President Joe Biden is set to officially propose his multitrillion-dollar “American Jobs Plan” this afternoon in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, marking infrastructure as his next big ticket in legislation.
The plan in its entirety can be viewed here. The top items receiving the bulk of financial support, which the president claims will be completed in eight years and paid off in 15 years, focus on investing in “America in a way we have not invested since we built the interstate highways and won the Space Race,” the White House fact sheet states.
White House officials said the plan will include four major areas of concern: transportation, home, care and research, and development.
Building roads and bridges and modernizing public transit is the highest priority in this plan, with $621 billion allocated to rebuilding America’s aging infrastructure.
Next, $400 billion would go to “care infrastructure” that would expand access to home or community care for people with aging relatives or those with disabilities, axios.com reports.
The bill would invest $174 billion in the electric vehicle market by giving consumers rebates and tax incentives to buy electric vehicles made in America and establishing programs to build a national network of 500,000 charging stations by 2030, according to upi.com. It would also electrify at least 20% of the nation’s school buses.
Another $111 billion would go to replace lead water pipes and upgrade sewers, thereby eliminating all lead pipes and service lines in the country.
Additionally, $180 billion would be invested in clean energy, $100 billion to build out high-speed broadband across the country—efforts that will create “millions and millions of jobs” for Americans, administration officials said in a call with reporters Tuesday night.
The primary concern among GOP members is the hefty size of the bill, especially after Biden’s first part of the American Rescue Plan—the COVID-19 relief package—passed without any Republican support.
Republicans also fear that, like the relief package, the bill contains hidden agendas, suggesting the allocation of the funds should be limited to the primary focus of infrastructure instead of covering outlying problems separate from it. The wide-range allocation of funds that fall outside its primary focus causes skepticism in the party, with many wondering from where the additional funds will come.
“We’re hearing the next few months might bring a so-called ‘infrastructure’ proposal that may actually be a Trojan horse for massive tax hikes and other job-killing left-wing policies,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said from the Senate floor last week.
“Sold as an infrastructure plan,” warned Scott Sloofman, a top McConnell aide, it “actually intends to reshape the U.S. economy and other parts of American life.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R.-W.Va., spoke on determining the legitimate benefits this plan would bring for the American people.
“I think we need to talk to the American people and say, ‘Is this what you envision with infrastructure? Are these job creators? Are we reengineering our own social fabric here with a 50-vote majority?'” she asked. {eoa}
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