Tag: President Biden

The GOP claim that only 5 to 7 percent of Biden’s plan is for ‘real infrastructure’

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“You look at this bill, the $2 trillion in the bill that, only about 5 to 7 percent of it is actual roads and bridges and ports and things that you and I would say is real infrastructure and that we tried to get passed under the last administration with President Trump.”

— Russell Vought, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, on the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News Radio, April 1

Republicans are trying to brand President Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan with a new talking point, claiming there is barely any infrastructure in it.

Different variations of this GOP claim have begun to surface since Biden unveiled his proposal last week. Vought, who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Donald Trump, pushes the criticism to misleading extremes by saying that only 5 to 7 percent “is actual roads and bridges and ports and things that you and I would say is real infrastructure.”

Granted, the Biden plan includes large expenses such as $400 billion to expand home-care services and more than $100 billion in electric-vehicle incentives and purchases, among many other items that do not fit the traditional definition of public infrastructure as concrete-and-steel structures for transportation, and wires and pipes for utilities. Continue reading.

Lawmakers say fixing border crisis is Biden’s job

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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill say Congress has little role to play in fixing the border crisis, arguing the responsibility falls largely on President Biden and federal agencies.

While most members say they’ll provide more resources if the president asks, they also point out that there’s not much they can do on the legislative front.

Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), a moderate Democrat, says he doesn’t know what Congress can do immediately to address the surge of migrants at the border, many of them unaccompanied children. Continue reading.

Biden jobs plan seeks $400 billion to expand caretaking services as U.S. faces surge in aging population

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White House, lawmakers remain at odds over broader spending package.

President Biden’s jobs plan proposes a massive investment in home care for the elderly and people with disabilities, as America’s caretaking system faces strain from the nation’s looming demographic challenges.

The White House’s American Jobs Plan calls for spending about $400 billion over eight years on “home- or community-based care” for the elderly and people with disabilities. That amounts to roughly a fifth of the overall price tag of Biden’s plan, the first of two related economic proposals expected from the White House.

The push to substantially expand in-home health-care services was one of the last major provisions added to the jobs plan, according to two people with knowledge of internal White House deliberations. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters they were not authorized to disclose. Continue reading.

White House hopes to see infrastructure bill passed by summer

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President Biden hopes to see Congress pass his infrastructure and climate proposal by this summer, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, setting a slightly longer timeline than his recently enacted coronavirus relief package.

Psaki told reporters at an afternoon briefing that the extra time will allow for more White House negotiations with congressional Republicans and Democrats, particularly since the legislation does not carry the same level of urgency as the American Rescue Plan that was signed into law last month.

Still, she said Biden would like to see “progress” by the end of May. Continue reading.

Biden’s Big Bet: Tackling Climate Change Will Create Jobs, Not Kill Them

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WASHINGTON — In 2017, as Donald J. Trump was announcing the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, the largest global effort to attack planetary warming, he declared, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”

On Wednesday, President Biden traveled to Pittsburgh to try to make the opposite case: that the workers Mr. Trump was appealing to have more to gain from combating climate change than to lose.

It is going to be a tough bet. To Mr. Biden, a $2 trillion infrastructure plan is about creating union jobs, hundreds of thousands of them, in wind and solar power, electric cars and road- and bridge-building. Even those more basic infrastructure projects would have a climate angle: the new roads and bridges would be built to withstand the high waters and brutal storms of a changing climate.

“I am a union guy. I support unions, unions built the middle class. It is about time you start to get a piece of the action,” Mr. Biden said in Pittsburgh. Continue reading.

Biden calls on states to keep mask mandates, pause reopenings

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President Biden on Monday urged state and local officials to reconsider lifting their coronavirus restrictions and to reinstate mask mandates that have lapsed as the U.S. faces an increase in cases.

“I’m reiterating my call for every governor, mayor and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate,” Biden said at an event intended to highlight the rapid increase in vaccine eligibility. “Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down.

Asked later if some states should pause reopening efforts, Biden said “yes.” Continue reading.

Sen. Dibble, Rep. Hornstein, and Rep. Long statement on President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment Plan

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis), DFL-Lead on the Senate Transportation Committee, Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis), Chair of the House Transportation Committee, and Rep. Jamie Long (DFL-Minneapolis), Chair of the House Climate and Energy Committee released the following statement this afternoon following President Biden’s announcement of a $2.2 trillion infrastructure investment plan:

“We applaud President Biden for today’s release of a bold, visionary plan to invest in America’s infrastructure. We support the President’s emphasis on improving roads, bridges, public transportation, and building a clean energy economy. As Minnesota state legislators, we strongly agree with the plan’s focus on building a strong economy and addressing the climate crisis.

Next week, House and Senate DFLers will release detailed plans to invest in Minnesota’s transportation and energy infrastructure with a focus on job creation, equity, and action to address climate change.”

Biden plans to dramatically increase offshore wind energy development

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The White House rolled out initiatives Monday aimed at jump-starting the development of large offshore wind farms that together would power over 10 million homes.

Why it matters: The target of 30 gigawatts of generating capacity by 2030 would go well beyond the big projects already on the drawing boards.

  • Research firm BloombergNEF currently forecasts that the U.S. will have 19.64 gigawatts of offshore wind power capacity in 2030. Continue reading.

The Memo: Biden seeks a secret weapon — GOP voters

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President Biden says he is winning over Republican voters even as he runs into a wall of GOP opposition on Capitol Hill.

The president has a strong case to make on the COVID-19 relief bill, which scores very highly in opinion polls. But whether Biden can replicate that level of support as he moves onto other issues is much more doubtful.

The White House believes he can.  Continue reading.

Biden to unveil major new spending plans as Democrats eye bigger role for government

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The president is set to tout key components of an infrastructure overhaul and the early contours of his 2022 budget

President Biden this week is set to begin sketching out his plan to commit trillions of dollars toward upgrading the country’s ailing infrastructure, fighting climate change and bolstering federal safety net programs, as Democrats try to usher in a new era of bigger government — and spending — in the aftermath of the coronavirus.

The forthcoming proposals reflect a broader political shift underway in Washington, where Democratic leaders have sought to capitalize on their 2020 election victories to advance once dormant policy priorities and unwind years of budget cuts under administrations past.

But Biden’s aggressive agenda also may test his stated support for bipartisanship — after passing his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan without any Republican support — as well as the public’s willingness to embrace the sizable tax increases on wealthy families and profitable companies that may be necessary to help finance the burst in federal spending. Continue reading.