WASHINGTON — Jill Biden stated Monday that the administration’s priority to provide two years of tuition free community college will not be included in any social spending bill Congress Democrats attempt to pass.
“One year ago, Joe told this group that Joe was going fight for community college,” said the first lady in remarks to the Community College National Legislative Summit.
“But Joe also has to make compromises. She added that Congress has not passed the Build Back better agenda yet. “And the free community college is no more a part of this package.”
First lady, who teaches English at Northern Virginia Community College, stated that she was disappointed when it became apparent that the plan for a community college couldn’t be included within the legislation. She stated that these are not just bills and budgets for her.
She said, “We understand what they mean for real people and for our students.” “We have seen the transformation of entire communities when private and community colleges work together to train students in jobs that are urgently needed, such as manufacturing or modernizing the electrical grid.”
Last October, President Joe Biden informed progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the free community college provisions were to be removed from his Build Back Better package. Biden stated that he would continue to make free community college a reality in his first term.
Biden stated that he would get the job done during a CNN Town Hall with Anderson Cooper. He said that if he doesn’t, he’ll be alone for a long while, referring to his wife’s efforts to promote the measure.
Biden proposed in his American Families Plan that Congress allocate $109 billion to two years of free community college so that all students have the opportunity to earn a degree or certificate. This plan would have covered so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the U.S. as children by their immigrant parents.
The negotiations for the Build Back better legislation ended in December last year when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) publicly opposed the bill. Democrats are trying salvage what they can, and possibly pass it in smaller forms.
Manchin stated last week that the current Build Back Better version was “dead,” but that he is open to new talks with the White House.
When Manchin was asked by reporters if certain policies should be included in the bill, Manchin replied “What Build Back Better bill?” “It’s dead.”
