This afternoon in Pittsburgh at the Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, President Joe Biden will unveil a sprawling, ambitious infrastructure proposal that, if enacted, would overhaul how Americans get from Point A to Point B, how their electricity is generated, the speed of their Internet connections, the quality of their water and the physical makeup of their children’s schools.
The measure, called the American Jobs Plan, includes big infrastructure fixes that both parties — as well as a majority of Americans — consistently say they want to see, including upgrades to bridges, broadband and buildings.
White House Fact Sheet: The American Jobs Plan
The $2 trillion proposal includes:
-$621 billion towards transportation infrastructure and resilience (roads, ports, transit), including $174 billion for the investment in vehicle electrification
-An EV charging network– promising to have at least 500,000 of the devices installed across the U.S. by 2030.
-$400 billion for elder and disabled care
-$300 billion for manufacturing
-$213 billion to develop and preserve more than two million affordable and sustainable places to live
-$111 billion for clean drinking water infrastructure
-$100 billion to expand high-speed broadband across the entire country
-$100 billion for improving electric grid systems
The spending in the plan would take place over eight years and unlike the economic stimulus passed under President Barack Obama in 2009, when Mr. Biden was vice president, officials will not in every case prioritize so-called shovel ready projects that could quickly bolster growth. Mr. Biden would fund his spending in part by eliminating tax preferences for fossil fuel producers. But the bulk of his tax increases would come from corporations generally. He would raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent, partly reversing a cut signed into law by former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Biden would also take a variety of steps to raise taxes on multinational corporations, many of them working within an overhaul of the taxation of profits earned overseas that was included in Trump’s tax law in 2017. Those measures would include raising the rate of a minimum tax on global profits and eliminating several provisions that allow companies to reduce their American tax liability on profits they earn and book abroad. Mr. Biden would also add a new minimum tax on the global income of the largest multinationals, and he would ramp up enforcement efforts by the Internal Revenue Service against large companies that evade taxes.
The proposal faces a rough road in Congress. Garnering Republican support in either the House or Senate, both of which Democrats control by narrow margins, will be difficult, if not impossible. Corralling moderate and progressive Democrats will also be a challenge. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) told her caucus members Monday that she aims to move the infrastructure bill through her chamber by July 4, though it could slip to later that month. That timeline could allow for the Senate to pass the final version before Congress’s monthlong August recess.
Washington, D.C. Daily Update will resume publication on Monday, April 5th after the Easter holiday.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
