WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK
Republican Counterproposal. Senate Republicans are crafting a counter-proposal as an alternative to President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan (AJP). The package is expected to cost around $600 to $800 billion and consist only of “traditional” infrastructure projects like highways, roads and bridges. When exactly the proposal will be introduced is unclear, but its contents will continue to develop this week.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
White House Infrastructure Meeting. President Biden continued his push to gain support from lawmakers for his infrastructure proposal. Yesterday, he held the second in a series of meetings on the plan, this time with lawmakers that previously served as state or local government officials.
Written by Office of the Governor.
Governor Ned Lamont today welcomed U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to Connecticut to visit the apprenticeship program administered by the Connecticut Department of Labor at Electric Boat in Groton for an opportunity to speak with participating apprentices and discuss the importance of registered apprenticeship and job training programs on economic growth and prosperity.
The officials were joined by Senator Richard Blumenthal; Congressman Joe Courtney; Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro; Bernard Treml, Regional Director, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship; and Connecticut Department of Labor Deputy Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo.
National Catholic Reporter Quotes Eric LeCompte on Climate Summit
National Catholic Reporter Quotes Eric LeCompte on Climate Summit
April 22, 2021
National Catholic Reporter quotes Eric LeCompte on the representation of developing countries at President Biden s Leaders Summit on Climate. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
Pope Francis, in Earth Day messages, warns we are at the edge on climate change
By Brian Roewe
In a statement, Jose Aguto, associate director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, said the summit, along with Biden s American Jobs Plan, were positive steps our nation can take to uplift the dignity of all people and address climate change. An interfaith statement from 13 religious organizations, including Interfaith Power & Light and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, offered prayers and our hopes for moral leadership during the summit and that the U.S. respond to climate change with urgency, fairness and equity.
Taken together, Medicaid Expansion and Biden’s AJP are important commitments to our growing aging population.
Written By:
Dave Wegner / Sioux Falls | 11:00 am, Apr. 24, 2021 ×
To the Editor:
Joe Biden is doing his best to strengthen Medicaid’s support for long-term care for the elderly and for people with disabilities. Therefore, now is the time to beef up Medicaid in South Dakota so that, at last, every adult and child gets health coverage. The expansion of Medicaid has been offered since 2014 by the Affordable Care Act (the ACA). It’s high time to move on this offer.
Amending the SD Constitution to enable Medicaid Expansion in SD would extend health care coverage to 42,500 South Dakotan childless, non-disabled adults regardless of their income. The federal government is offering $301.8 million to be matched by $20.8 million from the state to expand its Medicaid program.
Business opportunities
The April 3 letter âUnintended consequencesâ attacks the Biden American Jobs Plan because it raises the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. It complains that the increase puts the U.S. rate âback in the top worldwide corporate rates.â It claims the plan will result in higher prices for goods and services, reduced hiring, smaller wage increases and benefits, and reduced dividend payments. It ignores the millions of jobs the plan will generate.
The writer appears to compare our corporate tax rate to that of European countries that pay their bills with value-added taxes â taxes on value added at every stage of production. American consumers would feel real financial pain from a value-added tax enacted to compensate for a low corporate tax rate.