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Representative Angie Craig Statement on House Passage of the Build Back Better Act

November 19, 2021

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representative Angie Craig released the following statement following House passage of the Build Back Better Act.

"I'm pleased that the Build Back Better Act contains a number of my district's priorities to expand access and lower the cost of healthcare, invest in working families and provide support to rural communities and family farmers. I'm especially pleased that this bill is fully paid for and that all indications are that it will actually help reduce the deficit."

The specifics of those priorities include:

Expand access and lower the cost of healthcare:

  • Empowers Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for certain drugs, caps out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs for seniors at $2,000 per year and caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month
  • Extends through 2025 the enhanced premium tax credits in the ACA
  • Closes the Medicaid coverage gap by providing access to affordable coverage in the ACA marketplace to millions of Americans who live in states that did not previously expand Medicaid
  • Creates a federal reinsurance program – written by Craig – which would lower health care premiums for millions of Minnesotans who purchase through the ACA's individual market

Invest in working families:

  • Establishes a paid family and medical leave program, providing four weeks of paid parental, family caregiving, and medical leave.
  • Provides pre-K for three-and four-year-olds
  • Extends the Child Tax Credit which will benefit 35 million middle-class American families and 146,000 children in the second district
  • Caps the cost of child care at 7% of income for working families who make up to $270,000 annually in Minnesota

Support to rural communities and family farmers:

  • Invests $1 billion in biofuels infrastructure
  • Extends the biodiesel tax credit through 2026
  • Provides nearly $1 billion for a Rural Partnership Program
  • Includes $2 billion for the Rural Energy for America Program

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