After the 1.9 billion stimulus package approved by Congress in early March, Joe Biden now wants to focus on infrastructure. The American president will propose this Wednesday, March 31 to invest some 2,000 billion dollars in infrastructure, with the stated objective of creating millions of jobs and meeting the challenge of competitiveness vis-à-vis China. The first phase of his Build Back Better program, which he will present during a speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will detail these investments spread over eight years. In particular, it plans to inject $ 620 billion in transportation, modernizing more than 32,000 kilometers of roads and highways and repairing some 10,000 bridges across the United States.
The tenant of the White House, which has placed the fight against climate change at the heart of this project, intends to make this initiative one of the markers of its mandate. These gigantic investments would be financed in particular by an increase in the corporate tax, which would go from 21 to 28%. According to the White House, this rate would remain, after this increase, at the lowest since World War II, with the exception of the years since Donald Trump’s tax reform passed in 2017.
The Pittsburgh speech will only be the starting point for a bitter battle in Congress, the outcome of which is uncertain. The Democratic majority there is indeed narrow and the negotiations promise to be formidable. Already, the first dissonant voices have been heard on the left wing of the Democratic Party. For the elected of New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the proposed sums are quite simply “insufficient”. “The envelope has to be much bigger,” she tweeted.
This is not nearly enough. The important context here is that it’s $2.25T spread out over 10 years.
For context, the COVID package was $1.9T for this year *alone,* with some provisions lasting 2 years.
Needs to be way bigger. https://t.co/eTQ7cxuTzF
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 30, 2021
For the Republican senator of Wyoming John Barrasso, on the other hand, this project is only a “Trojan horse” to allow the Democrats “to spend more and to raise the taxes”. The only certainty is that the coming months will put the Democratic President’s negotiating skills to the test, a fine connoisseur of Washington’s workings and an “old lion” of politics, to use Barack Obama’s expression.
Biden’s #Infrastructure Plan is a Trojan horse for more liberal spending & higher taxes. Republicans want to work on highways, roads, & bridges that already have bipartisan support. Democrats want to include free community college & the punishing regulations of the #GreenNewDeal. pic.twitter.com/ngFeKRkvfc
— Sen. John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) March 30, 2021
“The urgency to act”
“The president wants to make it clear that he has a plan and that he is open to discussion,” said a senior White House official. “But he will not compromise on the urgency to act” and the need to be ambitious to “reimagine” a “new American economy”, he added. The plan plans to amplify “the revolution of electric vehicles” with, for example, the switch to electricity for 20% of the famous yellow school buses. It also aims to make new infrastructures more resistant to changes linked to climate change.
Restore or build roads, bridges, railways, ports and airports? The idea is of course meaningful to the general public, especially since many infrastructures in the United States date from the 1950s and their dilapidation is not up for debate. But, beyond the famous ritornello “this is a subject on which Democrats and Republicans can agree”, to reach a political consensus is not an easy task. The two predecessors of Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Barack Obama, had also, with supporting slogans, 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 on 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. Joshua Bolten, president of the employers’ organization Business Roundtable, said he was “strongly opposed” to any increase in corporate tax. “Policymakers should avoid creating new obstacles to job creation and growth, especially in a period of recovery,” he said.
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