Tag Archives: infrastructure initiative

Biden due on Capitol Hill to sell multitrillion-dollar spending plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden heads to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to make the case for his sweeping, two-track infrastructure initiative, a day after leading Senate Democrats agreed on a $3.5 trillion plan billed as the biggest boost in decades for U.S. families.

Biden is due to attend a 12:45 p.m. (1645 GMT) lunch in the Capitol, where he is expected to urge his fellow Democrats in the Senate to back both a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal to rebuild America’s roads and bridges, and a larger reconciliation package that also addresses climate change and the need for stronger social services.

“The president looks forward to returning to Capitol Hill, a place he spent 36 years as a member of the Senate,” a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He will continue making the case for the dual-track approach that will build the economy back better with key investments in not just our nation’s infrastructure, but our efforts to protect our climate, to prepare the next generation of workers and to support middle-class families.”

Democrats face a tricky path ahead in passing the two measures through a narrowly divided Congress. They will need the support of all 50 of their Senators – plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote to pass the $3.5 trillion over Republican opposition. Republicans in Congress have already warned that the separate Democrats-only plan could lead them to vote against the $1.2 trillion bipartisan plan.

Even if they pass the Senate, both measures would also need to make it through the House of Representatives before going to Biden’s desk.

The $3.5 trillion plan agreed to by senior Democrats and White House negotiators includes a significant expansion of the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly – a top goal of Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, who joined Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in unveiling the deal Tuesday night.

Sanders’ support could help build support among progressive Democrats, some of whom had pushed for a bigger package.

Senate Republicans, who view Biden’s larger spending ambitions as wasteful and unnecessary, have voiced qualified support for the narrower $1.2 trillion plan, which includes $600 billion in new spending for roads, bridges, rail, public transit, water and broadband systems.

“You add that to the $600 billion in a bipartisan plan and you get to $4.1 trillion, which is very, very close to what President Biden has asked us for,” Schumer said, referring to the $3.5 trillion Democrats-only deal.

But Senate approval for both packages face hurdles, including possible reluctance by moderates such as Democratic Senator Joe Manchin to support the larger reconciliation agreement.

The Senate’s 50 Republicans are not expected to back the broader infrastructure effort, which would undo Republican then-President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts by raising taxes on U.S. corporations and wealthy individuals.

Asked about the Democrats’ deal on Wednesday, Republican Senator Mitt Romney said in a brief interview in the Capitol, it was: “Stunning. It’s a shocking figure, particularly at a time when the economy is already heating. It seems that our Democrat friends may have lost their bearings.”

Asked if it could pose a problem for the bipartisan infrastructure bill he is working on, Romney replied it was hard to predict. “But it obviously changes the dynamics.”

An absence of Republican support would leave Democrats to pursue passage on their own under a budget “reconciliation” process that sidesteps a rule requiring at least 60 votes to advance legislation in the 100-member chamber.

(Reporting by David Morgan, Trevor Hunnicutt and Susan Heavey; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

Biden says $2 trillion jobs plan rivals the space race in its ambition

By Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a sweeping use of government power to reshape the world’s largest economy and counter China’s rise in a $2 trillion-plus proposal that was met with swift Republican resistance.

The president’s “American Jobs Plan” would put corporate America on the hook for the tab as the government creates millions of jobs building infrastructure, such as roads, tackles climate change and boosts human services like care for the elderly.

“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,” Biden said in unveiling the program in Pittsburgh.

He said he had no problem asking companies to foot the bill and is “gonna put an end” to Amazon.com Inc and other major companies paying little to nothing in federal taxes.

Biden’s second multitrillion-dollar legislative proposal in two months in office sets the stage for a partisan clash in the U.S. Congress, where members largely agree that investments are needed but are divided on the total size and inclusion of programs traditionally seen as social services.

Another economic proposal Biden will release in April could add a further $2 trillion to the total price tag.

Coupled with his recently enacted $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Biden’s infrastructure initiative would give the federal government a bigger role in the U.S. economy than it has had in generations, accounting for 20% or more of annual output.

Biden’s team believes a government-directed effort to strengthen the economy is the best way to provide support to an economy walloped by the coronavirus pandemic and contend with increased competition and a national security threat posed by China.

The proposal was greeted icily by conservatives and major business groups.

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said the proposal was “another Trojan horse for far-left demands” one day after Biden called to brief the minority leader on the proposal. McConnell said raising taxes would be “killing jobs and slowing wage growth when workers need a fast recovery.”

PAYING FOR IT

Biden is ignoring a campaign promise to raise taxes on wealthy individuals, at least for now.

The plan would instead increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and change the tax code to close loopholes that allow companies to move profits overseas, according to a 25-page briefing paper released by the White House.

Biden said the goal was not to “target” businesses but to address divisions and inequality worsened by the pandemic.

The plan would spread the cost for projects over an eight-year period and aims to pay for it all over 15 years, without adding to the country’s long-term debt, the White House said.

Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the nation’s largest trade group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said while the organization shares Biden’s sense of urgency on infrastructure, his plan is “dangerously misguided.”

“We strongly oppose the general tax increases proposed by the administration which will slow the economic recovery and make the U.S. less competitive globally,” Bradley said.

The plan includes $621 billion to rebuild infrastructure, such as bridges, highways and ports, and a historic $174 billion investment in the electric vehicle market that sets a goal of building a nationwide charging network by 2030.

The program’s focus on union-represented jobs and projects to mitigate climate change would deliver long-sought liberal goals.

Administration officials also said they hoped to address economic inequality created by racial discrimination, for instance cutting air pollution that affects Black and Hispanic communities near ports or power plants.

Congress will be asked to invest $400 billion in expanding access to affordable community-based care for aging Americans and people with disabilities. It is aimed at low-wage workers in that industry, who are disproportionately women of color.

There is $213 billion included to build and retrofit environmentally sustainable homes along with hundreds of billions to support U.S. manufacturing, bolster the nation’s electric grid, enact nationwide high-speed broadband and revamp the nation’s drinking water systems.

ANOTHER PROPOSAL COMING

Biden is moving forward with the economic plan while attempting to deliver on promises to provide enough COVID-19 vaccines for all American adults by the end of May. The White House is also dealing with a rise in the number of migrants at the southern border and fallout from back-to-back mass shootings.

The plan forms one part of the “Build Back Better” agenda that the administration aims to introduce. A second legislative package being marketed as helping families is due within weeks.

That package is expected to include the expansion of health insurance coverage and child tax benefits, as well as paid family and medical leave.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has signaled she hopes to pass the infrastructure plan by July 4, although that time line could easily slip as Democrats with narrow majorities in both the House and Senate race to strike a deal on the details.

The jockeying has already begun. Moderate Democrats have said the package should be more targeted to traditional infrastructure projects to attract Republican votes. Liberal lawmakers want to tackle climate change and economic inequality with resources that reflect the size of those challenges.

Representative Pramila Jayapal, a leading liberal Democrat, said on Tuesday that the proposal Biden laid out as a presidential candidate was between $6.5 trillion and $11 trillion over 10 years.

“We’d like to see a plan that goes big,” Jayapal said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw; Writing by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Makini Brice; Editing by Dan Burns, Sonya Hepinstall and Peter Cooney)