Biden Unveils $2T Infrastructure Plan

President Joe Biden began selling his roughly $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, Wednesday afternoon from Pittsburgh.

“Today, I propose a plan that rewards work, not just wealth,” Biden said during his address. “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.” 

The proposal seeks to improve infrastructure nationwide, from roads and railways to broadband and public schools, over the next eight years. It’s designed to fix 20,000 miles of roads and 10,000 bridges nationwide, Biden said. 

“Our infrastructure is crumbling,” Biden said. “Put simply, these are investments we have to make, we can’t afford not to.” 

Biden said the plan will also fund new rail cars and transit lines in an effort to cut both overcrowding and pollution. It will create “hundreds of thousands of jobs” and prioritize investing in American-based companies, he said. 

The Biden administration is proposing raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to foot the bill. It also hopes to pass a 15% minimum tax on book income and the elimination of corporate fossil fuel tax breaks. 

Some estimate it will take 15 years of higher corporate taxes to fund the proposal, which is also said to be one of the most ambitious in recent decades, to offset the eight years of spending. 

The full proposal will be split into two packages, the second being the American Families Plan, which will cost between $3 and $4 trillion in total. It will focus on four main issues: transportation, modern housing, the care economy and innovation and research and development. 

United States infrastructure recently received a C- rating from the American Society of Engineers’ 2021 report, released earlier this month. While it is the first time the nation has scored above a D, since the survey’s inception in 1998, the repair costs are rising. The organization said it will take nearly $2.6 trillion over the next ten years, up from $2.1 trillion in 2017, to fund the necessary fixes.