Biden to propose $1.8tn 'family plan' to Congress

In his first joint address to Congress, Biden will propose universal preschool provision, two years of free community college, $225bn for childcare and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents, Associated Press reported. The president will say taxing the rich is the best way to grow the economy by helping poor and middle-class families.

The "American Families Plan" seeks to close gaps in the US safety net exposed by the Covid-19 crisis, which left millions of Americans exposed after decades of flat or declining real wages for workers at the bottom of the income scale. Biden plans to pay for his programmes with about $1.5tn of tax increases for wealthy Americans.

Biden could struggle to get his programme through Congress, where his Democratic party has small majorities in both houses. Critics have said his plans could stifle investment and hit jobs. But Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan, has said the rich should be prepared to pay their share to mend the US's fraying social fabric.

After beating Donald Trump in November's election with a message of moderation, Biden, who coveted the presidency for more than three decades, has proposed transformative changes some compare with the New Deal of the 1930s. The plan reverses the path of US policy since the 1980s when Ronald Reagan entrenched the idea that low taxes and smaller government were the keys to economic success.

"He [Biden] is a big-government Democrat, and he has not been at all reluctant to propose big initiatives in a response to a national crisis,” Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University presidential historian, told AP.

Biden is seizing the initiative while the Democrats control both the House and the Senate. History suggests the party's thin majorities could be overturned in mid-term elections. The US economy is also forecast to surge this year as it rebounds from the pandemic, giving Biden room to enact his programme.