In Louisiana, Biden pushes infrastructure plan
LAKE CHARLES, La. — With a badly aging bridge as his backdrop, President Joe Biden stood in reliably Republican Louisiana on Thursday to pressure GOP lawmakers to support his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan — and yet express a willingness to compromise on the corporate tax hikes he’s recommending to pay the cost.
Biden leaned into the stagecraft of the presidency by choosing to speak in the city of Lake Charles, which has been battered by historic storms and is home to a 70-year-old bridge that is two decades past its designed lifespan.
Where to find the money for replacements and repairs here and elsewhere? The Democratic president, who wants to raise corporate taxes, challenged Republican dogma that low taxes for corporations and the wealthy fuel economic growth. But he also declared he was willing to make a deal and dared them to do the same.
“I’m willing to hear ideas from both sides,” said Biden. “I’m ready to compromise. What I’m not ready to do is, I’m not ready to do nothing. I’m not ready to have another period where America has another Infrastructure Month and it doesn’t change a damn thing.”
Even as he engages with Republicans in Washington, Biden is trying to sell their voters on the idea that higher corporate taxes can provide $115 billion for roads and bridges and hundreds of billions of dollars more to upgrade America’s electrical grid, make the water system safer, rebuild homes and jump-start the manufacturing of electric vehicles. To drive home the point, he also toured a water plant in New Orleans.
He’s proposing to pay for his plan by undoing the 2017 tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump and raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Biden contends his programs would bolster the middle class and make the country stronger than tax cuts for big companies and CEOs.
“You’re entitled to be a millionaire, be a billionaire, just pay your fair share,” said Biden. “I’m not looking to punish anyone. I’m sick and tired of corporate America not doing their fair share.”
The White House has found little support from congressional Republicans, none of whom voted for the $1.9 trillion COVID19 bill signed into law in March and who have, so far, uniformly opposed the infrastructure plan. But the West Wing has pointed to polling that suggests the plan is popular with GOP voters and notes that some Republican officials do back it.
“I find more support from Republican governors and mayors and Democratic governors and mayors around the country,” Biden said, “because they’ve got to answer the question: Is life better in this town, this city, this state than it was before I got elected?”