On March 31, the White House released a detailed fact sheet for President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion, eight-year “American Jobs Plan” proposal. The President officially announced the proposal yesterday in a speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The wide-ranging infrastructure stimulus plan would pump federal funds into transportation, water, wastewater, resilience, housing, schools, broadband, and power grid infrastructure, among other priorities. A second package, planned for release in April, could seek an additional $1 trillion to expand social policies such as the child tax credit and paid leave.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reportedly wants to pass an infrastructure package by July 4, with passage very likely to be done under the budget reconciliation process (i.e., the same method that House and Senate Democrats used to pass the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021). The House’s July 4 goal means the Senate would not formally take up the infrastructure-only portion of President’s Biden proposal until the middle of July at the earliest. However, the proposal is already being met with resistance on Capitol Hill, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned that infrastructure legislation could be a “Trojan horse for massive tax hikes and other job-killing left-wing policies.” As Bloomberg Government reports, competing pressures in Congress could require lawmakers to break up an infrastructure package into two or three pieces of legislation that may ultimately differ significantly from the administration’s plan.
Below is a breakdown of top-line funding levels in the “American Jobs Plan” proposal (provided by the AP).
Infrastructure
- $115 billion to modernize the bridges, highways, and roads. The White House plan estimates 20,000 miles of roadways would be repaired, while economically significant bridges and 10,000 smaller bridges would be repaired.
- $85 billion for public transit, doubling the federal government’s commitment to shorten the repair backlog and expand service.
- $80 billion to modernize Amtrak’s heavily trafficked Northeast Corridor line, address its repair backlog, and improve freight rail.
- $174 billion to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, electrify 20 percent of school buses, and electrify the federal fleet, including U.S. Postal Service vehicles.
- $25 billion to upgrade air travel and airports.
- $17 billion for waterways and coastal ports.
- $20 billion to address communities whose neighborhoods — typically non-white — were divided by highway projects.
- $50 billion to improve infrastructure resilience in the aftermath of natural disasters.
- $111 billion to replace lead water pipes and upgrade sewer systems.
- $100 billion to build high-speed broadband that provides 100 percent coverage for the country.
- $100 billion to upgrade the resilience of the power grid and move to clean electricity, among other power projects.
- $213 billion to produce, preserve, and retrofit more than 2 million affordable houses and buildings.
- $100 billion to upgrade and build new schools.
- $18 billion to modernize Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics, and $10 billion for federal buildings.
- $400 billion to expand long-term care services under Medicaid.
- $180 billion invested in research and development projects.
- $300 billion for manufacturing, including funds for the computer chip sector, improved access to capital and investment in clean energy through federal procurement.
- $100 billion for workforce development.
Tax Provisions
The proposal would finance projects by:
- Raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, one of the measures that over 15 years would cover the cost of the infrastructure program and then help to reduce the budget deficit.
- Imposing a 21 percent global minimum tax, so that companies cannot avoid taxes by shifting income to low-tax countries.
- Making it harder for businesses to merge with foreign companies to avoid U.S. taxes, a process known as inversion.
- Eliminating tax breaks for companies that shift assets abroad and denying deductions for offshoring jobs.
- Imposing a 15 percent minimum tax on the income that corporations report to shareholders.
- Eliminating tax preferences for the fossil fuels sector.
- Increasing IRS audits of large corporations.
Capitol Hill. On March 24, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee held an oversight hearing to examine the SBA’s COVID-19 relief programs. During the hearing, SBA Associate Administrator for the Office of Disaster Assistance James Rivera announced that SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman has asked him to create a plan to increase the maximum Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) amount to the statutory limit of $2 million “as soon as possible.”
On March 25, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on “Examining Our COVID-19 Response: Improving Health Equity and Outcomes by Addressing Health Disparities.” In her opening remarks, Senate HELP Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) spoke about the need for better demographic data and also highlighted some of the recent steps the Biden Administration has taken to address disparities, including its announcement last week of a $10 billion investment in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to expand vaccine access and build vaccine confidence in underserved communities.
On March 25, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing on the “American Rescue Plan: Shots in Arms and Money in Pockets.” The hearing explored how the enacted $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) lays the groundwork for a better future. Witnesses included officials from the National Women’s Law Center, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, and the American Enterprise Institute.
FEMA will now pay 100% for costs of activities associated with COVID-19 disaster declarations; the prior cost share was 75% federal.
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NACo released a statement supporting President’s Biden infrastructure package and welcomed the step toward comprehensive legislation.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) also applauded President Biden’s plan that calls for $2 trillion to be invested in the nation’s infrastructure. “This plan will create millions of jobs, changing the lives of our residents for the better,” said USCM President and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.
Vaccine News
The U.S. broke its previous record for most COVID-19 vaccines administered in a single day, with 3.4 million doses reported last Friday. President Biden set a new goal of 200 million doses administered in his first 100 days in office. At the current seven-day average which increased to 2.62 million daily doses, the U.S. would comfortably reach that goal before his 100 day on April 30.
President Biden also announced that at least 90 percent of U.S. adults will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines by April 19.
The Biden Administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials – also referred to as “vaccine passports” – that would allow Americans to prove they have been vaccinated.
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Webinars, Events and Resources
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Helping City Residents Get Health Coverage Today
U.S. Conference of Mayors
April 6, at 1:00 PM ET
Housing Affordability Solutions in Cities
U.S. Conference of Mayors
April 8, at 3:00 PM ET
Monitoring the Spread of COVID-19 Through Environmental Scanning
NACo and Biobot Analytics
April 20, 1:00 PM ET
HUD Report on Youth Homelessness
CRS Reports of interest:
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