BIDEN-HARRIS

TRUMP-VANCE

Support for Anti-Poverty Programs:

  • Signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, lowering families' costs by reducing prescription drug prices, healthcare premiums, and energy costs.[1]
  • Signed the American Rescue Plan into law, which extended unemployment benefits and provided funding for small businesses during the pandemic.[2]
  • Reinstated an expanded the Child Tax Credit, which lifted 2.1 million American children out of poverty.[3]
  • Established new programs to make childcare more affordable.

 

Education:

  • Implemented several administrative actions to reduce student debt burden.[4]
     

Housing:

  • Provided first time home buyers with a $10,000 tax credit.[5]
  • Called upon Congress to pass a law to cap rent increases at 5%.[6]
  • Issued regulations to make it easier for system-impacted people to obtain housing.[7]

 

Health Care:

  • Gave Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices with insurance companies.[8]
  • Capped the price of insulin at $35.[9]
  • Made health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act more affordable.[10]
  • Issued regulations to streamline applications to Medicaid and CHIP.[11]

Support for Anti-Poverty Programs:

  • Proposed significant cuts to SNAP.[12]
  • Proposed significant cuts to Social Security.[13]

 

Education:

  • Opposes any student loan debt relief and called for the elimination of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.[14]
  • Tried to eliminate federal work-study programs and other grant funding.[15]
     

Housing:

  • Proposed the largest reduction in federal housing since 1937.[16]
  • Proposed to cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) budget by $6.5billon.[17]

 

Health Care:

  • Tried to end the Affordable Care Act and pass the American Health Care Act, which would have resulted in a loss of covered for millions of Americans, allowed states to deny coverage (or charge increased rates) for pre-existing health conditions, limited Medicaid funding, and more. Trump’s AHCA plan would have reduced access to healthcare and made healthcare less affordable.[18]
  • Proposed significant cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.[19]
  • Encouraged states to implement work requirements as part of Medicaid eligibility.[20]
 

[4] President Biden tried to forgive $400 billion dollars in student loan debt under the HEROES Act, but was blocked by the Supreme Court, ruling that the administration overstepped its authority. Since then, the Biden administration has taken several steps to reduce the cost of student loan repayment, including technical fixes to the existing

Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, forgiving debt owed to for-profit colleges, and issuing an Executive Order to reduce payments towards undergraduate loans—referred to as the SAVE Plan. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/04/08/president-joe-biden-outlines-new-plans-to-deliver-student-debt-relief-to-over-30-million-americans-under-the-biden-harris-administration/

[9] Id.

[12] Social programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were slated to take a major hit under Trump’s 2019 budget proposals, with more than $200 billion slashed over a ten-year period. https://www.cbpp.org/research/trump-budget-deeply-cuts-health-housing-other-assistance-for-low-and-moderate-income#:~:text=The%202019%20Trump%20budget%20cuts,restructures%20how%20benefits%20are%20delivered

[17]The $6.5 billion reduction in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) primarily involved cutting Section 8 affordable housing programs and Community Block Development Grants (CDBG). Key measures of his proposal included canceling Housing Choice Vouchers, eliminating energy assistance programs, and reducing funds for public housing repairs. https://www.housingfinance.com/finance/administration-proposes-to-cut-hud-budget-by-8-6-billion_o

[18]The American Health Care Act made substantial changes like replacing the Medicaid funding system with block grants in which states would be given a capped lump-sum payment. https://files.kff.org/attachment/Proposals-to-Replace-the-Affordable-Care-Act-Summary-of-the-American-Health-Care-Act