The White House is billing President Biden’;s “American Jobs Plan” as a key vehicle for competing with China on the world stage.
Deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One the $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan will create millions of good-paying jobs, rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and “position the United States to outcompete China.”
“This is a once-in-a-century capital investment in America to transform our current and future infrastructure and fundamentally change life for Americans,” she said.
The proposal, which Mr. Biden plans to outline in Pittsburgh Wednesday, calls for raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to help pay for the improvement to roads and bridges, expand broadband, bolster health care for senior citizens and people with disabilities, and make investments in manufacturing.
Ms. Jean-Pierre said Mr. Biden hopes to garner bipartisan support for the bill.
“This is something he wants to have bipartisan support [on,]” she said. “He is willing to have those conversations with Republicans and clearly with his Democratic colleagues.”
“This is a critical bill for the country,” she said.
Mr. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump framed the package in a different light, however, saying the president’s “plan to implement the largest tax hike in American history is a massive giveaway to China, and many other countries, that will send thousands of factories, millions of jobs, and trillions of dollars to these competitive nations.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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