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President Joe Biden flew to Pittsburgh Wednesday to unveil his national infrastructure and climate plan.
“Two years ago, I began my campaign here in Pittsburgh, saying I was running to rebuild the backbone of America,” Biden began. “And today, I return as your president to lay out the vision of how I believe we do that.”
The President’s next major legislative push, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, is a sweeping $2 trillion infrastructure plan to modernize and rebuild the country’s roads, bridges, and transit systems, revitalize manufacturing, create high-paying jobs, and deliver high-speed broadband internet to all Americans.
“It’s not a plan that tinkers around the edges,” Biden said. “It’s a once-in-a-generation investment in America, unlike anything we’ve seen or done since we built the Interstate Highway System and the Space Race decades ago.”
The massive investment could be completely paid for in 15 years with Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax from 21% to 28%, a plan the president is coupling with the infrastructure package. The tax overhaul would also create incentives to keep jobs in America while disincentivizing offshoring jobs, prevent U.S. companies from claiming tax havens in another country, and ramp up enforcement against corporations.
Biden said he’s open to ideas on how to pay for the plan, but urged swift action to carry out his proposals.
“Let me be clear, these are my ideas on how to pay for this plan. If others have additional ideas, let them come forward,” he said. “I’m open to other ideas so long as they do not impose any tax increase on people making less than $400,000 dollars.”
Biden pledged to have “good faith negotiations” with GOP lawmakers, saying: “I’m going to bring Republicans into the Oval Office, listen to them, what they have to say and be open to other ideas.
The proposed infrastructure bill will:
- Invest $621 billion in transportation infrastructure, including repairing bridges 20,000 highways, roads, and main streets, investing in rail service, modernize public transit
- Deliver high-speed broadband internet to all Americans and reduce the cost of broadband service
- Spend $100 billion to modernize America’s electric grid
- Modernize and upgrade America’s drinking water, wastewater, and storm water systems
- Upgrade and build new public schools and child care facilities, and invest in community college infrastructure
- Improve wages and benefits for essential home care workers
- Invest in manufacturing, small businesses, invest in R&D, and workforce development to train Americans for the jobs of the future
“The American jobs plan will modernize 20,000 miles of highway, roads and main streets that are in difficult, difficult shape right now,” Biden said. “It will fix the nation’s 10 most economically significant bridges in America that require replacement. Remember that bridge that went down? We’ve got ten most economically significant bridges with more commerce going across it that need to be replaced. We’ll also repair 10,000 bridges, desperately needed upgrades to unclog traffic, keep people safe and connect our cities, towns and tribes across the country.”
The plan is the first of a two-part proposal to help the nation’s economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The other, the American Families Plan is expected to be a set of investments aimed at helping American workers and boosting education. Biden is expected to lay that out in a few weeks.
