Washington: On Wednesday US President Joe Biden will propose a $2 trillion infrastructure plan aimed at modernizing the United States' c...
Washington: On Wednesday US President Joe Biden will propose a $2 trillion infrastructure plan aimed at modernizing the United States' crumbling transport network, creating millions of jobs and enabling the country to "out-compete" China.
The first phase of the US President's "Build Back
Better" programme, which he will unveil in a speech in Pittsburgh, will
detail massive investment spread over eight years. It plans to inject as much
as $620 billion into transport, including upgrading 32,000 kilometers of roads
and highways, repairing thousands of bridges and doubling federal funding for
public transit.
The president intends to make the bold infrastructure plan one of his
flagship policies. The investment would be partly paid for by raising corporate
tax from 21 per cent to 28 per cent.
"The President is proposing to fundamentally reform the corporate
tax code so that it incentivizes job creation and investment... and ensures
that large corporations are paying their fair share," a senior
administration official said ahead of the speech.
The new legislative offensive comes soon after Congress passed a nearly
$2 trillion Covid-19 economic stimulus plan.
"It's an important initiative to start the process with the
president being very clear that he's got a plan, and that he's open to hearing
what others think," the administration official said.
The plan also vows to "spark the electric vehicle revolution"
by building a network of 500,000 EV chargers, replacing 50,000 diesel transit
vehicles and electrifying 20 percent of the famous yellow school buses. And it
aims to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change. (Agencies)
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