Cleveland (United States) (AFP)
Joe Biden again tried Thursday to convince Republicans to adopt his infrastructure investment plan, touted as essential to continue to race ahead of China while creating jobs for many Americans left behind. .
For now, the Republicans are inflexible and refuse to include in the plan what is not within the strict perimeter of infrastructure.
They also refuse its mode of financing: by increasing taxes on companies.
"My plan will increase the size of our economy by 4.5 trillion dollars over the next ten years," the US president argued Thursday from a factory in Cleveland, Ohio.
It will also "create 16 million new well-paid jobs", a little more than the number of people who still receive unemployment benefit, he insisted.
In rhetoric sometimes reminiscent of that of his predecessor Donald Trump, Joe Biden called on Congress to put blue collar workers and the middle class ahead of big business leaders and Wall Street.
The Republican senators had submitted to him, earlier in the day, their counter-proposal in the amount of 928 billion dollars over eight years against 1.700 billion wanted by the Democrats who agreed to plan their project of 600 billion.
Joe Biden and Republican senators have scheduled a new interview next week.
The exact contours of the plan remain a sticking point.
Republicans want to limit infrastructure to their traditional definition: bridges, roads or airports.
They add to it, like the Democrats, high-speed internet.
But the Biden plan goes further, by including funding for home care assistants for the elderly, for the construction of schools, or to develop the use of electric vehicles.
For Republican senators, these programs should be the subject of separate bills.
- "The right time to invest" -
Another bone of contention, financing by an increase in corporate taxes from 21% to 28%.
Joe Biden would then return to the great tax reform adopted under Donald Trump, an impassable red line for Republicans.
The Republicans want to use funds already released for the fight against Covid-19 and which have not been used.
This path "worries" the White House, which believes that it could harm small businesses still trying to recover from the pandemic, according to spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
Republicans also take a dim view of the growing debt, which has already exceeded $ 28 trillion.
However, the very low interest rates made it possible to reduce its cost by 41 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year.
"This is the right time to invest," said the president on Thursday.
"I believe that over the next decades the burden of interest on the debt will be very manageable," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier.
The Biden administration will present its first annual budget on Friday, which includes $ 6 trillion in spending for 2022, the highest level since World War II, according to information from the New York Times.
By 2031, total spending is expected to increase by $ 8.2 trillion, and debt is expected to represent 117 percent of gross domestic product in 2031, according to the daily.
- World number 1 -
Janet Yellen also ruled out the risk that these investments could contribute to accelerating inflation.
"My plan is the right way to invest, by spreading key investments over time. We therefore limit the pressure on prices," said Joe Biden.
"These are generational investments, the private sector does not make these kinds of investments," the White House host continued, drawing a parallel with state-funded electrification in the 1930s and construction. of motorway networks in the 1950s.
The 46th President of the United States presented his major project ("American Jobs Plan") at the end of March, arguing that it would create millions of jobs, stand up to China and fight against climate change.
"We must be the world number 1", once again hammered Joe Biden Thursday, noting that the US economy was at a "turning point".
Democrats were hoping to hold a first vote on this bill in the House in early July, but the slowness of negotiations could postpone this deadline.
© 2021 AFP