{"id":110985,"date":"2021-03-31T12:43:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T12:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=110985"},"modified":"2021-03-31T12:43:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T12:43:28","slug":"joe-biden-to-unveil-2-trillion-infrastructure-and-jobs-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/joe-biden-to-unveil-2-trillion-infrastructure-and-jobs-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Biden To Unveil $2 Trillion Infrastructure And Jobs Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
President Joe Biden on Wednesday will unveil a massive proposal aimed at overhauling the country\u2019s aging roads and bridges, boosting manufacturing, mitigating climate change and making key investments in elder care and housing.<\/span><\/p>\n The $2 trillion \u201cAmerican Jobs Plan,\u201d which Biden will formally detail in a speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon, is part of the president\u2019s \u201cBuild Back Better\u201d agenda he ran on during the 2020 campaign. Next month, Biden is expected to unveil a second trillion-dollar proposal focused on child care, family tax credits and other domestic programs.<\/span><\/p>\n The first package includes $621 billion for roads, highways, bridges and waterways, as well as additional investments to electrify vehicles, expand internet broadband and make the nation\u2019s infrastructure more resilient to climate change. It would also spend $400 billion to care for the elderly and people with disabilities, $300 billion toward building and retrofitting homes, and $300 billion on innovation and research.<\/span><\/p>\n A senior Biden administration official, briefing reporters on the plan in a Tuesday night call, compared the legislation to \u201chistoric and galvanizing public investment programs we\u2019ve had in the past,\u201d such as the creation of the interstate highway system or the launch of the space program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is an important moment to demonstrate that the United States and democracies can deliver for people,\u201d the official said. \u201cThe stakes of this moment are high, the world is watching.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The administration says the infrastructure spending will help modernize more than 20,000 miles of road, double federal spending on public transportation, lead to the repair of \u201ceconomically significant\u201d bridges and help lead to the electrification of the nation\u2019s transportation system, including building 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations around the country and replacing diesel buses with electric ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Still, some nonpartisan groups argue the United States should spend even more on infrastructure: The American Society of Civil Engineers said in its latest infrastructure <\/span>scorecard<\/span> that the U.S. needs to invest $2.59 trillion by 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n The White House envisions paying for the plan by reversing some of the 2017 tax cut law and raising taxes on corporations from 21% to 28%. They say it would be paid for in full in 15 years \u2015 longer than the spending portion of the plan, which runs only eight years. The shortened window was likely made in hopes of making it more palatable to members of Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n The plan faces an unclear path forward in Congress, though administration officials said they were prepared to negotiate with members of both parties, and the top Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are likely to make its passage a priority. Already the plan is facing criticism from both sides of the aisle.<\/span><\/p>\n Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a top climate hawk, wrote in a post on Twitter on Tuesday that Biden\u2019s plan \u201d<\/span>needs to be way bigger<\/span>\u2033 to address long-standing climate and infrastructure needs. The congresswoman leads an influential bloc of progressives who are in a position to make demands from House leadership if they decide to do so. (Last week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus called for <\/span>$10 trillion<\/span> in federal infrastructure spending over the next decade \u2015 a price tag sure to alarm moderate Democrats.)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Republicans are griping that it\u2019s too expensive and shouldn\u2019t include things that haven\u2019t traditionally been considered \u201cinfrastructure,\u201d such as renewable energy and child care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI want to know what his definition of infrastructure is because what I\u2019m reading and what I think fundamentally is, ports, bridges, roads, water and broadband,\u201d Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told HuffPost last week. \u201cI was really disappointed with the sticker shock and the amount. I\u2019m just really concerned about the direction they\u2019re going to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also panned Biden\u2019s infrastructure plan last week as a \u201cTrojan horse\u201d stuffed with tax hikes and unrelated spending.<\/span><\/p>\n Democrats could muscle Biden\u2019s infrastructure plan through Congress unilaterally with a simple majority in the Senate by using the same budget process that allowed them to pass the American Rescue Plan, their $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, last month. That option won\u2019t become available until the fall, when the new fiscal year begins.<\/span><\/p>\n But some moderates, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), have expressed a desire to work with the GOP to find bipartisan solutions before moving on to a bill with only Democratic support. Manchin holds outsized influence in the evenly divided 50-50 Senate, so the White House may feel inclined to put in more time and effort wooing GOP senators this time around.<\/span><\/p>\n Infrastructure is a rare issue that usually enjoys broad bipartisan support in Congress. But both of Biden\u2019s predecessors \u2015 Barack Obama and Donald Trump \u2015 failed to deliver a major infrastructure overhaul during their time in office. Obama was stymied by similar GOP opposition to spending, including on much narrower infrastructure proposals. Trump gave up on his populist pledge to unleash a grand national renewal not seen since Dwight Eisenhower after a tense meeting with congressional Democrats, which he walked out on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And with Democrats seeing this as a rare opportunity to shape the nation\u2019s spending and tax priorities, it\u2019s likely Biden and congressional leaders will have to deal with a host of demands from House members and senators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Already three New York-area Democrats \u2015 Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Bill Pascrell of New Jersey, alongside Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York \u2015 have suggested they will refuse to vote for the legislation unless it repeals a cap on the state and local tax deduction Republicans passed into law in 2017, known as SALT.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe say \u2018No SALT, no deal,\u2019\u201d the trio said in a statement on Tuesday. \u201cThe SALT cap doesn\u2019t just hurt our taxpayers but our communities too, which face savage cuts to vital public services if relief is not enacted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Their opposition to the SALT cap is shared by top Democrats in the Senate, including Schumer. Progressives, however, are skeptical of prioritizing the elimination of the SALT cap, since most of the benefits would flow to high-income earners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nRELATED…<\/h3>\n