Author:Alicia Parlapiano and JimnTankersley
President Biden on Wednesday released his $2 trillion plan to shore up the nation’s infrastructure and create jobs. The sprawling proposal would be paid for with 15 years of higher taxes on corporations. Here’s how the spending breaks down:
Transportation
Among the proposals: Modernize 20,000 miles of highways and roads; repair 10,000 bridges; and, by 2030, build a network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers.
The goal: To revitalize the aging or crumbling corridors that get American people and products from place to place, while reducing the sector’s reliance on fossil fuels that drive climate change.
Buildings and Utilities
One of the largest investments includes more than $200 billion in tax credits and grants to improve and build affordable housing.
The goal: To make homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient; reduce the lead hazards of old water pipes; bridge the urban-rural digital divide; and modernize the electrical grid for greater reliability and wider deployment of low-carbon electricity.
Jobs and Innovation
The plan goes beyond physical infrastructure, proposing more than $500 billion to invest in the manufacturing sector, worker training and research and development.
The goal: The president has said that he wants to position America to compete against China and other rivals in the race to build and dominate industries of the future, like semiconductors and advanced batteries.
In-Home Care
The plan also includes $400 billion to expand access to caregiving for those who are older and those with disabilities, and to improve pay and benefits for caregivers.
The goal: Broadens the traditional definition of “infrastructure” to include the provision of in-home care. From an economic standpoint, administration officials say, it is as much about the workers providing that care as it is about the patients. The money would help those workers, disproportionately women of color and low-paid, to earn more.