What’s Happening
President Biden took the stage at a ceremony in Pittsburgh to unveil his plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure. In his speech, he discussed how his $2.25 trillion dollar plan will modernize transportation infrastructure, revitalize manufacturing, and address climate change.
Why It Matters
President Biden worked hard on the campaign trail to present rebuilding America’s infrastructure as an opportunity to create millions of good-paying jobs and combat climate change. Now, he’s framing his $2 trillion package, which he plans to pay for with aggressive tax hikes, as an opportunity to do just that. The sweeping American Jobs Plan includes a number of important infrastructure and climate priorities, but also unrelated issues, like $400 billion dollars for the “care economy.”
Climate change-related provisions in the bill include:
My Take
President Biden is right that revitalizing America’s infrastructure presents an opportunity to put Americans back to work and tackle climate change. Grid modernization, electric vehicle infrastructure, nature-based infrastructure, and developing carbon capture and battery storage technologies are worthy investments. Yet, his American Jobs Plan is bloated, fails to streamline burdensome regulations, and is too focused on public sector spending. Nearly one fourth of the package’s total price tag goes towards the “care economy,” instead of real infrastructure projects.
Unlike the partisan COVID package, infrastructure should be a bipartisan undertaking. President Biden should cut the plan down to size and eliminate unrelated provisions like the PRO Act, which hurts independent workers and emboldens unions, in order to win Republican support.
Quote Me on It
“President Biden outlined a bold plan to spend trillions of dollars on public transportation, grid modernization, and clean energy. What he didn’t explain is how these projects will ever break ground, given the maze of red tape that has hampered similar projects like Vineyard Wind. Infrastructure is a good investment, but American taxpayers won’t see a real return unless the government can get out of its own way.” – VP of Government Affairs Quill Robinson