Free Community College Out of Build Back Better Legislation 

February 7, 2022 by Reece Nations
<strong>Free Community College Out of Build Back Better Legislation</strong> 
First Lady Jill Biden speaks at the Community College National Legislative Summit, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

WASHINGTON — First Lady Jill Biden announced on Monday that plans for two years of tuition-free community college are no longer part of Democrats’ social spending package.

Although she was disappointed that the community college provisions had to be cut out of the proposal in order to salvage its passage in the Senate, the first lady said other provisions to bolster support for students and families were still legislative priorities for Democrats. Access to high-speed internet, affordable prescription drugs, more Pell Grants, economical child care and universal preschool are some of the proposals included in the president’s Build Back Better agenda.

“One year ago, I told this group that Joe was going to fight for community colleges,” she said at the Community College National Legislative Summit in Washington. “But Joe has also had to make compromises. Congress hasn’t passed the Build Back Better legislation yet. And free community college is no longer a part of that package.”

While it may seem unusual for the announcement to come from the first lady, she made free community college provisions her signature legislative initiative upon entering the White House’s East Wing. The first lady is a longtime community college professor who teaches English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College.

President Biden’s initial proposal would have allocated $109 billion toward two years of free community college for eligible students, although that figure was eventually cut to $45.5 billion before finally being scrapped altogether. Negotiations on the bill stalled late last year after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., publicly made his opposition known, as previously reported in The Well News.

Despite promising to provide Americans two years of free community college as part of the American Families Plan outlined in April, President Joe Biden informed lawmakers in October that free community college provisions were expected to be dropped from the Build Back Better package. Additional proposals of Biden’s American Families Plan include investments for low- and middle-income students, particularly those attending historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities, and other minority-serving institutions.

Free tuition for so-called “Dreamers” — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, who migrated to the country as children — was also part of the initial proposals. While the pared-down version of the Build Back Better framework that passed the House in November didn’t include tuition-free community college, advocates had hoped the proposals might be reintroduced during the bill’s Senate negotiations, which so far have been unsuccessful.

“We knew that this wasn’t going to be easy,” Jill Biden said on Monday. “Joe always said that. Still — like you — I was disappointed because these aren’t just bills or budgets to me. We know what they mean for real people, for our students. And it was a real lesson in human nature that some people just don’t get that.”

Last week, Manchin told reporters on Capitol Hill that the current version of the Build Back Better bill was dead but expressed openness to a new round of White House negotiations. Manchin’s disapproval has impeded a number of his party’s other legislative priorities as well, such as curbing the filibuster, expanding the child tax credit and instituting clean-energy programs.

Manchin has cited rising inflation rates and the growing national debt as his primary objections to the Build Back Better bill’s provisions. However, the Biden administration’s economic advisors have long contended rising rates of inflation are a global issue related to the COVID-19 pandemic rather than a result of the administration’s spending programs.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development published data in November that showed inflation had increased in each of its member countries as the global economy continued to rebound from COVID-19-related hindrances. In December, The Well News reported on an analysis published by Third Way that projected families would have their child care and health costs lowered by thousands of dollars once the Build Back Better Act’s provisions were fully phased in.

Jill Biden also said during Monday’s community college summit that the administration would continue to push for free assistance for community college students regardless of its incorporation into the Build Back Better agenda. Democrats may continue to push for the initiatives by adding them to other related bills and passing them separately. 

Reece can be reached at [email protected]


A+
a-
  • Build Back Better
  • community college
  • Free college
  • Jill Biden
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Education

    September 15, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Calif. AG Blasts School District for Adopting Mandatory ‘Outing’ Measure

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday blasted a suburban school district near the state capital for... Read More

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday blasted a suburban school district near the state capital for adopting a mandatory gender identity disclosure policy he contends will threaten the safety and well-being of transgender and other nonconforming students. The Dry Creek Joint Elementary... Read More

    August 30, 2023
    by Natalie McCormick
    University of North Carolina Grapples With Professor’s On-Campus Murder

    CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Fear swept over the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Monday afternoon... Read More

    CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Fear swept over the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Monday afternoon as students, faculty and staff began checking buzzing cellphones and finding an alert stating, “Emergency: Armed, dangerous person on or near campus. Go inside now; avoid... Read More

    Books Banned in Other States Fuel Vermont Lieutenant Governor's Reading Tour

    WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) — On a recent Sunday afternoon, Vermont’s lieutenant governor was at a local library, reading a book... Read More

    WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) — On a recent Sunday afternoon, Vermont’s lieutenant governor was at a local library, reading a book about two male penguins to a crowd of nearly two dozen. This was not the first stop for Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman nor would it be... Read More

    Millions of Kids Missing Weeks of School as Attendance Tanks Across the US

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — When in-person school resumed after pandemic closures, Rousmery Negrón and her 11-year-old son both noticed a change:... Read More

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — When in-person school resumed after pandemic closures, Rousmery Negrón and her 11-year-old son both noticed a change: School seemed less welcoming. Parents were no longer allowed in the building without appointments, she said, and punishments were more severe. Everyone seemed less tolerant, more... Read More

    DeSantis Defending New Slavery Teachings. Civil Rights Leaders See Pattern of 'Policy Violence'

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Civil rights activists cheered when Ron DeSantis pardoned four Black men wrongfully convicted of rape as one of his first... Read More

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Civil rights activists cheered when Ron DeSantis pardoned four Black men wrongfully convicted of rape as one of his first actions as Florida's governor. But four years later, as DeSantis eyes the presidency, their hope that the Republican would be an ally on racial justice has... Read More

    Education Department Opens Investigation Into Harvard's Legacy Admissions

    BOSTON (AP) — Opening a new front in legal battles over college admissions, the U.S. Department of Education has launched... Read More

    BOSTON (AP) — Opening a new front in legal battles over college admissions, the U.S. Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard University's policies on legacy admissions. Top colleges' preferential treatment of children of alumni, who are often white, has faced mounting scrutiny... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top