United States: the infrastructure plan on track in the Senate
US President Joe Biden at a conference in Macungie, Pennsylvania, July 28, 2021. AP - Matt Rourke
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The great plan for the renovation and development of infrastructure dear to President Joe Biden was put on track this Wednesday, July 28, after long political negotiations.
Its ambition: to ensure decades of prosperity for the United States.
Publicity
Read more
Wednesday, July 28, in the evening, the presidential plan took a step in the Senate in a preliminary vote, 17 Republicans having joined the 50 Democrats.
Elected officials will be able to start debating, but the text is still far from being definitively adopted.
This grand plan provides for $ 550 billion in new federal money and reaches $ 1.2 trillion - the equivalent of Spain's 2020 gross domestic product - if one takes into account the reorientation of other existing public funding. .
►
Read also: United States: employers and unions urge Congress to adopt the infrastructure plan
"
Show the world that our democracy works
"
This pharaonic amount must "
create well-paid and unionized jobs, respond to the climate crisis, make the [American] economy more sustainable and fairer for decades to come,
" according to a statement from the White House.
The Biden administration announces “
historic
”
investments
in public transport, roads, bridges, drinking water and even high-speed internet.
Everything will be financed by the reorientation of certain emergency funding, by targeted contributions from companies, by a more efficient taxation of cryptocurrencies and by "
other measures
" supported by the two parties.
In addition to the tax revenues that must generate the additional economic activity that Washington promises.
"
This agreement shows the world that our democracy works, produces results and does great things,
" Joe Biden said in a statement, making the article a program that can "
transform America and propel us into it. future
”.
The president then plans to push through a massive $ 3.5 trillion social spending program.
The "
Buy American Act
" is an American law dating from 1933, which concerns public procurement.
Joe Biden now wants to strengthen it.
The objective: to force the federal administration to buy only products manufactured in a "substantial" way in the United States, and to prevent public money from going to goods manufactured abroad.
Everything seemed to pit US President Joe Biden against his predecessor, Donald Trump. Yet they have at least one common ground: economic nationalism. The “
Buy American Act
” has governed public procurement for nearly a century and promotes the purchase of products, most of the components of which are manufactured on American soil. Donald Trump had guaranteed that 55% of the value of components was created in the United States. His successor now wants to increase this proportion to 60% immediately, then to 75% later.
Another measure: to set up a preferential price scale for certain products manufactured in the United States and considered strategic, to encourage their production and avoid shortages of imported goods in the future.
The health crisis, the lack of masks and certain products have indeed recalled the great dependence of developed countries on Asia.
The Biden administration was reassuring: these new rules "would" not impact on the trading partners of the United States.
Yet foreign companies risk seeing their orders affected.
►
To read also: Joe Biden wants to promote purchases of products "Made in America"
(with agencies)
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
United States
Economy
Joe biden
Donald trump
On the same subject
Joe Biden wants to promote purchases of "Made in America" products
United States: employers and unions urge Congress to adopt infrastructure plan