MARCH 31, 2021 / 8:11 AM
Biden's $2T American Jobs Plan aims to rebuild infrastructure, reshape
economy
By Don Johnson
President Joe Biden signs the PPP Extension Act of
2021 into law in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday, as Vice
President Kamala Harris and Small Business Administration Administrator Isabel
Guzman look on. Photo by Doug Mills/UPI/Pool | License Photo
March 31 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden will outline his $2 trillion
infrastructure plan on Wednesday, but the White House has unveiled key details
of the plan -- which include calling for a shift to greener energy over the
next eight years, paid for by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%.
The tax hike would
fund the infrastructure plan within 15 years and would be combined with plans
to discourage firms from listing tax havens as their address and offshoring
profits, the White House outlined in a fact sheet early Wednesday.
As part of the 2017
tax overhaul, Republicans slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.
Biden's plan would boost the global minimum tax for multinational corporations
and ensure they pay at least 21%.
The plan would also
levy a 15% minimum tax on the income the largest corporations report to
investors and make it harder for American companies to acquire or merge with a
foreign business to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
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Biden will announce
the proposal, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, on Wednesday at an event in
Pittsburgh. He is scheduled to deliver remarks at 4:20 p.m. EDT.
The proposal also
aims to:
·
Spend $621 billion on bridges, roads, public transit,
ports, airports and electric vehicle development. Biden has said the plan will
create "really good-paying jobs" and help the nation better compete.
·
Invest $174 billion in the electric vehicle market by
giving consumers rebates and tax incentives to buy electric vehicles made in
America and establish programs to build a national network of 500,000 charging
stations by 2030. It would also electrify at least 20% of school buses.
·
Allocate $115 billion to modernize 20,000 miles of
highways, roads and main streets -- and $20 billion to improve road safety and
repair the worst 10,000 smaller bridges.
·
Put more than $300 billion to expand broadband
Internet access, upgrade electric grids and improve the nation's drinking water
infrastructure.
·
Spend $300 billion to construct and upgrade schools
and affordable housing.
·
Inject $580 billion into job training, manufacturing
and research and development.
·
Put $400 billion into care for elderly and disabled
Americans.
The total cost of the
proposal is about $2 trillion.
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Biden has pledged to
create union jobs as part of the infrastructure plan. Two years ago, Biden
launched his presidential campaign at a union hall in Pittsburgh, which has a
strong organized labor presence.
While Democrats and
Republicans agree that U.S. infrastructure is in need of repair, Republicans
generally oppose tax hikes to pay for the spending proposal.
Democrats will need
support from 10 GOP senators to pass Biden's plan, or will have to again pass the
bill through budget reconciliation, which would not require any Republicans to
back the plan. Democrats passed Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan
under this process.
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Wednesday's proposal
is part of the administration's efforts to help the country emerge from the
throes of COVID-19. Biden and progressive Democrats also
hope to use the proposal to combat climate change and move to cleaner energy
sources.
The nation's
infrastructure has been in need to repair for years. The American Society of
Civil Engineers this year gave U.S. infrastructure a grade of C-, and said
an additional $2.6 trillion in funding is
required over the next decade.
The White House says
Biden's proposal goes beyond just spending on roads and bridges, as it also
focuses on the care economy with investments in education and child care.
The plan would
provide $400 billion to bolster care-giving for aging and disabled Americans
and expand access to long-term care services under Medicaid -- eliminating the
wait list for hundreds of thousands of people. It would allow more people to
receive care at home through community-based services or from family members.
The proposal would
also improve wages for home health workers, of whom one in six currently live
in poverty, the plan says.
The plan also
includes an investment of $85 billion to modernize existing transit and double
federal funding for public transit. About $80 billion would go to Amtrak
repairs and its Northeast Corridor line between Boston and Washington, D.C.
About $25 billion
would be spent for airports and $17 billion for inland waterways, ports and
ferries. More than $213 billion would go toward building, renovating and
retrofitting more than 2 million homes and housing units. More than 500,000
homes for low- and middle-income homebuyers would be built under the plan.
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