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The VAWA Consolidated Youth Program was funded at $11.5 million in FY 2020. The Biden campaign has not provided additional information on this proposal.
https://www.justice.gov/doj/page/file/1246436/download
Violence Against Women Act - Culturally-specific Services and Training Grants
“The Biden Administration will push forward work to strengthen and expand VAWA’s reach to women in marginalized communities by … [e]xpanding grants to enhance culturally-specific services for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking program. Since 2005, VAWA has funded a grant program to support targeted, community-driven strategies that include trauma-informed and culturally-specific programs that focus on the development of holistic prevention and intervention services for survivors from racial and ethnic minority communities. The Biden Administration will expand the resources available to scale up these initiatives and integrate a broader array of community-based organizations to address complex community needs in order to expand pathways to safety for survivors and continue to build community leadership to prevent and address domestic violence and sexual assault.”
“Biden will fund initiatives to partner mental health, disability, and substance use disorder experts and social workers with police departments and first responders. These service providers will train police officers and other frontline responders to better de-escalate interactions with people in severe emotional distress and to respectfully and appropriately interact with individuals with disabilities. The training will vary and be specific to the needs of each impacted community, differentiating strategies for the mental health community and the disability community.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: H.R. 1585, the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2019, would add similar language to a current outreach grant program that is extended at current authorization levels of $2 million. The VAWA bill would also establish a new demonstration program on Trauma-Informed Training for Law Enforcement. The text of the bill, as passed by the House of Representatives, authorizes that the “he Attorney General shall carry out this section using amounts otherwise available to the Attorney General.” A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1585
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:34%20section:20123%20edition:prelim)
Violence Against Women Act - Older Women
In addition, the Biden Administration will pursue the following proposals to support older women ...who are too often left out of current VAWA programs … Increase funding for communities to build multidisciplinary teams to prevent and address violence against older women, with a focus on investing in rural communities with aging populations. ... Biden will expand funding for this important [Enhanced Training and Services to End Abuse in Later Life Program] by increasing grant dollars available to communities at a scale that better reflects the increasingly aging population.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Section 205 of H.R. 1585, the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2019, would extend the Training and Services program at current authorization levels of $9 million. The Biden campaign has not provided additional information on how this funding would be expanded.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1585
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:34%20section:12421%20edition:prelim)
Violence Against Women Act - Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Programs
“The Biden Administration will push forward work to strengthen and expand VAWA’s reach to women in marginalized communities by … expanding federal resources for Alaska Native and American Indian women and girls impacted by violence and abuse. … The Biden Administration will also make more federal resources available for Tribal domestic violence and sexual assault programs by increasing funding set aside for tribes under the Victims of Crime fund (VOCA).”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The VAWA Tribal Government Grants Program and the VAWA Tribal Coalitions Grants Program were funded at $48 million in FY 2020. The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
https://www.justice.gov/doj/page/file/1246646/download
Violence Against Women Act - Women with Disabilities
“Biden will expand funding for this vital [Training and Services to End Violence Against Women with Disabilities Grant Program] in order to better reflect the reality that women with disabilities are victimized by intimate partner and sexual violence at a rate higher than women without disabilities.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Section 204 of H.R. 1585, the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2019, would extend the Training and Services program at current authorization levels of $9 million. The Biden campaign has not provided additional information on how this funding would be expanded.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1585
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:34%20section:20122%20edition:prelim)
Visas
“Biden will work with Congress to reform the current system of temporary work visas to allow workers in these select industries to switch jobs, while certifying the labor market’s need for foreign workers. Employers should be able to supply data showing a lack of labor availability and the harm that would result if temporary workers were unavailable. … Biden will work with Congress to first reform temporary visas to establish a wage-based allocation process and establish enforcement mechanisms to ensure they are aligned with the labor market and not used to undermine wages. Then, Biden will support expanding the number of high-skilled visas and eliminating the limits on employment-based visas by country, which create unacceptably long backlogs. ”
https://joebiden.com/immigration/
“Increases the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroeconomic conditions. Currently, the number of employment-based visas is capped at 140,000 each year, without the ability to be responsive to the state of the labor market or demands from domestic employers. As president, Biden will work with Congress to increase the number of visas awarded for permanent, employment-based immigration—and promote mechanisms to temporarily reduce the number of visas during times of high U.S. unemployment. He will also exempt from any cap recent graduates of PhD programs in STEM fields in the U.S. who are poised to make some of the most important contributions to the world economy. ...
“Increases the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroeconomic conditions. Currently, the number of employment-based visas is capped at 140,000 each year, without the ability to be responsive to the state of the labor market or demands from domestic employers. As president, Biden will work with Congress to increase the number of visas awarded for permanent, employment-based immigration—and promote mechanisms to temporarily reduce the number of visas during times of high U.S. unemployment. He will also exempt from any cap recent graduates of PhD programs in STEM fields in the U.S. who are poised to make some of the most important contributions to the world economy. …
“ … Biden will triple the current cap of 10,000 on U-visas … .”
https://joebiden.com/immigration/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Expanding work visas could impact direct spending. For example, see CBO’s score for the 113th Congress’s H.R. 2131, the SKILLS Visa Act of 2014. A cost estimate is currently unavailable for Biden’s proposal.
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/costestimate/hr21312.pdf
National Defense and Foreign Affairs
Central America
“As president, Joe Biden will renew a robust commitment to U.S. leadership in the region and pursue a comprehensive strategy for Central America by:
Developing a comprehensive four-year, $4 billion regional strategy to address factors driving migration from Central America;
Mobilizing private investment in the region;
Improving security and rule of law;
Addressing endemic corruption;
Prioritizing poverty reduction and economic development.
https://joebiden.com/centralamerica/
Annualized Cost: $1 billion ($4 billion over four years)
Notes: Biden proposed to offset this spending with reductions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement Custody, Transportation, and Removal Program funding, listed above.
Military Family Basic Needs Allowance
“President Biden will work aggressively to update the federal workforce compensation framework for service members so that the government leads the way in ensuring hard-working families can attain a middle class life, and he will support legislation which will, in the meantime, provide an additional allowance for military families living below the poverty line.”
https://joebiden.com/militaryfamilies/
Annualized Cost: $44 million ($175 million over four years)
Notes: Section 602 of H.R. 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, included a provision to establish a new Military Family Basic Needs Allowance for low-income regular members of the armed services. The allowance would be based on a calculation of 130 percent of the federal poverty guidelines minus the gross income of the covered member during the preceding year. CBO estimated that it would cost $175 million over four years, but noted the estimate “affected by uncertainty about the number of service members who would qualify for the benefit, and the amount of that benefit.” The proposal was not included in the enacted FY 2020 NDAA, S. 1790.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2500
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-06/hr2500.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1790
Military OneSource Counseling Sessions Expansion
“The Biden Administration will … [e]xpand the number of free, non-medical Military OneSource counseling sessions for military families from 12 sessions to 18 and expand access to Coast Guard families regardless of activation status.”
https://joebiden.com/militaryfamilies/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The counseling services are funded through the Department of Defense’s Warfighter and Family Services, funded at $1.7 billion in FY 2020. A line item for the program is not available. Currently, the limit on sessions is set per issue, not per person. A cost estimate for increasing the limit is currently unavailable.
Military Parents Advocacy Training Tools
“As president, Biden will … [c]reate and disseminate training tools that empower military-connected parents to better advocate for their children.”
https://joebiden.com/militaryfamilies/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Military Spouse Entrepreneurship Pilot Program
“ … President Biden will … [i]nvest $500 million in a 3-year Department of Defense (DOD) military spouse entrepreneurship pilot program, which will provide micro-grants, mentorship, and technical assistance to military spouses who are interested in starting or growing small businesses.”
https://joebiden.com/militaryfamilies/
Annualized Cost: $167 million ($500 million over three years).
Military Student Identifier Expansion
“As president, Biden will … [p]ropose legislation to expand the Military Student Identifier (MSI) to all military-connected children (to include children of National Guard and Reserve personnel regardless of activation/order status), children of veterans, and children of deceased service members or veterans, who are often impacted by the service of their parents.”
https://joebiden.com/militaryfamilies/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The program is meant to identify students whose parents are in the active military and “provides educators with critical information to personalize attention to military dependent children.” “Related legislation, H.R. 1896 and S. 784, the Supporting Children of the National Guard and Reserve Act would extend the Military Student Identifier. It is unclear whether federal funding would be required to extend the data reporting mandate to include additional students.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1896
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/784
Military Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (SDEA) Program Waiver
“ … President Biden will … [i]nstitute a waiver for the Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance Program ... so that spouses and survivors who have not accessed their benefits in the allotted time frame will have the opportunity to request additional time.”
https://joebiden.com/militaryfamilies/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Spending on the SDEA program (also known as Chapter 35) in FY 2020 amounted to $230 million. In general, children must be between the ages of 18 and 26 to get this benefit, and spouses are eligible for up to ten years, though for both programs there are additional provisions providing for extensions in certain cases. A cost estimate for extended to period of eligibility for the benefits is currently unavailable.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/vet_fy21.pdf
https://www.military.com/education/money-for-school/dependents-educational-assistance-dea.htm
Palestinian Aid
“As President, Biden will take immediate steps to restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, consistent with U.S. law, including assistance to refugees … .”
https://joebiden.com/joe-biden-and-the-arab-american-community-a-plan-for-partnership/
Annualized Cost: $346 million ($1.73 billion over five years)
Notes: According to the Congressional Research Service, U.S. aid to the Palestinians totaled $496 million in FY 2012. By FY 2016, the amount of aid fell to $261 million. The Trump administration reduced aid to $600 thousand in FY 2019 and boosted levels to $150 million in FY 2020. Biden has not specified the funding level that would be provided. This estimate assumes that levels would be restored to 2016 levels.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10644
United Nations Population Fund (UNPF)
“Biden will work with our partners to coordinate a global response to the crisis of gender-based violence during the pandemic and beyond by:
Restoring U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Cost: $34 million ($168 million over five years)
Notes: In 2016, the Trump administration reinstated a ban funding to the UNPF pursuant to a provision called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment. Related legislation introduced in the 116th Congress, H.R. 4722, the Support UNFPA Funding Act, would authorize appropriations to the Fund, but does not specify a funding level. The U.S. would have contributed $32.5 million to the UNPF in 2017 ($33.6 million in current dollars). NTUF assumes that funding would be restored to this level.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4722
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39487617
Social Security and Retirement
Retirement Savings Refundable Credit
“Equalizing the tax benefits of defined contribution plans. The current tax benefits for retirement savings are based on the concept of deferral, whereby savers get to exclude their retirement contributions from tax, see their savings grow tax free, and then pay taxes when they withdraw money from their account. This system provides upper-income families with a much stronger tax break for saving and a limited benefit for middle-class and other workers with lower earnings. The Biden Plan will equalize benefits across the income scale, so that low- and middle-income workers will also get a tax break when they put money away for retirement.”
https://joebiden.com/older-americans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Garrett Watson, of the Tax Foundation, summarized the plan: “Biden proposes converting the current deductibility of traditional retirement contributions into matching refundable tax credits for 401(k)s, individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and other types of traditional retirement vehicles, such as SIMPLE accounts. Biden’s proposal would eliminate deductible traditional contributions and instead provide a 26 percent refundable tax credit for each $1 contributed.” A cost estimate of the outlays from the refundable portion of the credit is currently unavailable.
https://taxfoundation.org/bidens-proposal-would-shift-the-distribution-of-retirement-tax-benefits/
Social Security Benefits
“Provide a higher benefit for the oldest Americans. At advanced ages, Americans become more vulnerable to exhausting their savings, sometimes falling into poverty and living a life of hardship. The Biden Plan will provide the oldest beneficiaries – those who have been receiving retirement benefits for at least 20 years – with a higher monthly check to help protect retirees from the pain of dwindling retirement savings. ...
The Biden Plan will revolutionize the Social Security’s minimum benefit, which has deteriorated over time to the point of being entirely ineffective. Under the Biden Plan, workers who spent 30 years working will get a benefit of at least 125% of the poverty level.
For many couples, the death of a spouse means that Social Security benefits will be cut in half – putting pressure on the surviving spouse who still needs to make the mortgage payment and handle other bills. The Biden Plan will allow surviving spouse to keep a higher share of the benefits. This will make an appreciable difference in the finances of older Americans, especially women (who live longer on average than men), raising the monthly payment by about 20% for affected beneficiaries.”
https://joebiden.com/older-americans/
Annualized Cost: $29.07 billion ($290.7 billion over ten years)
Notes: The Penn Wharton Budget Model, a project of the University of Pennsylvania, estimates that Biden's Social Security benefits plan would increase outlays by $290.7 billion over the first decade, $29.07 billion per year. Annual costs would significantly rise in the second decade to $81.67 billion. =This estimate also includes switching the Social Security cost-of-living-adjustment from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to CPI-Elderly, a calculation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of a price index for Americans 62 years of age and older. This proposal was included in the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations.
https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2020/9/14/biden-2020-analysis https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) - “Benefits Cliff”
“Biden will … [e]liminate the ‘benefit cliff’ for SSDI. Earnings limits under SSDI can discourage people with disabilities from engaging in employment or internship opportunities when they depend on SSDI funds. Biden will increase this limit and phase out this benefit gradually so people with disabilities don’t have to choose between employment and health care.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 3992 and S. 255, the Disability Employment Incentive Act, to include individuals receiving SSDI benefits under the work opportunity credit, increase the work opportunity credit for vocational rehabilitation referrals, qualified SSI recipients, and qualified SSDI recipients, and expand the disabled access credit.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3992 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/255
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) - Five-month Waiting Period
“Biden will … [e]liminate the five-month waiting period for SSDI. … .”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 4386 and S. 2496, the Stop the Wait Act. Section 2 of the bill would eliminate the waiting period for SSDI benefits. In 2012, CBO estimated eliminating the five-month waiting period would increase outlays in 2022 by $8 billion, or 4 percent. A more detailed yearly cost estimate was not provided. A cost estimate of the Stop the Wait Act is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4386
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2496
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) - Benefits to 100 percent of Poverty Level
“Biden will … [i]ncrease the benefit level for people receiving SSI. Biden will set a federal benefit rate of at least 100 percent of the poverty level.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $13.2 billion ($132 billion over ten years)
Notes: For FY 2020, individuals in SSI were eligible to receive up to $783 per month, and couples were eligible for monthly benefits up to $1,175. If the monthly benefit rates matched 100 percent of federal poverty guidelines, individuals would be eligible for benefits up to $1,063 (36 percent higher) and couples would be eligible for benefits up to $1,437 (22 percent higher). The average monthly benefit outlay is generally somewhat less than the maximum level. If outlays for SSI were 20 percent higher relative to CBO’s January baseline, total spending would increase by $132 billion.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/SSI.html
https://aspe.hhs.gov/2020-poverty-guidelines
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_monthly/2020-08/table07.pdf
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2020-01/56020-CBO-Outlook.pdf
Supplemental Security Income Benefits - Other
Biden will … [r]eform the SSI program so that it doesn’t limit beneficiaries’ freedom to marry, save, or live where they choose. Biden will work with Congress and the disability community to eliminate the SSI marriage penalty and ‘in-kind support and maintenance’ provision and raise the asset limits associated with SSI that have not been increased since 1984.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as S. 2753, the Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act of 2019. The legislation would update eligibility for SSI benefits, eliminate the SSI marriage penalty, and provide that support and maintenance furnished in-kind is not included as income. A cost estimate is not currently available.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2753
Windfall Elimination and the Government Pension Offset Repeal
“Eliminate penalties for teachers and other public-sector workers. Current rules penalize teachers and other public sector workers who either switch jobs or who have earned retirement benefits from various sources. The Biden Plan would eliminate these penalties by ensuring that teachers not eligible for Social Security will begin receiving benefits sooner – rather than the current ten-year period for many teachers. The Biden Plan will also get rid of the benefit cuts for workers and surviving beneficiaries who happen to be covered by both Social Security and another pension.”
https://joebiden.com/older-americans/
Annualized Cost: $10 billion ($100 billion over ten years)
Notes: The Committee for Social Security Fairness, an organization of “active and retired public servants of all professions, working to repeal the GPO WEP” estimates that this proposal would cost $8 to $10 billion per year.
https://ssfairness.org/repeal-the-gpo-wep/
Veterans
Addiction Treatment
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [e]xpand funding for direct and purchase-care treatment for disorders related to the misuse of alcohol and opioids in order to reduce unacceptably long wait-times for treatment.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
Child Care
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [p]rovide funding to ensure there is safe, reliable child care at all VA Medical Centers.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: $19 million ($96 million over five years) partial estimate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 840, the Veterans' Access to Child Care Act, to provide assistance for child care (through subsidies, on-site services, or direct payments to service providers) to veterans receiving mental health care at a VA medical facility. The bill was passed by the House without a cost estimate. Identical legislation was introduced in the previous Congress as H.R. 95. CBO estimated that it would increase outlays by $96 million over five years. A cost estimate for providing child care for veterans receiving additional services at a VA medical facility is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/840
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/95
Health Records Management Expansion
“A Biden Administration will … [i]mplement a VA-hosted health record that can serve any and every American who wants one. We can leverage Blue Button to access health information no matter where it is, to allow veterans and citizens to manage and use it as they see fit.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Note: A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
Health Records Modernization
“ As president, Biden will enhance the capacity of the VA to serve our veterans as efficiently as possible by overseeing a generational upgrade to clinical and management systems, by leveraging commercial best-practices and modern technologies to meet the unique demands of public sector mission. … . A Biden Administration will … [e]nhance the administrative, financial, and operational systems that underpin the provision of care in the network model by improving vital case management systems, quality oversight, integrative health treatments and supporting administrative, financial and IT systems.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Note: The Department of Veterans Affairs has been transferring to an electronic records system. Per a recent news report, “the massive project is budgeted at more than $16 billion over 10 years” and the rollout of the project has run into problems over the years. It is unclear whether or to what extent Biden would increase spending on the project.
https://fcw.com/articles/2020/02/12/va-budget-ehrm-delay.aspx
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45047.pdf
Mental Health Care
“A Biden Administration will … [w]ork aggressively to facilitate immediate access to mental health services for veterans in crisis, to include standardizing performance expectations around same day, walk-in and urgent mental health services; hiring more ER psychiatric staff and peer specialists; expanding crisis line capacity to ensure all calls are answered and appropriate referrals occur within hours; and implementing specific programs to encourage veterans to prioritize their mental health by reaching out to the VA when they need support. Within the first year in office, President Biden will have a goal of completely eliminating wait times for veterans who reach out with suicidal ideation so that they are immediately taken into treatment.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional information regarding this proposal.
National Health Database
“A Biden Administration will … [c]reate a national health database for non-profit research scientists and the commercial sector that would accelerate discovery of the best therapies against the devastating diseases of our time: cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s, and dementia. Biden will direct the VA to support the database using its infrastructure, making access available to all. Veterans will be able to choose, on an individual basis, whether or not to contribute their data. This national repository for longitudinal health data will enable us to use technological innovations to see patterns that people don’t easily recognize and make connections we don’t normally make for the U.S. population as a whole.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Note: The Biden campaign has not provided additional information about this proposal.
Presumptive Conditions Expansion for Veterans’ Care
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [e]xpand the list of presumptive conditions to ensure no veteran who experienced a TBI or had exposure to burn pits or other environmental toxins goes without access to VA health care and benefits. ... President Biden will also increase access to VA care beyond the 5-year eligibility window for combat veterans, as conditions related to toxic exposure may take many years to manifest.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: A cost estimate is currently unavailable for these proposals.
Preventive Health Co-pay Elimination
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [w]ork with Congress to eliminate co-pays for preventive health care for veterans, which can create unnecessary barriers to seeking basic preventive care.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Biden’s proposal includes a hyperlink to S. 1573 of the 116th Congress, the Veterans Preventive Health Coverage Fairness Act. A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1573
Readjustment Counseling
“A Biden Administration will … [e]xpand capacity at Vet Centers to ensure veterans in communities can access readjustment counseling services and resources, including financial and long-term planning. President Biden will specifically expand outreach and resources for veterans as they experience periods of transition, not just out of the military, but throughout their life, including into post-career retirement.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: In FY 2020, the Department of Veterans Affairs spent $287 million on Readjustment Counseling. The Biden campaign has not provided additional information about this proposal.
Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) Housing
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [c]reate safe, modern, clean, and recovery-oriented housing for veterans being treated for SUDs and those who are homeless by refurbishing buildings condemned or not in use, such as the massive VA Los Angeles campus.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional information about this proposal.
Suicide Prevention
“A Biden Administration will … [c]reate a national center of excellence for reducing veteran suicide, similar to the National Center on Homelessness among Veterans.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: In FY 2020, the Department of Veterans Affairs funded veteran suicide prevention programs at $237 million, including a Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention. Line item budget figures for the various programs are not included in the Department’s budget justification. It is unclear whether Biden would increase spending on the program.
https://www.mirecc.va.gov/suicideprevention/
Telehealth
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [i]ncrease funding for and expand access to telehealth through the VA, particularly in rural areas not able to access timely care.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 7879, the VA Telehealth Expansion Act. The proposal would establish a grant program to expand telehealth from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The text does not include a funding level for the grant. A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7879
Traumatic Brain Injury and Toxic Exposure Research
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [i]ncrease research dollars by $300 million to invest in better understanding the impact of TBI and toxic exposures (including burn pits) on long-term health outcomes, and continue to drive research focused on the needs of disabled veterans.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: $60 million ($300 million over five years)
Notes: NTUF assumes the increase will be spread over five years.
Veterans’ Administration (VA) Hospitals and Infrastructure Modernization
“ … [A] Biden Administration will … [m]odernize VA hospitals and clinics to serve our veterans better through a nationwide infrastructure plan that provides a comprehensive refresh of VA health facilities. Biden will retrofit VA’s existing brick and mortar physical locations, where patient volume warrants, and repurpose older facilities to meet new needs such as assisted-living facilities and long-term care alternatives. Biden will improve both the buildings and equipment … .”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional information about this proposal. VA hospitals are not mentioned in Biden’s larger infrastructure proposal.
Women Veterans
“ … Biden will work with Congress to enact the Deborah Sampson Act and ensure that the safety and privacy concerns of women veterans are addressed throughout his Administration.”
https://joebiden.com/veterans/
Annualized Cost: $64 million ($322 million over five years)
Notes: The Deborah Sampson Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 3224 and S. 514. CBO estimated the proposal would increase spending by $322 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3224
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/514
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-11/hr3224.pdf
Welfare and Housing
Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Accounts
“Biden will work to pass the ABLE Age Adjustment Act … .”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: ABLE accounts were enacted in the 113th Congress’s H.R. 5771, the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014. These are tax-advantaged savings accounts that can fund disability expenses, and the amounts in the account are excluded for purposes of eligibility for means-tested programs. In 2014, CBO estimated that the ABLE accounts would increase outlays by $1.153 billion over ten years. The accounts are currently allowed for individuals under the age of 26.
The ABLE Age Adjustment Act, introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 1814 and S. 651, would increase the age limit to 46. A related bill in 2013, S. 313, would have enabled the accounts regardless of age. At the time, CBO estimated that it would have increased outlays by $17.5 billion over ten years. A cost estimate for the ABLE Age Adjustment Act is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/5771
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/costestimate/hr6471.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1814
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/651
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/45341
Child Tax Credit Expansion
“As President, [Biden] ... will support a significant expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for the duration of the crisis, as proposed in the House-passed HEROES Act. … Specifically, Biden will increase the CTC to $3,000 per child for children ages 6 to 17 and $3,600 for children under 6. He will also make the CTC fully refundable … .”
Annualized Cost: $18.359 billion ($91.796 billion over five years)
Notes: On May 15, 2020, the House passed H.R. 6800, the HEROES Act, which included the modification to the CTC as described by Biden. The expansion of the CTC would expire after December 31, 2020. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that this provision would increase outlays for the refundable portion of the credit by $88.39 billion in FY 2021 and by an additional $3.406 billion over the next four years. Over the second half of the decade, outlays would increase by an average of $443 million. Given that the bulk of the cost is in the first half of the decade, NTUF is scoring the proposal over five years. This estimate assumes that Biden would implement the provision retroactively. The costs would be higher if the proposal is extended through FY 2021.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6800
https://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=5261
Domestic Violence Survivors Assistance
“Provide cash assistance to survivors to help build safety and security. ... As president, Biden will allocate $5 billion to community organizations to provide cash grants to survivors in need, whether the need is to help pay for day care, transportation to work, or to buy a laptop for a new job.”
Annualized Cost: $1 billion ($5 billion over five years)
Notes: The Biden campaign did not note from where the grant funding would be allocated. NTUF assumes this will be a new spending program occurring over five years.
Earned Income Tax Credit for Senior Workers
“Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to older workers. The EITC is one of the most effective strategies for helping low-wage workers achieve a living wage. Unfortunately, the EITC is not available to workers once they turn 65, putting them at a distinct disadvantage relative to their younger peers. As president, Joe Biden will allow low-wage older workers to claim the tax credit they deserve.”
https://joebiden.com/older-americans/
Annualized Cost: $85 million ($850 million over ten years)
Notes: The Tax Policy Center estimates that expanding the EITC to older workers would cost $1 billion over ten years. The estimate did not break out the refundable portion of this amount. According to the Congressional Research Service, “For 2017, $56.8 billion of the EITC was received as the refundable portion of the credit (and hence exceeded income taxes owed), while approximately $9.7 billion offset tax liabilities.” Thus, for 2017, 85 percent of the EITC was refundable. NTUF assumes this same refundability rate for the proposal for older workers.
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/congress-should-make-eitc-available-older-workers
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43805.pdf
Housing
“As President, Joe Biden will invest $640 billion over 10 years so every American has access to housing that is affordable, stable, safe and healthy, accessible, energy efficient and resilient, and located near good schools and with a reasonable commute to their jobs. ...
As President, he will work to enact Majority Whip James E. Clyburn and Senator Michael Bennet’s Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act of 2020, which will help tenants facing eviction access legal assistance. He also will encourage localities to create eviction diversion programs, including mediation, payment plans, and financial literacy education programs. ...
Biden will also invest $300 million in Local Housing Policy Grants to give states and localities the technical assistance and planning support they need to eliminate exclusionary zoning policies and other local regulations that contribute to sprawl. ...
Biden will expand the Community Reinvestment Act to apply to mortgage and insurance companies, to add a requirement for financial services institutions to provide a statement outlining their commitment to the public interest, and, importantly, to close loopholes that would allow these institutions to avoid lending and investing in all of the communities they serve. ...
Biden will ensure effective and rigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. And, he will reinstate the federal risk-sharing program which has helped secure financing for thousands of affordable rental housing units in partnership with housing finance agencies. ...
... Biden will establish a national standard for housing appraisals that ensures appraisers have adequate training and a full appreciation for neighborhoods and do not hold implicit biases because of a lack of community understanding. ...
Help families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable, advanceable [First Down Payment Tax Credit] of up to $15,000. ... Building off of a temporary tax credit expanded as part of the Recovery Act, this tax credit will be permanent and advanceable, meaning that homebuyers receive the tax credit when they make the purchase instead of waiting to receive the assistance when they file taxes the following year.
Provide Section 8 housing vouchers to every eligible family so that no one has to pay more than 30% of their income for rental housing. ...
Create a new renter’s tax credit to help more low-income families. Biden will work with Congress to enact a new renter’s tax credit, designed to reduce rent and utilities to 30% of income for low-income individuals and families who may make too much money to qualify for a Section 8 voucher but still struggle to pay their rent. He will allocate $5 billion in federal funding for the tax credit every year. ...
Biden will expand the Good Neighbor Next Door program, which is designed to help strengthen communities that have experienced significant underinvestment and high rates of poverty while also providing opportunities for first responders, educators, and those engaged in national service to purchase homes in those same communities. ...
Create the Public Credit Reporting Agency. ... Biden will create a new public credit reporting agency within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide consumers with a government option ... .
... [O]ther policies he will pursue to reduce the carbon footprint of residential buildings include ... [r]epairing and accelerating the building code process, and creating a new funding mechanism for states and cities to adopt strict building codes and train builders and inspectors. ...
Establish a $100 billion Affordable Housing Fund to construct and upgrade affordable housing. ... [Including:]
$65 billion in new incentives for state housing authorities and the Indian Housing Block Grant program to construct or rehabilitate low-cost, efficient, resilient, and accessible housing in areas where affordable housing is in short supply. …
$10 billion to make homes more energy efficient. …
$5 billion to increase the stock of affordable housing ... .
Increase funding for the Housing Trust Fund by $20 billion. ...
In addition to the community development Biden is proposing as part of his infrastructure initiative, he will also expand flexible funding for the Community Development Block Grant by $10 billion over ten years. ...
Biden will work with Congress to secure passage of Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ Ending Homelessness Act. This bill funds a comprehensive, holistic strategy to ending homelessness, including everything from case management to emergency shelters to additional housing vouchers for homeless individuals. In total, this law will invest $13 billion to tackle homelessness over five years, including $5 billion for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, and the law will create more than 400,000 additional housing units for homeless individuals. ...
A Biden Administration will increase the availability of supportive and accessible housing for seniors and individuals with disabilities, including through the Supportive Housing for the Elderly (“Section 202”) and Supportive Housing for Individuals with Disabilities (“Section 811”) programs. Biden also will increase resources for mental health services and substance use disorder treatment, including through the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness program. ...
Set a national goal of ensuring 100% of formerly incarcerated individuals have housing upon reentry.
Establish a new coordinated housing initiative. Current federal housing programs are insufficient for meeting the needs of domestic and sexual violence survivors. Biden will bring federal agencies together to create a comprehensive housing grant program tailored to survivors of domestic and sexual violence. This grant program will include flexible funding to support the practical needs of survivors; advocacy with landlords and housing agencies to keep victims in housing; supportive services including legal assistance, child care, and employment training; new permanent housing vouchers; increased funding for the VAWA transitional housing program; and home ownership opportunities.”
Annualized Cost: $64 billion ($640 billion over ten years)
Paid Leave for Survivors of Domestic Violence
“Guarantee paid domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking safe leave. Biden will work with Congress to reform the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide paid leave for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking who need time to seek physical or mental care, seek counsel, find new housing, or take other action related to the violence they experienced.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 1468 and S. 627, the Security And Financial Empowerment Act of 2019. A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1468
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/627
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) - Puerto Rico
“As President, Biden will work to make Puerto Rico eligible for SNAP and ensure that families in Puerto Rico who meet SNAP’s eligibility criteria are given the same support that they would receive on the mainland.”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) for Puerto Rico is provided as a block grant. Base funding in FY 2020 for NAP was $1.938 billion. A cost estimate for including Puerto Rico in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for the states, funded as a mandatory spending program, is currently unavailable. For FY 2020, federal funding for SNAP provided $56.201 billion in benefits and $4.965 billion for state administration. In 1992, the Government Accountability Office analyzed an option to include Puerto Rico in the Food Stamp Program, the predecessor to SNAP, and estimated that outlays would have been 11 to 44 percent higher. Relative to CBO's January 2020 NAP baseline (which also includes funding for American Samoa) outlays would be $2.403 billion to $9.612 billion higher over ten years, but there is uncertainty in this estimate given the length of time since the GAO study.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/agr_fy21.pdf
https://www.gao.gov/assets/160/151923.pdf
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2020-01/51312-2020-01-snap.pdf
Miscellaneous
Assistive Technology Act
“Biden will work with Congress to pass the Assistive Technology Act (ATA), which will expand the nationwide but seriously underfunded state assistive technology programs and ensure they are connected to programs that reach all people with disabilities.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $13 million (first-year cost)
Notes: The Assistive Technology Act was originally enacted in 1998. The program was funded at $37 million in FY 2020. S. 1835, the 21st Century Assistive Technology Act, would reauthorize the program at $50 million in the first year and “such sums as may be necessary” for each of the next four years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1835
Assistive Technology Innovation Fund
“Biden will call for a new Assistive Technology Innovation Fund administered by the Department of Commerce to create public-private partnerships focused on creating new technologies to increase the independence of people with disabilities.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. A related Department of Education Disability Innovation Fund spent $158 million from FY 2014 through FY 2019.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2016-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2016-APP.pdf
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2017-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2017-APP.pdf
https://singleaudit.org/program/?id=84.421
Immigrant Communities Initiatives
“ … [A] Biden Administration will improve access to federal agencies and better support local initiatives, such as … [i]nvesting in programs to connect immigrant professionals to others in their field or to create cultural events and other programming to build social capital in immigrant communities.”
https://joebiden.com/immigration
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional information about this proposal.
Puerto Rico Disaster Assistance Loans
“Forgive disaster relief loans to Puerto Rican towns/municipalities so they can recover faster. FEMA has lent roughly $300 million to 76 Puerto Rican towns/municipalities under the Community Disaster Loan (CDL) program.”
Annualized Cost: $300 million (first-year cost)
Notes: This estimate assumes the full amount of the loans are forgiven. https://www.fema.gov/news-release/20200220/fema-approves-nearly-300-million-loans-76-municipalities
Real Emergency Access for Aging and Disability Inclusion (REAADI) for Disasters Act
“As President, Biden will secure passage of the REAADI for Disasters Act … .”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Cost: $50 million ($250 million over five years)
Notes: The Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 3208. The text authorizes $250 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3208
Crosscutting: Caregiving and Education Workforce Plan
“The plan will cost $775 billion over 10 years … ...
This plan builds on Biden’s proposals to support informal caregivers – family members or loved ones who do this work unpaid, including … Social Security credits for people who care for their loved ones, and professional and peer support for caregivers of wounded, injured, or ill active duty service members and veterans. …
Biden will allocate $450 billion to give more people the choice to receive care at home or in supportive community situations, or to have that choice for their loved ones. He will help states offer cost-effective options for affordable primary and preventive care, and affordable support services like help with meals, transportation, home safety, and quality day programs for older Americans. … Specifically, Biden will:
Eliminate the current waitlist for home and community services under Medicaid. Approximately 800,000 people are on the waitlist for home and community care under Medicaid ... Biden will increase Medicaid funding to states, the District of Columbia, and outlying territories to pay for the full cost of ensuring these 800,000 individuals and families receive long-term services and supports in the most appropriate setting, with the support of qualified care providers. Following the elimination of the current waiting list, states will be given a choice to convert their current home and community based care services waivers into a new state plan option with an enhanced federal match.
Establish a long-term services and supports innovation fund to help expand home- and community-based alternatives to institutional care. ... A Biden Administration will dedicate substantial resources to this fund to help states and locally based entities test innovative models that expand home- and community-based alternatives to institutional care.
Improve caregiving and health outcomes in our nation’s most underserved communities by adding 150,000 community health workers. … He will do this by providing direct grant funding, as well as adding community health worker services as an optional benefit for states under Medicaid.
Fill additional gaps in the nation’s health care infrastructure that impact families’ caregiving responsibilities.
Address the opioid epidemic and substance use disorders by training 35,000 workers to provide critical support.
Engage in a national strategy to recruit, retain and empower nursing professionals. … A Biden administration will provide additional funding to ensure we are building up the training, clinical and educational capacity to welcome – not turn away – the qualified individuals interested in nursing education and training … .
Create tens of thousands of jobs providing care to veterans by filling severe occupational shortages and vacant positions at almost every U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility. Biden will remove existing hiring and pay barriers that make it difficult to replace valued employees once they depart. ...
Provide resources for Indian Health Service to create new health care jobs. … Biden has called for dramatically increasing funding for Indian Health Service – and making it mandatory – allowing IHS to recruit, train, and pay health professionals.
Create a Public Health Jobs Corps. In partnership with state and local governments, and in consultation with unions, Biden will mobilize at least 100,000 additional Americans …
Provide all 3- and 4-year-olds access to free, high-quality pre-kindergarten, laying a strong foundation for children and saving parents thousands of dollars a year on child care costs.
Offer low-income and middle-class families an up to $8,000 tax credit to help pay for child care. Families will get back as a tax credit as much as half of their spending on child care for children under age 13, up to a total of $8,000 for one child or $16,000 for two or more children. The tax credit will be refundable, meaning that families who don’t owe a lot in taxes will still benefit, and Biden will actively work with child care experts to explore ways to make it advanced, so cash-strapped families can immediately benefit from the credit. The full 50% reimbursement will be available to families making less than $125,000 a year. And, all families making between $125,000 and $400,000 will receive a partial credit ensuring that in no case will they get less under the Biden plan than they are eligible for today.
Provide access to affordable, high-quality child care on a sliding scale for low-income and middle-class families who would prefer this option over the tax credit for young children. For young children ages 0-5, Biden will adopt the child care program envisioned in Senator Murray and Congressman Bobby Scott’s bipartisan Child Care for Working Families Act.
Invest in quality child care standards and a well-trained and well-compensated child care workforce. … He will also provide funding reflective of the true cost of quality care. Recognizing that quality begins with supporting the early childhood workforce, Biden will invest in strategies to retain and grow the pool of diverse, talented early childhood educators and give them the time, resources and support – like coaches, training and education opportunities for certification, and financial stability … .
Expand access to care that works for working parents. Biden will provide incentives for providers to fill critical child care shortages, including in the early mornings, evenings, and weekends, and in many rural communities that have few providers today. He will offer bonus payments to providers who operate during nontraditional hours and create a Child Care Growth and Innovation fund that will provide grants to programs filling essential needs, including expanding access to high-quality care for families with high barriers to care. He will also ensure all families will be able to choose high-quality child care that works for them, whether a child care center, home-based care with a family child care provider, or an informal arrangement with a friend, family member, or neighbor. And, Biden will build on the Obama-Biden Administration’s efforts to ensure Early Head Start is an option for families that will benefit from comprehensive family support and child development resources, including through doubling Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships. …
Biden will expand Child Care Development Block Grant subsidies to increase the number of school-aged children up to age 13 in low-income families who can benefit from the program. And Biden will expand support for community schools, which often provide before, after-school, and summer learning opportunities, and increase funding for after-school programs, community centers, and extracurriculars to keep children safe, learning, and having fun when school is not in session. This includes expanding the 21st Century Community Learning Centers that provide critical enrichment opportunities for school-aged children.
Invest in child care and other wraparound services at community colleges, so parents don’t have to choose between their own education and their children. …
Biden will fully fund installation-based child care facilities and expand awareness of the U.S. Department of Defense fee assistance program, as supported by leading advocates for military families, so that military spouses can more easily pursue their education and careers and tap into respite care to relieve the stresses of deployments … .
[Biden will] make direct investments in building new child-care facilities and upgrading existing facilities around the country that are not accessible for people with disabilities, or safe or developmentally appropriate for young children who are especially vulnerable to environmental contaminants like lead and mold, and to safety hazards like electrical outlets. …
[Biden will] provide funding for states to hire coaches for early childhood educators to continuously help them deliver high-quality learning experiences.”
https://joebiden.com/caregiving/
Annualized Cost: $77.5 billion ($775 billion over ten years)
Notes: The “Caregiving and Education Workforce Plan” (CEWP) was published to Biden’s campaign website on July 29, 2020. The information below provides additional details regarding some of the proposals included in the CEWP, some of which are also included among Biden’s previously-published policy pages. Cost estimates are included to provide budgetary context.
Medicaid Community-Based Services
“... Biden will … [w]ork with Congress to pass legislation ensuring adherence to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision. … Biden will work with Congress to ensure that people with disabilities no longer have to wait for decades to access community-based services. …
“Biden will work with the disability community and Congress to put home and community-based services (HCBS) on equal footing with institutional settings for Medicaid eligibility, while also investing in building the capacity of the Medicaid system to provide HCBS.”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Subtotal Cost: $28.8 billion ($288 billion over ten years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as. H.R. 555 and S. 117, the Disability Integration Act of 2019. The proposal “prohibits government entities and insurance providers from denying community-based services to individuals with disabilities that require long-term service or support that would enable such individuals to live in the community and lead an independent life.” States that are compliant with the bill’s requirements would receive a five percent increase in their federal medical assistance percentage. Assuming all states are compliant, a five percent increase in Medicaid funding would total $288 billion over ten years, relative to CBO’s January baseline, before the impacts of the pandemic.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/555
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/117
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2020-01/56020-CBO-Outlook.pdf
Pre-Kindergarten for All 3- and 4-year-olds
Annualized Subtotal Cost: $6.604 billion ($66.042 billion over ten years) partial estimate
Notes: Previously, Biden had proposed to nearly triple Title I education programs in order to “ ensure teachers at Title I schools are paid competitively, three- and four-year olds have access to pre-school, and districts provide access to rigorous coursework across all their schools ... .” NTUF assumes the expanded language in CEWP would be in addition to tripling Title I funding.
President Obama’s FY 2017 budget request included a Preschool for All initiative “to ensure four-year-olds across the Nation have access to high-quality preschool programs” at an average annual cost of $6.6 billion per year. A cost for including 4-year-olds is currently unavailable.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2017-BUD/pdf/BUDGET-2017-BUD.pdf
Child Care Refundable Tax Credit
“Offer low-income and middle-class families an up to $8,000 tax credit to help pay for child care. Families will get back as a tax credit as much as half of their spending on child care for children under age 13, up to a total of $8,000 for one child or $16,000 for two or more children. The tax credit will be refundable, meaning that families who don’t owe a lot in taxes will still benefit, and Biden will actively work with child care experts to explore ways to make it advanced, so cash-strapped families can immediately benefit from the credit. The full 50% reimbursement will be available to families making less than $125,000 a year. And, all families making between $125,000 and $400,000 will receive a partial credit ensuring that in no case will they get less under the Biden plan than they are eligible for today.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Subtotal Cost: $3.461 billion ($34.613 billion over ten years) partial estimate
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 7327, the Child Care for Economic Recovery Act. Section 402 of the proposal would make the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit fully refundable and increases the maximum credit rate to 50 percent. It also amends the phaseout threshold to begin at $120,000 instead of $15,000, and doubles the amount of child and dependent care expenses that are eligible for the credit to $6,000 for one qualifying individual and $12,000 for two or more qualifying individuals. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that this proposal would increase outlays by $34.613 billion over ten years. A cost estimate for Biden’s higher level of refundability is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7327
https://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=5266
Child Care for Working Families Act and Child Care Development Block Grant Expansion
“For young children ages 0-5, Biden will adopt the child care program envisioned in Senator Murray and Congressman Bobby Scott’s bipartisan Child Care for Working Families Act. He will … partner with states to provide sliding scale subsidies so that the cost of child care for low-income and middle-class families will be based on what they can afford. For children under the age of 5, no family earning below 1.5 times the median income in their state will have to pay more than 7% of their income for quality care, which was the affordable child care benchmark set by the Obama-Biden Administration. Biden will also set aside a portion of the funds for tribes to expand access to quality child care for Native children, as well as for outlying areas including U.S. territories.”
https://joebiden.com/womens-agenda/
Annualized Subtotal Cost: $24.174 billion ($72.522 billion over three years)
Notes: The Child Care for Working Families Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 1364 and S. 568. The proposal would establish a child care program as described above and would increase funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to $20 billion for FY 2020, $30 billion for FY 2021, $40 billion for FY 2022, and such sums as may be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year. In FY 2020, the Block Grant was funded at $5.826 billion (including the Child Care Research and Evaluation Fund).
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1364
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/568
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/hhs_fy21.pdf
Early Head Start Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP) Doubling
Annualized Subtotal Cost: $863 million ($4.313 billion over five years)
Notes: As noted above, Biden would double this program. In FY 2019, the Administration for Children and Families allocated $765 million for Early Head Start Expansion and EHS-CCP. The FY 2020 budget included an increase of $97.5 million and moved the other funding for the program into the budget total for Head Start. NTUF assumes he would double this funding in the first year.
Community Schools Support Expansion
“Community schools work with families, students, teachers and community organizations to identify families’ unmet needs and then develop a plan to leverage community resources to address these needs in the school building, turning schools into community hubs. Biden will expand this model, providing this wraparound support for an additional 300,000 students and their families.”
https://joebiden.com/education/
Annualized Subtotal Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal. The Center for American Progress’ 2018 report “Building Community Schools Systems.” with “public schools as hubs for communities” notes that “In addition to Title I, there are several other existing federal education funding streams that can help sustain community schools work, including the U.S. Department of Education’s Full Service Community Schools and Promise Neighborhoods programs; the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program; and 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants.”
21st Century Community Learning Centers Expansion
Annualized Subtotal Cost: $1.3 billion ($6.5 billion over five years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced by Senator Biden’s running-mate Kamala Harris (D-CA) in the 116th Congress as S. 2784, the Family Friendly Schools Act, to establish a supplemental 21st century community learning centers grant program to support programs and activities during summer recess when school is not in session. The text of the proposal would authorize additional funding of $1.3 billion over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2784
Child Care and Wraparound Services at Community Colleges
“In addition, the Biden plan will give states financial incentives to foster collaboration between community colleges and community-based organizations to provide wraparound support services for students, especially veterans, single parents, low-income students, students of color, and students with disabilities … .”
Annualized Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: This proposal is also included in Biden’s Postsecondary Education “Beyond High School” Platform, listed above, but that did not include a breakout of the cost for the services.
Previous Caregiver Proposals
As noted in the introduction to the CEWP, the Biden campaign indicates that it “builds on Biden’s proposals to support informal caregivers. NTUF assumes that these previous proposals, listed below, are included in the candidate’s cost estimate. The subtotal cost estimates are listed to provide some budgetary context for the proposals.
Medicare Credit for Caregivers Paid through Medicaid
“Biden will ensure that informal or family caregivers receive the support they need to care for their family members by …[w]orking with Congress to ensure that caregivers currently paid through Medicaid are able to earn credit towards Medicare … .”
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Annualized Subtotal Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Biden campaign has not provided additional details about this proposal.
Respite Care
“Biden also supports additional proposals to support caregivers, such as funding to give them access to respite care.”
https://joebiden.com/older-americans/
Annualized Subtotal Cost: $31 million ($153 million over five years)
Notes: Related legislation was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 2035, the Lifespan Respite Care Reauthorization Act of 2019. This bill amends and reauthorizes for five additional years the Lifespan Respite Care Program, which supports state lifespan respite care services (i.e., services for family caregivers of children and adults with special needs). CBO noted that the Administration for Community Living allocated $4 million for the program in FY 2019. Relative to that level, the proposal would increase outlays by a net of $153 million over five years.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2035
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-08/hr2035.pdf
Social Security Caregiver Credit
“Biden will ensure that informal or family caregivers receive the support they need to care for their family members by … [p]roviding Social Security credits to people who leave the workforce to care for their loved ones, as proposed in the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act.”
Annualized Subtotal Cost: Indeterminate
Notes: The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R 4126 and S. 2317. The text of the bill authorizes “such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.” The proposal allows for Social Security credit for “individuals who serve as caregivers of dependent relatives with deemed wages for up to five years of such service. Specifically, an individual shall be deemed to have been paid a wage (according to a specified formula) during each month in which the individual was engaged for at least 80 hours in providing care to a dependent relative without monetary compensation. However, this requirement shall not apply if a larger benefit or payment would otherwise be payable.” The proposal also establishes a state grant program to support medical training to caregivers and authorizes “such sums as may be necessary.” A cost estimate is currently unavailable.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4126
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2317
Crosscutting: Clean Energy, Infrastructure, and Environmental Justice
“Biden will make a $2 trillion accelerated investment, with a plan to deploy those resources over his first term … .”
Biden published a detailed “Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future.” The major elements of the plan that could impact spending, are paraphrased below. The Plan also includes Biden’s Environmental Justice platform, which had been previously published to Biden’s campaign website.
Build a Modern Infrastructure
Transforming our crumbling transportation infrastructure – including roads and bridges, rail, aviation, ports, and inland waterways.
Sparking the second great railroad revolution.
Revolutionizing municipal transit networks.
Ensuring clean, safe drinking water is a right in all communities.
Expanding broadband, or wireless broadband via 5G, to every American.
Cleaning up and redeveloping abandoned and underused Brownfield properties, old power plants and industrial facilities, landfills, abandoned mines, and other idle community assets.
Revitalizing communities in every corner of the country so that no one is left behind or cut off from economic opportunities.
Position the U.S. Auto Industry to Win the 21st Century with technology invented in America
Use the power of federal procurement to increase demand for American-made, American-sourced clean vehicles. ... Biden will make a major [$400 billion] federal commitment to purchase clean vehicles for federal, state, tribal, postal, and local fleets, making sure that we retain the critical union jobs involved in running and maintaining these fleets.
Encourage consumers and manufacturers to go clean. Senators Schumer, Stabenow, Brown, and Merkley, alongside organizations like the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and leading environmental groups, crafted a Clean Cars for America proposal. Biden will build on their leadership by providing consumers rebates to swap old, less-efficient vehicles for these newer American vehicles built from materials and parts sourced in the United States. These rebates will be accompanied by significant new targeted incentives for manufacturers to build or retool factories to assemble zero-emission vehicles, parts, and associated infrastructure here at home.
Make major public investments in automobile infrastructure — including in 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations
Accelerate research on battery technology and support the development of domestic production capabilities
Set a goal that all new American-built buses be zero-emissions by 2030 and accelerate the progress by converting all 500,000 school buses in our country — including diesel.
Achieve a Carbon Pollution-Free Power Sector by 2035
Marshal an historic investment in energy efficiency, clean energy, electrical systems and line infrastructure.
To build the next generation of electric grid transmission and distribution, Biden will prioritize re-powering of lines that already exist with new technology. And he will leverage the breakthroughs we have secured in energy storage over the last decade with historic procurement and investments to bring the future within reach for big utilities and rural cooperatives alike. In addition ... Biden will double down on research investments and tax incentives for technology that captures carbon and then permanently sequesters or utilizes that captured carbon … . He’ll also ensure that the market can access green hydrogen at the same cost as conventional hydrogen within a decade – providing a new, clean fuel source for some existing power plants.
Make Dramatic Investments in Energy Efficiency in Buildings, including Completing 4 Million Retrofits and Building 1.5 Million New Affordable Homes
For families, Biden’s plan will include direct cash rebates and low-cost financing to upgrade and electrify home appliances, install more efficient windows, and cut residential energy bills. Biden will also significantly expand weatherization efforts, reaching over 2 million homes within 4 years, including slashing the disproportionately high energy burden for low-income rural households and rural communities of color.
Biden will also repair the building code process with the goal of establishing building performance standards for existing buildings nationwide and support this effort with new funding mechanisms for states, cities, and tribes to adopt strict building codes and labor standards to ensure quality and predictability.
Launching a major, multi-year national effort to modernize our nation’s schools and early learning facilities. … In line with the Rebuild America’s Schools Act … Biden will make an historic investment to improve public school buildings, with resources weighted to those lower-income rural and urban schools
Pursue a Historic Investment in Clean Energy Innovation
Create a new Advanced Research Projects Agency on Climate.
Accelerate innovation in supply-chain resilience by investing in research to bolster and build critical clean energy supply chains in the United States, addressing issues like reliance on rare earth minerals.
- Invest in our national laboratories, high-performance computing capabilities, and the design and construction of other critical infrastructure at and around those national laboratories and the regional innovation ecosystems and economies that they support.
- Strengthen land-grant universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and other minority serving institutions, expanding facilities, targeting grants, and supporting the training of talent.
Advance Sustainable Agriculture and Conservation
Mobilizing the next generation of conservation and resilience workers through a Civilian Climate Corps.
Biden will direct a front-loaded investment to immediately address the backlog of remediation, reclamation, and restoration needs.
Helping farmers leverage new technologies, techniques, and equipment.
Secure Environmental Justice and Equitable Economy Opportunity
Establish an Environmental and Climate Justice Division within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
Mandate Pollution Monitoring: Mandate new monitoring in frontline and fenceline communities. Biden will ensure that the federal government recommends that each state adequately monitors environmental pollution, including emissions, criteria pollutants, and toxics, in frontline and fenceline communities. This will include installing new monitors where they are lacking to provide accurate and publically-available real-time data.
Establish an Environmental Public Health Corps.
Water and Air Pollution: Biden will also help protect rural communities from water and air pollution and make water bills affordable for low-income communities, rural Americans, and tribes through targeted state revolving funds and Rural Utility Service funding for disadvantaged communities.
... Biden will provide additional [Centers for Disease Control (CDC)] grants to every state and territory to work with their local health departments to develop climate disaster mitigation plans.
- Establish a Task Force to Decrease Risk of Climate Change to Children, the Elderly, People with Disabilities, and the Vulnerable
- Establish an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Launch an Infectious Disease Defense Initiative: ... Biden will establish an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity in the Office of the Secretary of HHS, modeled after the Office of AIDS Research that was created in 1983, and invest in surveillance, early-warning systems, and research to decrease climate change and health equity risks.
- Establish a Health Care System Readiness Task Force: Building on guidelines published in the Obama-Biden Administration, Biden will establish a biennial Health Care System Readiness Task Force, a public-private task force to assess the current state of the nation’s health care system resilience to natural disasters and recommend strategies and investments to improve it, which will include participation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/
https://joebiden.com/environmental-justice
Annualized Cost: $500 billion ($2 trillion over four years)
Notes: The information below provides some budgetary context for some of the proposals specified in Biden’s plan.
Clean Cars for America Initiative
The Clean Cars for America initiative has not been formally introduced as legislation. Details are available from the website of the Senate Democratic Leadership. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) estimated that the Clean Cars for America initiative would cost $454 billion over ten years.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/opinion/chuck-schumer-electric-car.html
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Related legislation introduced in the 116th Congress, H.R. 2, the Invest in America Act, includes $1.75 billion over five years to support the building of alternative fuel vehicle charging stations.
https://transportation.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2020%20INVEST%20in%20America%20Bill%20Summary.pdf
Rebuild America’s Schools Act
The Rebuild America’s Schools Act was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 865. CBO estimated that it would increase outlays by $64 billion over ten years. Before Biden released this Clean Energy plan, he had proposed to spend “$100 billion to modernize our nation’s schools.” https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/865
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-04/hr865.pdf
https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Advanced Research Projects Agency on Climate
A similar program, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy was funded at $425 million in FY 2020.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45715.pdf
Rare Earth Minerals
CBO estimated that related legislation introduced in the 116th Congress, S. 1317, the American Mineral Security Act, would increase outlays by $677 million over ten years.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/55523
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1317
Civilian Climate Corp
Related legislation introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 2358, the 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act, would authorize $64 billion over four years to establish a Civilian Conservation Corp. Additional legislation introduced as S. 4538 would authorize $55.8 billion over five years to establish a similar Conservation Corps.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2358
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4538
Department of Justice Environmental and Climate Justice Division
There are currently seven divisions within DOJ, with FY 2020 enacted funding levels ranging from $109 million to $295 million:
- Tax Division: $112.8 million
Criminal Division: $195.6 million.
Civil Division: $295.1 million.
National Security Division: $110.0 million
Environment & Natural Resources Division: $109.4 million
Civil Rights Division: $148.2 million
Antitrust Division: $166.8 million
https://www.justice.gov/doj/fy-2021-budget-and-performance-summary
Pollution Monitoring
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are currently more than 4,000 monitoring stations owned and operated mainly by the state environmental agencies. The costs can vary depending on the industry.
https://www.epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data/air-data-basic-information
https://www.enveraconsulting.com/petroleum-refinery-fenceline-monitoring