Marin officials laud Biden $2.3T infrastructure plan
Funding possible for road work, Highway 37 flooding, transit
Marin County planners and political leaders found much to like in the $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that President Joe Biden outlined on Wednesday.
Biden described the proposal to reengineer the nation’s infrastructure over the next eight years as “a once-in-a-generation investment in America” that would, in the process, undo his predecessor’s signature legislative achievement of giant tax cuts for corporations.
Marin representatives and transportation officials said the plan could provide critical funding to expedite projects, including tackling backlogged road repairs, raising the flood-prone Highway 37 in response to sea-level rise, supporting transit agencies, building sea-level rise defenses, addressing housing equity and more.
“This is what a real infrastructure rollout looks like and it comes at a critical time for our country,” Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat who lives in San Rafael, said after the announcement.
Speaking at a carpenters union training center in Pittsburgh, Biden drew comparisons between his hard-hatted proposed transformation of the U.S. economy and the space race — and promised results as grand in scale as the New Deal or Great Society programs that shaped the 20th century.
“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. In fact, it’s the largest American jobs investment since World War II. It will create millions of jobs, good-paying jobs.”
White House officials say the spending would generate those jobs as the country shifts away from fossil fuels and combats the perils of climate change. It is also an effort to compete with the technology and public investments made by China, which has the world’s second-largest economy and is fast gaining on the United States’ dominant position.
Funding for the infrastructure projects would come from a hike on corporate taxes that would aim to raise the necessary piles of money over 15 years and then reduce the deficit after that. In doing so, Biden would undo the action by Trump and congressional Republicans and lift the corporate tax rate to 28% from the 21% rate set in a 2017 overhaul.
“Ninety-one Fortune 500 Companies, including Amazon, pay not a single solitary penny in income tax,” Biden said.
The announcement will be followed in the coming weeks by Biden pushing a companion bill of roughly equal size for investments in child care, family tax credits and other domestic programs. That nearly $2 trillion package would be paid for by tax hikes on wealthy people and families.
The president’s infrastructure projects would be financed by higher corporate taxes — a tradeoff that could lead to fierce resistance from the business community and thwart attempts to work with Republicans lawmakers. Biden hopes to pass an infrastructure plan by summer, which could mean relying solely on the slim Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.
The White House says the largest chunk of the proposal includes $621 billion for roads, bridges, public transit, electric vehicle charging stations and other transportation infrastructure. The spending would push the country away from internal combustion engines that the auto industry views as an increasingly antiquated technology.
Patrick Echols, a Marin County public works official, said the funding could work to address a $75 million backlog in road maintenance in the county; provide funding for bridge replacements; close gaps in the county’s bicycle and pedestrian paths; and build defenses against sea-level rise impacts on coastal and bayside communities.
“There is much to be considered and county staff will be meeting next week to prioritize projects pending the details of the infrastructure package criteria,” he said.
The package would propose to double funding for public transit and road improvements. Anne Richman, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin, said that could provide huge benefits for everything from basic road repairs to local projects such as relocating the San Rafael Transit Center and building a direct connector between Highway 101 and Interstate 580.
“There really is quite a long list of projects that could benefit from this kind of funding,” Richman said.
The plan also proposes funding to replace 50,000 diesel-powered transit vehicles with electric-powered replacements — initiatives that are already underway for agencies such as Marin Transit and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.
Marin Transit, which seeks to fully electrify its bus fleet by 2040, could benefit from the federal funding through the buildout of bus charging stations and augmenting the power needed to maintain a growing electric fleet. As of now, the district’s six electric buses are limited in their range because of charging requirements.
Nancy Whelan, general manager of Marin Transit, said the plan could also incentivize manufacturers to create hybrid and electric versions of shuttle buses and narrow-bodied buses, which currently use gasoline and diesel fuels.
Denis Mulligan, general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge district, said his agency plans to release its own bus electrification plan in the coming months. On the bridge side, Biden’s plan could aid the district’s final $656 million phase of a project to bolster the bridge’s defenses from earthquakes.
“This bill is a gamechanger,” Mulligan said. “Infrastructure is the foundation for a thriving economy.”
An additional $111 billion would go to replace lead water pipes and upgrade sewers. Broadband internet would blanket the country for $100 billion. Separately, $100 billion would upgrade the power grid to deliver clean electricity. Homes would get retrofitted, schools modernized, workers trained and hospitals renovated under the plan, which also seeks to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.
To keep companies from shifting profits overseas to avoid taxation, a 21% global minimum tax would be imposed. The tax code would also be updated so that companies could not merge with a foreign business and avoid taxes by moving their headquarters to a tax haven. And among other provisions, it would increase IRS audits of corporations.
Biden appealed to Republicans and the business community to join him in negotiations on the bill, but the legislative prospects for Biden’s twin proposals already appear to hinge on Democrats coming up with the votes on their own through the budget reconciliation process, which requires just a simple majority in the 50-50 Senate.
“I’m going to bring Republicans into the Oval Office, listen to them, what they have to say and be open to other ideas,” Biden said.
But key GOP and business leaders were already panning the package.
“It seems like President Biden has an insatiable appetite to spend more money and raise people’s taxes,” Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the GOP whip, said in an interview.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell dismissed Biden’s package as nothing more than a “Trojan horse” for tax hikes.
The business community favors updating U.S. infrastructure but dislikes higher tax rates. Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said “we applaud the Biden administration for making infrastructure a top priority.”
“However, we believe the proposal is dangerously misguided when it comes to how to pay for infrastructure,” he said.