Biden Proposes Investment Plan America Will Remember "In 50 Years"
Audio 01:18
US President Joe Biden at the Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States on March 31, 2021. REUTERS - JONATHAN ERNST
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday March 31 proposed to invest some $ 2 trillion in infrastructure, with the stated objective of creating millions of jobs, standing up to China and fighting climate change.
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With our correspondent in Washington
,
Anne Corpet
A massive plan of more than two trillion dollars to rebuild infrastructure and support employment in the United States: it was presented this Wednesday, March 31 by Joe Biden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The American president wishes in particular to modernize more than thirty thousand kilometers of roads, repair 10,000 bridges and build 50,000 charging stations for electric vehicles.
Joe Biden also announced that he wanted to remove all still lead drinking water pipes and make the Internet accessible to all Americans.
An ambitious plan, but the president needs the support of the Republicans for it to be validated in Congress.
“
This is not a plan that beats around the bush.
It is the investment of a generation,
”says Joe Biden before specifying:“
It is the most important investment since the Second World War
”.
With this massive expenditure, the American president wants to renovate the country's infrastructure, but also to move towards a green economy and create millions of jobs.
He presents his project as the guarantor of America's success.
"
We must act now, because I am convinced that if we act now, in fifty years, people will look back and say to themselves, this is when the future won
," insists Joe Biden.
The president intends in particular to increase taxes on large companies to finance his project, and is convinced that he will obtain the support of enough elected Republicans.
“
Historically infrastructure has been a bipartisan endeavor, many times led by Republicans and I may be wrong, but I don't think you can find Republicans today in the House or the Senate, who don't think so. not that we have to improve infrastructure
”.
The president said he was open to any other suggestion to finance his titanic plan, as long as it is not a question of increasing the taxes of households who earn less than 400 thousand dollars a year.
►
See also: United States: Biden wants to “think big” and invest 2,000 billion in the country's infrastructure
Building political consensus is no easy feat
Joe Biden's two predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama, had also made great promises on this subject.
They have remained a dead letter.
Former rival of Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries and now Minister of Transport, Pete Buttigieg, who will be on the front line on this issue, ensures that everything will be different this time, that the stars are aligned.
"
I think we have an extraordinary opportunity to have the support of both parties to
think
big and be
daring in infrastructure," insists the young minister.
“
Americans don't need to be explained to them that we need to act on infrastructure, and the reality is you can't separate the climate dimension
” from this challenge.
If Pete Buttigieg's enthusiasm and political capital are real, the task will be daunting.
Tellingly, the American Chamber of Commerce, which had so far welcomed many of Joe Biden's decisions, from the return to the Paris climate agreement to the rescue plan for the economy, expressed its clear disagreement on Wednesday.
If she approves the desire to make infrastructure a priority, she believes that the Democratic president is "
dangerously
"
wrong
on the way to finance his program.
"
We are fiercely opposed to the proposed tax hikes, which will slow down the economic recovery and make the United States less competitive on the international stage - the exact opposite of the goals of this plan."
"
In an aggressive and straightforward statement, Donald Trump accused his successor of proposing a strategy of "
total economic capitulation
".
Denouncing a “
monstrosity
”, he estimated that the increase in the corporate tax would be “
a huge gift
” to China.
“
Joe Biden's cruel attack on the American dream must never become law (...).
Our economy will be destroyed!
“, He concluded, taking up a formula regularly used in campaign when evoking the possible victory of his adversary.
Proof of his desire to place the “Build back better” program at the heart of his action, Joe Biden will organize his first meeting at the White House on Thursday in the presence of all the members of his government.
(at with
AFP
)
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