New $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan Is Extensive, and That’s Its Biggest Risk
While some groups praised the package, others found issues with its pitch of the PRO Act, as well as raising taxes on businesses to pay for it.
With a $2 trillion spending proposal that dwarfs both the New Deal and the build-out of the American interstate highway system, President Joe Biden provided long-awaited details for a massive infrastructure plan that touches on everything from airports to highways, clean drinking water to revamped electric grids, school construction to public transit and clean energy to bolstered broadband deployment.
The American Jobs Plan
Biden’s “American Jobs Plan,” released on Wednesday, carves out $621 billion for transportation infrastructure; $689 billion for buildings and utilities; and $500 billion for worker training, research and development and domestic manufacturing initiatives.
Noting that public domestic investment as a share of the economy has fallen 40% since the 1960s, the White House proposed to pay for the plan over 15 years primarily by hiking the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, a move that would partially erase former President Donald J. Trump’s tax reform legacy.
What Is Included
On the transportation front, the proposal includes:
- $174 billion for electric vehicle incentives
- $115 billion for roads and bridges
- $85 billion for public transit
- $80 billion for passenger and freight rail
- $50 billion in disaster resilience of infrastructure
- $25 billion for airports
- $20 billion to improve road safety
- $20 billion to mitigate infrastructure impact on underserved communities
- $17 billion for waterways and ports
For buildings and utilities, the plan includes:
- $213 billion for affordable housing
- $100 billion for broadband internet
- $100 billion for electric grid and clean energy
- $100 billion for public schools
- $66 billion for water systems
- $45 billion to eliminate lead pipes
- $25 billion for child care facilities
- $18 billion for veterans hospitals
- $12 billion for community colleges
- $10 billion for federal buildings
