By Stacy M. Brown,
NNPA Newswire Correspondent,
The White House on Wednesday unveiled President Joe Biden’s “American Jobs Plan,” which administration officials said will unify and mobilize the country to meet the significant challenges of this time.
Those challenges include the climate crisis and the ambitions of an autocratic China.
The plan’s price tag is $2 trillion over eight years. It includes $2.25 trillion in direct spending, with an additional $400 billion in clean energy tax credits.
Also, it would include $650 billion for physical infrastructure, $300 billion for housing infrastructure, $300 billion for manufacturing, $300 billion for the electric grid and $400 billion for home caretakers and care for the elderly and disabled.
The president is expected to put forth the second part of his proposal in the coming weeks and include childcare, early education and healthcare funding.
President Biden expects the country would cover the cost over 15 years by upping the corporate tax from 21 percent to 28 percent and introducing a minimum tax on global corporate earnings.
White House officials said the president’s plan would invest in Americans and deliver the jobs and opportunities they deserve.
But unlike past significant investments, the plan prioritizes addressing long-standing and persistent racial injustice.
The American Jobs Plan targets 40 percent of the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities.
The plan invests in rural communities and communities impacted by the market-based transition to clean energy.
Specifically, President Biden’s plan will fix highways, rebuild bridges, upgrade ports, airports and transit systems.
It will also deliver clean drinking water, a renewed electric grid and high-speed broadband to all Americans.
The plan will “build, preserve and retrofit more than two million homes and commercial buildings, modernize our nation’s schools and childcare facilities, and upgrade veterans’ hospitals and federal buildings.”
It also will “solidify the infrastructure of our care economy by creating jobs and raising wages and benefits for essential home care workers.”
The American Jobs Plan aims to revitalize manufacturing, secure U.S. supply chains, invest in R&D and train Americans for future jobs.
“President Biden’s plan will ensure that the best, diverse minds in America are put to work creating the innovations of the future while creating hundreds of thousands of quality jobs today,” administration officials said.
“Our workers will build and make things in every part of America, and they will be trained for well-paying, middle-class jobs. Create good-quality jobs that pay prevailing wages in safe and healthy workplaces while ensuring workers have a free and fair choice to organize, join a union and bargain collectively with their employers.”
By ensuring that American taxpayers’ dollars benefit working families and their communities, and not multinational corporations or foreign governments, the plan will require that goods and materials be made in America and shipped on U.S.-flag, U.S.-crewed vessels.
The plan also will ensure that Americans who have endured systemic discrimination and exclusion for generations have a fair shot at obtaining good-paying jobs and being part of a union.
With his American Jobs Plan, President Biden also released a “Made in America Tax Plan” to make sure corporations pay their fair share in taxes and encourage job creation at home.
President Biden’s plan will reward investment at home, stop profit shifting and ensure other nations won’t gain a competitive edge by becoming tax-havens.
“The President’s American Jobs Plan is a historic public investment – consisting principally of one-time capital investments in our nation’s productivity and long-term growth,” administration officials stated.
“It will invest about 1 percent of GDP per year over eight years to upgrade our nation’s infrastructure, revitalize manufacturing, invest in basic research and science, shore up supply chains, and solidify our care infrastructure. These are investments that leading economists agree will give Americans good jobs now and will pay off for future generations by leaving the country more competitive and our communities stronger.”
In total, the plan will invest about $2 trillion this decade. If passed alongside President Biden’s “Made in America” corporate tax plan, it will be fully paid for within the next 15 years and reduce deficits in the years after.
The plan would build world-class transportation infrastructure, fix highways, rebuild bridges, and upgrade ports, airports and transit systems.
“President Biden is calling on Congress to make a historic and overdue investment in our roads, bridges, rail, ports, airports and transit systems,” administration officials said.
“The President’s plan will ensure that these investments produce good-quality jobs with strong labor standards, prevailing wages and a free and fair choice to join a union and bargain collectively.
“These investments will advance racial equity by providing better jobs and better transportation options to underserved communities.”
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