Story at a glance
- President Biden’s American Jobs Plan is aimed at rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and shifting to more renewable sources of energy to create jobs and address climate change with a price tag of about $2 trillion.
- “This is not nearly enough. The important context here is that it’s $2.25T spread out over 10 years,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Tuesday after details of the plan were released.
- “For context, the COVID package was $1.9T for this year *alone,* with some provisions lasting 2 years. Needs to be way bigger,” she said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) says President Biden’s roughly $2 trillion jobs proposal focused on infrastructure and the climate crisis falls short.
Biden will unveil the details of his ambitious infrastructure plan, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh. The plan is aimed at rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and shifting to more renewable sources of energy to create jobs and address climate change.
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The plan calls for investments in roads and bridges, public transportation, research and development, ramping up caregiving for aging and disabled Americans, building new public schools and renovating existing buildings among other investments.
But the price tag for the plan has prompted criticism from Republicans who oppose tax increases to fund the proposal and progressives who say more needs to be invested to address America’s needs.
“This is not nearly enough. The important context here is that it’s $2.25T spread out over 10 years,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Tuesday after details of the plan were released.
“For context, the COVID package was $1.9T for this year *alone,* with some provisions lasting 2 years. Needs to be way bigger,” she said.
The Sunrise Movement, a progressive climate activist group, said Tuesday the White House should pledge to spend at least $1 trillion a year over the next decade if it is serious about shifting the economy toward green jobs and addressing the climate crisis. Meanwhile, left-leaning advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness said the proposal would total nearly $7 trillion over the next 10 years if the president were to follow through on his campaign promises on infrastructure and climate.
Republicans meanwhile slammed the administration’s plan to increase the corporate tax to 28 percent from 21 percent to help fund the proposal. It was lowered from 35 percent during the Trump administration.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday signaled he was not likely to support the final bill.
“This is not going to be apparently an infrastructure package. It’s like a Trojan horse. So it’s called infrastructure but inside the Trojan horse is going to be more borrowed money and massive tax increases,” McConnell said.
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