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VOA \u2014 A domestic jobs and infrastructure plan with a price tag of $2 trillion was unveiled on Wednesday by President Joe Biden.
\n\u201cOur infrastructure is crumbling,\u201d the president said during a speech in Pittsburgh, the second most-populated city in the state of Pennsylvania, which has emerged from the downfall of the domestic steel industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to create the strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world,\u201d Biden predicted of his American Jobs Plan, which emphasizes union-backed employment.<\/p>\n
The plan is intended to put the United States in a position to out-compete China, which Biden said, along with other countries, \u201care eating our lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur adversaries are worried about us building this critical infrastructure,\u201d he said, noting that the decline in America\u2019s gross domestic product means \u201cthe rest of the world is closing in, and closing in fast.”<\/p>\n
The U.S. economy shrank by 3.5% in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to government figures.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s plan envisions, over a span of eight years, repairing 32,000 kilometers of roadways, 10 economically significant bridges and 10,000 smaller ones, getting rid of dangerous lead pipes in water systems and significantly upgrading the country\u2019s electrical grid, computer broadband and transit systems.<\/p>\n
Speaking for more than half an hour at the Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, Biden said, \u201cI’m convinced that if we act now, in 50 years people are going to look back and say, \u2018This was the moment that America won the future.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan comes on the heels of Biden gaining congressional approval of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief deal solely on the strength of the votes of Democratic lawmakers over unified Republican opposition.<\/p>\n
To pay for the infrastructure plan, Biden, in part, is proposing raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, reversing tax cuts made by then-President Donald Trump four years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one should be able to complain about that,\u201d Biden said during his Pittsburgh speech.<\/p>\n
Republicans in Congress, however, are raising objections, arguing this would hurt American workers, slow economic growth and make U.S. companies less competitive in the world market.<\/p>\n Biden wants the support of Republicans for the plan, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One during the flight to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knows how to reach to the other side and make good things happen,\u201d she said of the president.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a Trojan horse,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in Erlanger, Kentucky, earlier Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s called infrastructure, but inside the Trojan horse, it\u2019s going to be more borrowed money and massive tax increases on all the productive parts of our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n While Congress has already begun a bipartisan process to reauthorize federal surface transportation and water programs, there is no guarantee the decadeslong history of such cooperation will continue for the overall infrastructure package.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be able to enact investments in infrastructure to provide safe drinking water, broadband access and safer roads, and doing so requires both parties\u2019 buy-in. We hope the president will support the congressional committees working together to produce bipartisan legislation,\u201d Michele Nellenbach, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told VOA.<\/p>\n \u201cInvestments in infrastructure have long been bipartisan, and in that spirit, we hope to craft and pass an historic package to Build Back Better: creating jobs, justice and opportunity for all,\u201d House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.<\/p>\n The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among the most powerful business groups in Washington, is calling Biden\u2019s proposal \u201cdangerously misguided when it comes to how to pay for infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/im-media.voltron.voanews.com\/Drupal\/01live-166\/styles\/sourced_737px_wide\/s3\/2021-03\/AP21058738565958.jpg?itok=zd5f-VmZ\")
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