Biden claims 'everybody's' on board for his $1.75 trillion spending plan. Here's what's inside.

Ladies and gentlemen, the day very few of you have been waiting for might finally be here.
After weeks of back and forth, President Biden announced a $1.75 trillion Build Back Better framework on Thursday, meaning the only thing left to do is secure broad Capitol Hill support — perhaps the most daunting task of all. If you ask Biden, though, apparently "everybody's" already on board (but we're not sure everyone's on that same page).
So what's inside? The framework allocates $400 billion toward child care and preschool, $555 billion toward clean energy and climate investments, $150 billion to expand affordable housing, and $200 billion toward the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Credit, among other investments. Notably, per CNN, the framework does not include expanding Medicare coverage to include vision or dental — a key provision for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Paid family leave and prescription drug pricing reform were also cut, reports The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A senior administration official on Thursday called the plan — which is a signficant roll back from an initially proposed topline number of $3.5 trillion dollars — the "most transformative investment in children and caregiving in generations, the largest effort to combat climate change in history, a historic tax cut for tens of millions of middle-class families and the biggest expansion of affordable health care in a decade," per CNN.
Despite the legislation's storied history, the White House remains confident this new proposal will have enough support to pass both chambers of Congress at long last, per the Post. Now, the president will present the plan in a private meeting with House Democrats before then unveiling it to the public Thursday afternoon.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
August 16 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include football season anticipation, and Donald Trump angling for Putin's autograph
-
5 hilariously cold cartoons about the Alaska summit
Cartoons Artists take on the Alaskan totem pole, a peace flag, and more
-
Crossword: August 16, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Border agents crash Newsom redistricting kickoff
Speed Read Armed federal Border Patrol agents amassed outside the venue where the California governor and other Democratic leaders were gathered
-
Man charged for hoagie attack as DC fights takeover
Speed Read The Trump administration filed felony charges against a man who threw a Subway sandwich at a federal agent
-
Trump BLS nominee floats ending key jobs report
Speed Read On Fox News, E.J. Antoni suggested scrapping the closely watched monthly jobs report
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS
speed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
What's a pocket rescission and can Trump use one?
The Explainer The White House may try to use an obscure and prohibited trick to halt more spending
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Speed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crime
Speed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monuments
Speed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder