President Biden unveiled a massive infrastructure bill during a speech at a Pittsburgh, Pa., union hall Wednesday afternoon, touting the first legislative proposal in a two-part plan expected to cost taxpayers several trillion dollars.
The American Jobs Act, released by the White House earlier in the day, aims to finance the repair of U.S. roads, railways, and other transportation infrastructure, and create jobs in the process. The bill provides $115 billion to repair roads and bridges, $85 billion for public transportation, $80 billion for railroads, and $25 billion for airports.
The plan also focuses funds on attempts to combat climate change, including by allocating $174 billion toward the establishment of a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles and other incentives to produce EV’s.
Additionally, the bill provides funding for expanding rural broadband access and affordable housing projects that utilize clean energy. Around $213 billion is set aside toward building and repairing affordable housing, $100 billion goes toward rural broadband, and efforts to improve public school infrastructure and the country’s electrical grids will receive another $100 billion each.
The second component of the Biden administration's spending plan will reportedly be focused on education, and will include universal pre-kindergarten coverage and provisions to make community college free for all Americans. However, the administration will attempt to pass the infrastructure bill before moving on to its education initiative.
Biden officials have reportedly considered a range of potential tax increases to fund the infrastructure and education projects. The bill calls for raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and implementing a so-called global tax intended to prevent corporations from seeking tax havens abroad. But the plan would require international buy-in in order for it to have its intended effect.
The increases would face opposition from Republicans as well as some Democrats. Several moderate House Democrats told Axios that they would not vote to raise taxes unless the legislation expands the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction that the Trump administration capped at $10,000 in 2017.
"We need to be careful not to do anything that's too big or too much in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis," Representative Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) said on Monday. "t's got to be responsible and both parties need to be at the table. This can't just be jammed through without input and consideration from the other side."
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