'We can't delay': Biden proposes $2 trillion infrastructure, jobs plan funded by corporate tax hike
Joey GarrisonWASHINGTON – 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 sweeping jobs proposal, dubbed 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 "good-paying 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% – raising the level set in President Donald Trump's tax cuts in 2017 – and overhauling how the United States taxes multinational corporations by increasing the minimum tax on U.S. corporations to 21%.
Republicans tee up attacks:Even before Biden unveils his infrastructure plan, GOP pans it as going too far
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
The president 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.
It's the first piece of Biden's larger "Build Back Better" agenda. A separate proposal addressing health care, education and child care is expected in April. The package continues a shift in U.S. policy under the Biden administration to expand the role of the federal government to meet the nation's challenges.
"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, R-Ky., 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."
$621 billion for roads, bridges, rail, Amtrak and electric vehicles
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 USA and repairing 10,000 smaller bridges in poor condition.
A gas tax? A mileage tax?Biden wary of user fees to pay for roads, bridges and highways
Federal funds for transit projects – improvements 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, improvements and expansion, $25 billion for updating airports and $17 billion for sea ports.
"We can't delay," Biden said. "We can't delay another minute. It's long past due."
Racial equity and rural infrastructure are major themes throughout the package, which would set aside $20 billion to reconnect neighborhoods historically cut off by investments. The plan proposes $50 billion to create "resilient infrastructure" that can withstand weather-related events.
Biden wants to direct $174 billion to electric vehicles: the construction of a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle stations, replacing diesel vehicles, electrifying bus fleets and offering tax incentives and rebates to make electric cars more affordable.
Retrofitted homes, lead pipe replacement, 'universal' broadband
An additional $213 billion in the plan would go toward retrofitting and building more than 2 million affordable homes and commercial properties, and $111 billion would replace all the nation's lead pipes and service lines and upgrade drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems.
"So that every American, every child can turn on a faucet or fountain and drink clean water," Biden said.
The plan would provide $100 billion to upgrade and construct public schools; $100 billion to build high-speed broadband infrastructure to reach all Americans; and $100 billion to upgrade the nation's electric grid and investment in clean electricity.
The plan sets aside $10 billion to modernize federal buildings, $12 billion for community college infrastructure, $18 billion to modernize Veterans Affairs hospitals and facilities and $25 billion to upgrade child care facilities.
Biden proposes a new national "energy efficiency and clean electricity standard" aimed at cutting the cost of electricity bills and electricity pollution. The plan would earmark $16 billion to plug orphan oil and gas wells, $10 billion to build a conservation workforce and $5 billion for the remediation of dormant industrial sites.
The 'caregiving economy,' climate research and manufacturing
In one of the plan's most expensive programs, Biden proposed $400 billion to expand access to affordable care for the elderly and disabled. This would involve aid to Americans to obtain services they need but lack, and expand the care workforce, including a pay boost for care workers. The majority are women of color and earn about $12 an hour.
Biden proposed expanding access to long-term care services under Medicaid and increasing pay through the same federal program.
"For too long, caregivers, who are disproportionately women, women of color and immigrants, have been unseen, underpaid and undervalued," Biden said.
More:Biden faces tough balancing act on infrastructure as pressure builds on immigration, gun control
Aiming to make the country more competitive against China and other nations, the plan would pump $180 billion into research and development in technology and climate science. This includes $50 billion for the National Science Foundation to invest in new technology, $40 billion to upgrade outdated research labs, $35 billion to build technology to address the climate crisis and $10 billion for research centers at historically Black colleges and universities.
"We've fallen back," Biden said of U.S. investment in research and science. "The rest of the world is closing in and closing in fast. We can't allow this to continue.
"Critics say we shouldn't spend this money. They ask, 'What do we get out of this?' Well, they said the same thing when we flew into space for the first time."
The plan calls for $300 billion in manufacturing spending. It's headlined by $50 billion for a new federal office to monitor domestic industrial capacity and the production of critical goods on the supply chain such as semiconductors, batteries and clean energy technologies.
Other manufacturing proposals include: $46 billion in federal purchasing power for clean energy manufacturing, so electric cars, electric charging ports, electric heat pumps and other clean materials are built in the USA; $30 billion for new jobs focused on the nation's preparedness for pandemics; and $20 billion to create 10 "regional innovation hubs" to spur technology development.
"I'm convinced that if we act now, that in 50 years, people will look back and say this was when America won the future," Biden said.
Fully paid for in 15 years, White House says
The tax overhaul, which the White House labeled the Made in America Tax Plan, seeks to incentivize job creation and investment in the USA, end profit-shifting to tax havens and ensure large corporations pay "their fair share." The White House stressed that, at 28%, the corporate tax rate would still be lower that at any point before Trump's tax cuts went into effect.
The plan would eliminate a rule that allows U.S. companies to pay no taxes on the first 10% of returns when they locate investments in other countries.
Under the tax hikes and other changes – eliminating tax loopholes for intellectual property and denying companies deductions for offshoring jobs, for example – the White House projects the spending would be fully paid in 15 years and reduce deficits in the years after.
Biden said no Americans who earn less than $400,000 would pay more taxes under his proposal. He said it's not about targeting "those who made it" but opening up "opportunities for everybody else."
Business groups criticized the tax hikes. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauded Biden for "making infrastructure a top priority" but said the tax increases "will slow the economic recovery and make the U.S. less competitive globally – the exact opposite of the goals of the infrastructure plan."
A large-scale infrastructure plan has been talked about by both parties for years but never executed. President Donald Trump promised an infrastructure package but did not deliver one.
"Everybody is for doing something on infrastructure. But why haven't we done it?" Biden said. "Nobody wants to pay for it."
White House says it's open to negotiations with Republicans
To build its case for trillions in spending, the White House said the USA ranks 13th globally in infrastructure quality, down from fifth in 2002, and lags rival superpower China in infrastructure spending. More than one-third of America's bridges need repairs, and one in every five highways are in poor condition.
The Americans Jobs Plan is Biden's second major policy proposal of his young presidency after he won approval for his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill this month. Not a single Republican voted for that bill, known as the American Rescue Plan.
Early public polling shows broad support for infrastructure spending, like it did for Biden's COVID-19 relief package. A Morning Consult/Politico poll this week found Americans, by 2 to 1 (54%-27%), support raising corporate taxes to support improvements to infrastructure.
Democrats could seek passage of the infrastructure legislation in the Senate through budget reconciliation – like they did Biden's COVID-19 relief bill – which would require just a simple majority in the evenly split chamber and no Republican votes.
The White House did not say how it plans to move the package through Congress and did not give a timeline on when it wants it passed.
"We'll have a good-faith negotiation with any Republican who wants to get this done," Biden said. "But we have to get it done."
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
