WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will call for free preschool for all three- and four-year-old children, a $200 billion investment to be rolled out as part of his sweeping American Families Plan being unveiled Wednesday in a joint address to Congress.
The administration said the historic investment would benefit 5 million children and save the average family $13,000. It calls for providing federal funds to help the states offer preschool, with teachers and other employees earning $15 an hour.
“These investments will give American children a head start and pave the way for the best-educated generation in U.S. history,” the administration said.
The new details are part of Biden’s $1 trillion-plus package focused on so-called human infrastructure – child care, health care, education and other core aspects of the household architecture that undergird everyday life for countless Americans. It would be paid for by hiking taxes on very high-income households, in keeping with the president’s vow not to raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 a year.
Before Wednesday night’s address, with details of the plan still in flux, lawmakers have been pushing to make sure key priorities are included in this next phase of Biden’s massive infrastructure reinvestment program.