Highways and jobs:
Biden’s ambitious $2 trillion infrastructure plan calls for raising taxes on corporations.
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden unveiled a $2 trillion plan Wednesday to rebuild the nation’s aging infrastructure, support electric vehicles and clean energy and boost access to caregivers and their pay in a massive undertaking that would be the centerpiece of his economic agenda.
Biden billed the American Jobs Plan as a domestic investment not seen in the USA since the construction of the interstate highways in the 1950s and the space race a decade later.
The plan seeks to reshape an American economy struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic, while positioning the United States to fight climate change and out-compete China in manufacturing. It would pump billions into rebuilding roads, bridges and rail with a dual goal of creating millions of “goodpaying union jobs.”
Biden wants to raise taxes on corporations to pay for the eight-year spending package. He proposed increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% and overhauling how the United States taxes multinational corporations by increasing the minimum tax on U.S. corporations to 21%.
Biden detailed the plan Wednesday afternoon in a speech at a carpenters training center in Pittsburgh, calling it a “once-in a generation investment” that rewards “work, not just wealth.” He said the plan would be the country’s largest jobs program since World War II and make the country more competitive globally.
“It’s big – yes. It’s bold – yes. And we can get it done,” he said.
“Put simply, these are investments we have to make,” he said. “Put another way, we can’t afford not to.”
Biden faces a giant test politically to find Republican support in Congress for his legislative package, though infrastructure generally has widespread bipartisan support. Republicans have balked at the suggestion of tax hikes and warned they would oppose a package that strays from core transportation infrastructure and tackles climate change and social justice.
“This apparently is not going to be an infrastructure package,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, who spoke to Biden Tuesday, said shortly after its release. The Republican called it a “Trojan horse” for borrowed money, debt and tax increases on “the most productive parts of our economy.”
The American Jobs Plan would allocate $621 billion to transportation infrastructure and resilience, including the repair and construction of roads, bridges, transit and rail service.
That includes $115 billion to modernize 20,000 miles of roads, fixing the 10 most “economically significant” bridges in the U.S. and repairing 10,000 smaller bridges.
Federal funds for transit projects – improvements to existing systems and expansion – would double under the plan to $85 billion. The plan would provide $80 billion to Amtrak to cover the rail service’s backlog of repairs.