On Wednesday morning, President Biden will head to Scranton, his hometown in Pennsylvania to make the case for his Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (BID).
The White House is focusing on messaging the impact Biden’s Infrastructure Deal will have on people in Pennsylvania.
Let’s unpack.
Roads and Bridges:
- In Pennsylvania, there are 3,353 bridges and over 7,540 miles of highway in poor condition.
- Pennsylvania will receive $11.3 billion for federal-aid highways and $1.6 billion for bridges.
Public Transportation:
- Pennsylvanians who take public transportation spend an extra 68% of their time commuting.
- Pennsylvania will receive $2.8 billion to improve public transportation options.
High-Speed Internet:
- 14% of Pennsylvania households do not have an internet subscription, and 3.1% of Pennsylvanians live in areas where there is no broadband infrastructure.
- Pennsylvania will receive a minimum allocation of $100 million to help provide broadband coverage across the state, including providing access to the at least 394,000 Pennsylvanians who currently lack it.
Resilience:
- From 2010 to 2020, Pennsylvania experienced 37 extreme weather events, costing the state up to $10 billion in damages.
- The bill includes a $50 billion national investment in resilience to bolster infrastructure for the impacts of climate change and other threats, including funds to protect against floods, droughts, wildfires, and cyberattacks.
Impact of the Build Back Better Plan (BBB) on Pennsylvania
Tax Cuts for Families with Children:
- There are 339,000 or 13% of children under the age of 18 in Pennsylvania who are considered poor.
- The plan’s Child Tax Credit extension will benefit more than 2.3 million children in Pennsylvania, lifting 137,000 children out of poverty and reducing child poverty in the state by 43%.
Tax Cut for Childless Workers:
- Before the Rescue Plan, low-income childless workers were taxed into poverty.
- Theplan’s expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit for childless workers will benefit663,000 workers in Pennsylvania.
Child Care:
- The average annual cost of child care for a toddler in Pennsylvania is $11,400, meaning a two-parent household needs to spend 22% of their income to afford center-based care for two young children every year.
- The plan ensures that no middle-class family pays more than 7% of their income for high-quality child care up to age 5, allowing most Pennsylvania families to cut their spending on child care by half and to access higher quality care where workers are better compensated.
Universal Pre-K:
- Only 31% of 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania are enrolled in publicly-funded pre-school.
- The plan makes universal, high-quality pre-school a reality.
Higher Education:
- The average cost of a 2-year degree in Pennsylvania is almost $5,600 per year.
- The plan provides at least two years of free community college to all students and expands the maximum Pell Grant, supporting the nearly 200,000 students in Pennsylvania who rely on Pell Grants.[1]
Housing:
- 720,000 renters in Pennsylvania are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
- The plan will lower housing costs and increase the supply of affordable housing, including constructing and rehabilitating sustainable rental housing units and homes that working Pennsylvania families can afford.
Child Nutrition:
- A nutritious diet is critical to a child’s health and ability to succeed in school, but 16% of children in Pennsylvania live in food insecure households.
- The plan will ensure that the nutritional needs of Pennsylvania’s children are met by providing over 947,000 children with assistance to purchase food during the summer.