Mill in Covid Stimulus Aid approved. Now hes oneupping bigger spending predecessors like Franklin Roosevelt and l. B. J. Their programs, one for the new deal and then one for the Great Society dwarfed by the spending here. Some say trillions more down the road. Well get into that a little bit more detail shortly. Well be hearing from the president of the United States shortly as well as to how he plans to pay for this. Give credit where its due. Taxes will go up for a lot of folks and different ways. Peter doocy in pittsburgh outlining what we can look forward to or not looking forward to despending on your perspective. Peter . Neil, theres still some Infrastructure Priorities in this package. We have a list of a couple. Theres 115 billion to modernize roads and bridges. 11 billion to replace every lead pipe in the country and 213 billion for affordable or sustainable houses. The white house admits about a third of the infrastructure plan, 621 billion is for transportation, infrastructure resilience. What is the rest . They say every dollar is designed to help combat climate change. Seen in this graphic. 174 billion to win the electric vehicle mark. 16 billion to plug oil wells and clean abandoned mines and 10 billion to create a civilian climate corps. Addressing infrastructure, climate and Environmental Justice together and creating millions of goodpaying jobs is just the right combination. Democrats have narrow majorities and almost zero wiggle room if they want to pass this without gop help. Biden has not taken to the mic but already hearing it from republicans to make it clear he should not count on their support for tax hikes. This has been an administration of the government, by the government and for the government. The only thing it appears theyre in favor of is more government spending, more taxes and more government power over your lives. The president will launch his p. R. Push for this plan here in pittsburgh. Its the same city where he launched his president ial campaign two years ago at a union hall. That was a campaign about promising good union jobs. I did a control f on the fine print. The world union a pairs 24 times in 25 pages of the plan, neil. Neil seems to be a trend there. Thanks, peter doocy. My next guest is a key union member but he has his worries about this. The boilermakers board trustee and business agent, sean, thanks for taking the time. Youre a union guy. But its the green nature of the projects that worry you. Could you explain . Yell, neil. Thanks for having me on. My issues i dont have any issues with the infrastructure as far as roads and bridges. The climate part and the green agenda, its pretty much unless hes going to introduce a law for coal and gas, its not pro my union because thats all we work in, is gas, coal. Were all fossil fuel driven. Part of this infrastructure needs to go into what has been the backbone of this country. Our state is a fossil fuel state. We have the largest natural gas one of the largest with the marcellus shale. We have the largest underground mining complex in green county in the United States. Were home to some of the biggest coalfired power plants in the country. You know, we cannot abandon them. If at any time as we were just told what happened in the past couple in february with the winter storm, you know, coal and gas was they were the leader on the grid. Coal was leading as an electricity producer. Thats what pennsylvania is. Were a leader in exporting electricity. Id like to see that Money Go Into Our the Fossil Fuel Industry a little bit. Shoring up our power plants. Neil you know, youve been told that Union Members are part of this. But have they been they say fossil fuel member workers, anyone having to do with gas or coal or any of that, they have not been part of this. You know, neil, when i go to listen to the climate czar john kerry saying were going to give you a solar job. Thats not how it works in the building trade unions. Were High Pressure tube welders like the pipeline welders. If they want people to build solar farms, they have the electricians, the carpenters, the iron workers and the wind mills and the operators. Were basically being cut out of it if you ask me. More now than ever, they want to expand on Electric Cars. Our appetite for electricity is not going anywhere. Renewables nothing against renewables, but theres still an unreliable source of electricity. We need a reliable source of electricity if were going to move forward and bring jobs back to this country and the manufacturing sector. That is never more evident than what is going on the China And India and vietnam and japan. They are building coal fired power plants right now as we speak and were getting rid of them. Neil so when the administration, sean, says were all in on all of these energy types, you have your fears. What do you want to hear out of the president in 20 minutes or so when he speaks . Id like to hear President Biden say that he would like to, you know, move forward and not neglect our Fossil Fuel Industry that means so much to us here in western pennsylvania. You know, right now the governor of our state of pennsylvania would like Nothing Better than to elimination our coal plants and our older gas plants. Thats what we do as boilermakers. Thats where we work. Petrochemical plants, steel mills. We have a war against steel right now. A big project at u. S. Steel under fire by environmentalists. Were going to move forward, we have to keep the energy mix and we have to not be somebody as a consumer in all of our products. We have to produce the products in the manufacturing sector. Right now all of our solar and wind is produced in china, india, vietnam. All of our phones. Everything is produced over there. What do they produce them with . Coalfired electricity. Theyre not using just solar and wind. So we need to have a good mix and we need a seat at the table also as us fossil fuel workers. Neil all right. A very good point. People forget all of these fancy Electric Cars are hooked up to electricity coming from these coal powered plants that you mention. Thanks, sean. Well see what the president has to say to address your concerns. I hope he does. Were going to larry glazer. I mentioned how pricey this is. Joe biden will hold a unique record of sorts as the biggest spender as far as kicking off office to say of all president s including dwarfing the spending on Franklin Roosevelts new deal in the 1930s and l. B. J. s Great Society push of the 1960s. This would spend more than those two efforts combined whether youre looking at inflation adjusted dollars or youre looking at percentage of the gdp being spent. This alone represents about 10 of the gdp spending for infrastructure. Larry, thats a lot of money. What do you think . Its a lot of money, neil. Break out the bell bottoms and the disco shoes. Policies of the 70s are coming back. Bigger government, big taxes that were going to pay for, bigger higher Interest Rates and bigger inflation. All of which has Small Business worried. We talked to Small Businesses every day. Theyre concerned, neil. The funny thing is, they agree with the roads and the bridges and the tunnels. They want competitive infrastructure. That is half of the bill. Its the other half, the grab bag that they dont like. A trillion here, a trillion there. Pretty soon youre talking about real money. If we kept this as a focused plan on the policies that would affect most americans, benefit Small Business, youd have broader support. Look, i think the idea that some of these policies are going to be beneficial, Small Businesses know theyre going to wind up paying for it. Thats what theyre concerned with. You dont have to be a Rocket Scientist to see were feeling the effects of higher inflation because of this spending. Interest rates are up, food prices are up, gas prices are up. We havent spent the money yet. Were just getting going. Take 2 trillion of stimulus, add another two, three, were going to have a recipes that is reminiscent of the inflation of the 70s. That really has Many Americans concerned. They want to pay their fair share. They dont want to pay for policies for bigger government that theyre not benefitting from. Neil its a fair point. Looking back in history with f. D. R. s new deal, it created a economic boom, got us out of a deep depression. You can look whether you get Everything Dollar for dollar back. We had a high poverty rated. But it did lead to a boon in economic activity. The fact is that these big initiatives do get big results in the economy. Now, how long is any ones guess. You seem to have doubts in this case. Well, look, i think you make a good point. Theres Government Policies that can help stimulate the economy. This was not a traditional recession. We didnt have a situation where people didnt buy cars. We had a situation where people were forced to stay home. Out of, this its a service led opening up. People will be flying, doing things. The bigger issue here is this the time to be raising taxes in a big way on Corporate America just as were getting the economy going. Just as the vaccines are coming outs. Raise taxes on cocacola, the price of cocacola goes up in the store and you and i will pay for that, neil. Neil we shall see. Larry glazer, may flower advisers. He touched on the taxes part of this. Give joe biden credit. Hes spelling out how hes going to pay for it a lot of taxes are going up for a lot of folks and maybe not just rich folks. We break it down as we wait for the president of the United States right after this. Heres exciting news for veteran homeowners who need cash. Refiplus from newday usa. It lets you refinance at todays record low rates plus get cash. With Mortgage Rates low and home values high refiplus can help you lower your rate plus turn your home equity into an average of 50,000. Money for security today. Money for retirement tomorrow. Refiplus from newday usa. Welcome, todays discussion will be around sliced meat. Moms want healthy. And affordable. Land o Frost Premium no added hormones either. Its the only protein ive really melted with. Land o Frost Premium. Fresh look. Same great taste. Cal our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. A cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. Visit letsmakeaplan. Org to find your cfp® professional. Visit letsmakeaplan. Org to find your cfp® professional. Neil all right. A lot of spending and yes, a lots of taxes. Hillary vaughn on what were talking about taxwise. Hillary . Neil, President Bidens Infrastructure Package could become infamous among deficit hawks because it will go down in history if passed as the most expensive Spending Package ever topping out at 2. 25 trillion and tagging with it would come with it the biggest tax increase in generations. To pay for everything in this package, President Biden proposes reforming the tax code by raising the Corporate Tax rate by 21 to 28 and also raising the global minimum tax from 13 to 21 . They also want to reform the tax code to discourage corporations from offer shoring jobs and profits. Some republicans in congress are concerned because a lot of this 2 trillion spending does not go just to Infrastructure Projects but to other thing. The Top Republican on the house transportation and infrastructure committee, congressman sam graves says the plans spending only 25 of it goes to Infrastructure Projects. Saying this the president s blueprint is a multitrillion dollar Shopping List paid for with job killing tax increases. Biden is using a Selling Point for his plan that there will be millions of union jobs created from it. But the Chamber Of Commerce says that ultimately workers and businesses are going to be paying a price that they cannot afford to pay. Saying this we believe the proposal is dangerously misguided when it comes to how to pay for infrastructure. We strongly oppose the general tax increases proposed by the administration, which will slow the economic recovery and make the u. S. Less competitive globally. The exact opposite of the goals of the infrastructure plan. Neil, that is one of the goals that President Biden has stated in this plan, that this will make the u. S. More competitive with china. But raising the Corporate Tax rate to 28 taxes american businesses 3 more than china taxes their own businesses. Their Corporate Tax rate is 25 and there are there is analysis from the Tax Foundation group that says that raising the Corporate Tax rate would cost 150,000 jobs and workers would see their wages impacted slightly. Neil . Neil hillary vaughn, thanks very much. I want to take that issue up with neil bradley from the u. S. Chamber of commerce. The chamber is worried that this, neil, will wallop companys bottom like. More to the point of risking jobs as well. The fact is the president wants to take it back up to 28 . It was a size 35 . So his folks say hes splitting the difference. It wont be that damaging and the economy can absorb it because its picked up considerable steam. What do you say . The part theyre not saying is that when the corporate rate was lowered from 35 to 21 , congress included in that a number of base broadeners. Denying businesses tax credits and deductions that had previously been available to them. We paid for the lower rate through the Base Broadening Mechanisms. Now they want to keep the Base Broadening Mechanisms and raise the rate back up. If you do that, the tax code will be more uncompetitive and more punishing on u. S. Corporations than during the obama administration. Even back then vice President Biden said we needed Corporate Tax reform. Neil this global tax idea that the president will be pushing, what do you make of that . Essentially what hes trying to say nowhere can companies hide to avoid paying the tax man. Yeah, so the u. S. Was one of the only handful of countries and really the only one of our competitor countries that taxed our businesses on their worldwide income. We fixed that in the 2017 tax reform. So now he wants to take us back in that direction. Interestingly if you read the fine print of the 25page document that the administration releaseded too, they acknowledge that for this not to harm u. S. Businesses, theyre going to have to convince the rest of the world to abandon their tax systems and punish their businesses in the same way. I dont think that is likely to happen. So if we move ahead on the path that was laid out today, were going to eliminate any of the benefit that were getting from the investment and infrastructure that we desperately need and make businesses less competitive and fewer u. S. Jobs. Neil the president argues that we all need infrastructure. Many of your members said we need Infrastructure Spending on roads and bridges. Are they willing to pony up any dough for that, any fee or charge for that . Absolutely. We put a number on the table at the u. S. Chamber. Today we said, you know, these are important investments in the future. Roads, the bridges, the broad band, the water, the waste water. They will pay dividends and making our commit more efficient and helping it grow. Treat it like you do a house. You dont pay for a house on the first day you move in. You pay for it over time. Neil what was the number you pete on a piece of paper for the white house to see . Yeah, we put a variety of proposals. We said lets pay for roads and bridges by raising the gas tax and making sure electric vehicles contribute to the system. Right now they dont pay anything to support the roads that they drive on. When it comes to water and west water, we can pay for that by the charges overtime that can be recapitalized. We can use bonding. We have to get the infrastructure sized right. This program is too broad. Then we have to match that, each program with a Funding Mechanism that works for it. Were confident we can get the job done, have a trillion dollar plus Real Infrastructure plan that is paid for. Neil all right. Neil bradley from the u. S. Claim Chamber Of Commerce. What do you make of what the executive was saying that has to be a less onerous way to pay for this and wide Stick It Companies and raise their taxes and why make the package so large to begin with so that its so expensive to pay for . What do you think . Well, thanks, neil. Thanks for having me. First of all, i do think that given the preference, i and many others would like to see the gasoline tax raised. That has been talked about for decades. Unfortunately americans have become so accustomed to low gas prices and even though i would challenge anybody if they leave them right now, looking at your slow, to go out and ask ten people how many they pay in federal gasoline taxes, they cant tell you. They wont be able to tell you until a number is put out there and say were going to raise the taxes in order to pay the infrastructure costs. Then somebody will started waging a war. Theyre trying to raise your taxes. You wont be able to drive anyplace. It will cost too much money and so forth. So you have to come up with a system that the majority of the American Public will go along with. Everybody realizes that, you know, we have to make sure the corporate people are healthy but at the same time we have a tremendous imbalance between the average american and those that are making millions dollars of year in Corporate America neil i hear what youre saying. The argument against the administration raising gas taxes it would hit lower paid workers harder. Thats why they dispense with that idea. But they have a variety of taxes on the rich on companies, on Capital Gains and related taxes, Social Security sur taxes on the wealthy, transaction costs. A whole bunch the president will spell out. Seems to be heavy on the tax part. Very heavy on spending as well, congressman, that has nothing to do with infrastructure. That is what may be worrying some republicans, your more moderate colleagues that think that however meritorious and kind it is to spend better than 4 billion on care for the elderly and disabled, it has nothing to do with infrastructure. What do you say to that . Thats a legitimate point. Ill say that anywhere. That is a legitimate point. Heres the challenge for us on that. First of all, you know, i think the president has opened the door. None of this is in concrete. He wants to sit down and he will begin to invite republicans over to the white house to discuss funds neil how do you that, congressman . What do you do to get them on board . One idea is to remove the salt tax, the state local Tax Limitation Put into effect with the tax cuts under donald trump at 10,000. Would that get even some of your moderate colleagues, maybe you yourself to say nothing of republicans, that if that were stripped away, you might get more interest on the part of those not predisposed to like this. Let me say this. I think the president based on everythings heard and i just got off the phone with the white house individuals talking about this system, that the president is proposing, i think people are going to be open in the white house to making changes. But i was around when the aca was approved. I think that people like myself im willing and open to changes. I dont want to make changes and then not get republican votes. Thats what happened in the aca. The president Made Concessions in the aca with Senator Grassley to be specific and by the time the vote came around, there were none to be there. If were going to trust each other, meaning republicans and democrats, which i think weve got to do for the best interest for the future of the country, if were going to really negotiate, doesnt mean me make changes and republicans dont vote for the changes in the overall package. So i think for many of us, its yes, lets negotiate. We can make changes. Were not going to do it and get out there by ourselves again, although ultimately the American Public will probably embrace Something Like this. Neil you raise a good point. Some of the concessions that president obama made at the time to get his Affordable Act through, obama care, were ultimately nixed by republicans. The same with the trump tax cuts. All republicans went for them. They tried to be flexible for democratic votes. Never materialized. Are you concerned that the party now is seized on all the leverage of power that they enjoy, the senate, the house and the white house and theyre going to shove anything they can through because these types of runs of the table are short lived and theyre going to push for everything that they can and have given up or republican support. I dont think that is who joe biden is. You can dislike the policies of joe biden. Joe biden is not a meanspirited guy or is he deceptive. Neil he hasnt gotten any republican support, right . So i agree. I do think that he is and i know that he wants desperately to have a bipartisan bill passed as opposed to having a bipartisan bill enjoyed by the American Public, which has happened with the previous stimulus bill. Look, its in the best interest of the planet for republicans and democrats to work together. I do believe that that is what joe biden wants to do. Ive been privileged to some conversations. Thats not something that is being said publicly and to the exclusion of private conversations. Its being said privately and publicly. Joe biden neil might be youre a good man. Very honorable man. If youre arguing the president is making an overture to republicans and open to hear from them, he had to know that raising the corporate raise to 28 , returning the top rate to nearly 40 , looking at raising Capital Gains taxes the next ten years, Social Security taxes on higher earners, he had to know raising the estate tax on all u. S. Corporations so that they cant be shielded, no matter where they go, he must have calculated that was going to piss off republicans, right . Yes. Neil he didnt care, right . And joe biden is smart enough to know that thats why that would happen. Thats why im saying deep down that joe biden has laid out his proposal and he wants to negotiate with republicans to come up with something that both sides can turn their noses at. I think thats when compromise takes place. Im a subcommittee chair. Im working with the Ranking Member no matter what. Were going to meet outside of the committee to talk about legislation and try to figure out ways to get together on important pieces of legislation that deal with housing. One of the reason i supported biden, i think that thats what biden wants to do. Thats part of his somebodiness. If he can get sit down in a room, conversations with Senator Mcconnell and others, however the republicans choose to do this, im convinced that biden will try to make changes. Hes not go to go out and announce changes now. Neil what they think is that the president will listen more to the progressive parrot on the left side of his shoulder talking about 10 trillion in Infrastructure Spending the next ten years. He has given more attention to that than you would think. Im wondering how far this goes and whether he might not be the Middle Of The Road guy or open to all ideas guy you think he is that maybe others are kind of calling the spending shots here. There are others that would like to go much further than the legislation is planned that the president presented and intends to go. But ive seen that on every piece of legislation the president has gone forward. People wanting to go far, far to the left. Joe biden has a long history of not willing to go there to the alienation of the country. I think this is going to be a perfect example we all ought to watch closely what he does. I do believe that thats going to be a genuine effort of the president to get people on board. Neil congressman, we got our two minute warning to hear from the president. One of the things thats been talked about, starting a lot of this work immediately. The roads and bridging stuff, the grid, the utilities to say nothing. Faster internet across the country. If you had to advise him, what would be the most Important Initiative if the money was in your hot hands now, where would you put it right now to get results right away . Two things. One of the most significant problems in the country is affordable housing. We define that as part of the infrastructure. We are at our 1960s level of building our infrastructure. That means that china is ahead of us and also means that many other countries are at our heels. China is spending much more on infrastructure than we are spending. You can see if it you go to china. New rails going every direction. Ive had the opportunity to see that. And so i think we have to do our roads and bridges, just basic roads and bridges so the American Public can travel across the country without worrying about tearing up their cars. Nothing fancy about that. Right now if you get on i70 and try to drive across the country, youll run into bumps. If you go off i70 into the rural parts hoff the country, its even worse. Weve got to do something about the infrastructure. Weve been ive been in congress 17 years. Almost every year ive been here, theres been an effort to talk about infrastructure. Theres never been an effort to actually implement a serious Infrastructure Program that the nation from which the nation can benefit. This could do it. I dont think theres anything in concrete now, particularly about the funding, but we have to have conversations. I hope im not disappointed. I dont think i will be, that the president will reach out to have those discussions. Neil all right. Very quickly. You mentioned about infrastructure, his appetite for that. There is, sir. But when it comes to this care for the elderly or disabled or universal prek or free college, that shouldnt be in this, right . I do think that that is everything has been negotiated except i think a Infrastructure Bill is going to go. So i dont think theres anything that would allow the president to say we just wont try to do anything. Neil okay, congressman. I want to thank you for that and your patience as well. The president outlining what will be a 2. 25 trillion initiative to beef up our infrastructure, this on top of the nearly 2 trillion stimulus plan passed a few weeks ago. Already the plan spending for this is dwarfing what f. D. R. Committed to the socalled New Deal In The 30s and Lyndon Johnson with the Great Society programs of the 1960s. You can put them together in dollar terms, even inflation adjusted, this spending dwarfs that, even the spending as soon as part of the gdp. This initiative alone represents a little more than 9 of our Overall Economic output. Theres never been a program as pricey. So lets listen in to this as the president is introduced. One of this things were waiting to hear as well from the president , will he go through particularly the house. All it would take is three or four no votes among democrats and the thing is torpedoed in the house. Its that tight. The president is going ahead and making this big move followed up by another announcement shortly that will detail spending beyond this that he wants a multiyear effort, a lot of these programs youll hear about and a lot of the tax hikes that you are going to hear outlined by the president are over anywhere from eight to ten years. So the betting seems to be that this is for the long haul, and this is something that will be substantial as far as historic commitments, not just a year or two committed to stimulus that comes and goes. Initiatives that will be followed up way beyond the spending figures here. The president is expected to outline not exactly every detail of that, but the rollout of that. That will be crucial. You can see at the corner of wall and broad, we ended the stock session on a low note. Four quarters in a row that the markets have advanced to the tune of 50 . Last time that we saw four quarters of Market Growth was in 1936. Wouldnt you know it . Slap dab in the middle of the new deal. Many hope that that is a good barometer and may be a good sign of things to come for the president of the United States. Lee carter with me quickly as we wait to hear from the president. Its heavy pressure, leigh, to follow that spending. Heavy pressure. Neil so what does the president have to do . His plan is very popular despite the fact that republicans are up and arms about it. We have a broad spread appeal for this bill. People want it. They want an increased tax on the wealthy. They think that companies can afford to pay more taxes. He has a very popular bill. Republicans have to fight against something that people want. The thing that i find fascinating is when donald trump talked about infrastructure, everybody went crazy. But when biden talks about it, its very popular. That is something that were going to have to wrestle with. Republicans really have to get a message here on how do they get on their heels about reacting and seeming like theyre trying to take something away. Neil its about selling it. Thats what joe biden plans to do right now. My good friend asked me, do you ever get nervous . Because i got up, made breakfast for my kids. I have to introduce the president. What i say, mike, you did a heck of a job. But i get nervous if i had to get up in the middle of the night, climb up a telephone pole, replacing in the middle of a storm a connection that knocked out everybodys electricity and put a transformer in. That is what would make me nervous. What you did was good. I couldnt do what you do, pal. I want to its true, mike. Youre a union guy. Me too. I got in trouble. I dont make apologies for it. I support unions. Unions built the middle class. Its about time theyre getting a piece of the action. [applause] to all my colleagues, the county executives, the mayor, everybody here, i want to say thank you, congressman, for the passport into your district and i appreciate being here. Im honored to be with you. Two years ago, i began my campaign here in pittsburgh. Saying i was running to rebuild the backbone of america. Today i return as your president to lay out the vision of how i believe we do that, rebuild the backbone of america. A vision not seen through the eyes of Wall Street Or Washington but through the eyes of hard working people, the people i grew up with. People like mike and union family. Union workers, Carpenters Training center, people in scranton. People that get up every day, work hard, raise their family, pay their taxes, serve their country and volunteer for the communities and just looking for a little bit of breathing room. Just a little bit of light. Ordinary americans doing extraordinary things. People that break their necks every day for their families and the country they love. A country that in fact, which on the day i was elected was in extreme distress with the virus on a deadly rampage that has now killed over 500 i carry it in my pocket every day. I have a list of how many died. 547,296 americans dead from the virus. More than all of the People Killed in world war i, world war ii, the vietnam war, 911. 547,296 americans. An economy that left millions out of work and created so much anxiety. Thats why i move so quickly to pass the American Rescue plan with the help of my friends here in the congress. I really mean that. Didnt pass by a whole lot, but with the leadership of connor and bobby and you got it done. Because it was an emergency. We needed to act to save jobs. To save businesses. To save lives. That is what we did. Were beginning to see the results. Were on our way to having given 200 million vaccinate shots in the first 100 days of my presidency. When i said id get 100 million done, people thought it was an exaggeration. Were going to get 200 million done, twice the goal because of the help of all of you. Leading economists are now predicting our economy will grow 6 this year. Thats a rate we havent seen in years and years. We can cut Child Poverty in half this year. The American Rescue plan, were meeting immediate emergencies. Now its time to rebuild. Even before the crisis were now facing, those at the very top in america were doing very well. Which is fine. Theyre doing great. Everyone else is falling behind. The pandemic only made the divisions so much worse and more obvious. Millions of americans lost their jobs last year. The wealthiest 1 of americans saw their net worth increase by 4 trillion. Just goes to show you how distorted and unfair our economy has become. It wasnt always this way. Its time to change that. I know parenthetically that i got criticized for giving tax breaks to middle class and poor folks this last time. I didnt hear that cry when we were doing the same thing when trumps tax bill passed, 83 of the money went to the top 1 . No, this is not the target those that made it, not to see retribution. This is about opening opportunities for everybody else. Heres the truth. We all will do better when we all do well. Its time to build the economy from the middle out, not the top down. It hasnt work very well. Wall street didnt build this country. You, great middle class, built this country. And unions built the middle class. Its time [applause] this time well rebuild the middle class, going to bring everybody along. Regardless of your background, your color, your religion. Everybody gets to come along. So today im proposing a plan for the nation that rewards work, not just rewards wealth. Builds a fair economy that gives everybody a chance to succeed. Going to create the strongest, most resilient innovative economy in the world. Its not a plan that tinkers around the edges. Its a once in a Generation Investment in america unlike anything weve seen or done since we built the Interstate Highway System and the space race decades ago. In fact, its the largest american Jobs Investment since world war ii. It will create millions of jobs, good paying jobs, grow the economy. Make us more competitive around the world, promote our National Security interests and put us in position to win the global competition with china and the upcoming years. Its big, yes. Its bold, yes. And we can get it done. It has two parts. The American Jobs Plan and the American Family plan. Both are essential to our economic future. In a few weeks, ill talk about the americans family plan. Today i want to talk about the American Jobs Plan. Ill begin with the heart of the plan. It modernizes transportation infrastructure. Our roads, our bridges, our airports. I just left your airport. The director of the airport said were about to renovate the airport. Is that right, mr. County executive . Were going to employ thousands of people. She looked and said i cant thank you enough for this plan. It grows the economy in key ways. Puts people to work to repair and upgrade that we badly need. Makes it easier and more efficient to move goods to get to work and the make us more competitive around the world. Some of your local officials know when someone wants to come in the area and a Company Wants to invest, what do they ask . Where is the first rail bed . How do u get to the railroad. What access. Tell me about it. Goes on and on. Its about infrastructure. The American Jobs Plan will modernize 20,000 miles of highways, roads and main streets that are in difficult, difficult shape right now. Theyll fix the nations ten most significant bridges in america that require replacement. Ridge that bridge that that went down . We got ten most economically significantly bridges with more commerce going across it that need to be replaced. Also repair 10,000 bridges, desperately needed upgrades to unclog traffic, keep people safe and connect our cities, towns and tribes across the country. American jobs plan will build new Rail Corridors and transit lines, easing congestion, cutting pollution, Slashing Commute Times and opening up investment in communities that we can be connected to the cities and outskirts where the jobs are these days. Reduces the bottle necks of commerce at our ports and airports. The American Jobs Plan will lead to a transformational progress and help with climate change. Protect our community from billions of dollars of damage from historic super storms, floods, wild fires, droughts year after year by making our infrastructure more secure, resilient and seizing incredible opportunities for American Workers and American Farmers in a clean energy future. Skilled workers like one we just heard from building a nationwide network of 500,000 charging stations, creating good paying jobs by leading the world in the manufacturing and export of clean Electric Cars and trucks. Were going to provide Tax Incentives and point of sale rebates to help all American Families afford clean vehicles for the future. The federal government owns and enormous fleet of vehicles. Which are going to be transitioned to clean electric vehicles and Hydrogen Vehicles right here in the United States of america by American Workers with american products. We make all of these investments, were going to make sure that the Executive Order i signed early on, that we buy american, that means investing in americanbased companies and American Workers. Not a contract will go out that i control that will not go to a company that is an american company, with american products, all the way down the line and American Workers. Well buy the goods that we need from all of america. Communities that have historically been left out of these investments. Black, latino, native americans, rural, Small Businesses, entrepreneurs across the country. Look, today up to ten million homes in america and more than 400,000 schools and Child Care Centers have pipes that they get their water from, pipes that are leadbased pipes. Including pipes for drinking water. According to scientists, theres simply no safe exposure to lead for a child. That can slow development. American jobs plan will put plumbers and pipe fitters to work replacing 100 of the nations lead pipes and service lines. So every american, every child can turn on a faucets or fountain and drink clean water. With this invest meant, replacing a line that can mean up to 22,000 in healthcare costs saved. Chance to protect our children, help them learn and thrive. We cant delay. We cant delay another minute. Long past due. You know, in america where the early interests was in internet, this thing called the internet that we invested, we invented the early internet, it was invented here, millions of americans though lack access to reliable high Speed Internet including more than 35 of rural america. Its a disparity more pronounced during the pandemic. American jobs will make sure every single, every single american has access to high quality affordable, high Speed Internet for businesses, for schools. When i say affordable, i mean it. Americans pay too much for internet service. Were going to drive down the price for families who have service now and make it easier for families that dont have fordable service to get it now. As we saw in texas and elsewhere, our electric power and power grids are vulnerable to storms and security lapses. The tragic results. My American Jobs Plan will put hundreds of thousands of people to work. Hundreds of thousands of people to work. Line workers, electricians, laborers. Laying thousands of miles of transmission lines, building a modern and fully clean grid. Capping hundreds of thousands of literally orphan oil and gas wells that need to be cleaned up because other abandoned. Paying the same exact rate that a union man or would would get having dug the well in the first place. Well build upgrade Energy Efficient housing and commercial buildings even before the pandemic Working Families faced an enormous financial strain taking care of their parents and children. The sandwich generation. You cant stay at home to take care of the child. You put the child at risk or lose your job or you have an elderly parent you are taking care of. And seniors and people can disabilities living independently feel that strain as well. We know if they live independently they live longer. The American Jobs Plan will help in big ways. It will extend to home and Community Based care. Think of expanded Vital Services like programs for seniors or home care workers going into the home of seniors and people with disabilities, cooking meals and helping them get around their homes and helping them live more independently. For too long caregivers were women of color and immigrants, this plan changes that with better wages and benefits for millions of people who can get to work in an economy that works for them. Decades ago, the United States government used to spend 2 of its gdp on research and development. Today, we spend less than 1 . I think its. 7 of 1 . Heres why that matters. We are only one of few Major Economies in the world where the shared gdp declined over the last 25 years. We have fallen back. The rest of the world is closing in and closing in fast. We cant allow this to continue. American jobs plans is the biggest increase in our federal nondefense research and Development Spending on record. Its going to boost the american innovative edge in Battery Technology and Computer Technology in competition with china in particular. Critics say we should not spend this money. They ask what do we get out of it . Well, they said the same thing when we first flew into space for the first time. They said the same thing. Pushing the Frontiers Led to big benefits back home. When nasa created a digital Flight Control system, led the technology that help us today to drive our cars and fly our planes. When nasa invented ways to keep food safe for the astronauts that led to programs that keep food safe in super markets. 2000 products have been developed from American Space exploration. Gps helps us find each other. Computer chips allows to talk to one another even separated by mountains and oceans singing happy birthday and watching the first step of the new baby grandchild. Comfort when comfort is needed. Think about what it means to your loved ones. We have to imagine. I had a long discussion with ping the leader of china. We spent 2 hours on the phone. He said and i was astonished he said you always said, mr. President , that you can define america in one word. Possibilities. Thats who we are. In america anything is possible. Like what we did with the vaccines a decade ago and laid the foundation for covid19 vaccines we have today. Like we did when Interstate Highway System that transformed the way we travel, live, work and develop. Americans can visit relatives anywhere in the country in a family station wagon. Businesses in pittsburgh could get a product to portland or phoenix. To this day a quarter of all of the miles americans drive each year on one of those original high ways. Imagine what we can do when we modernize those high ways. You and your family could travel coast to coast without a single tank of gas on a High Speed Train and connect to affordable internet wherever you live. You are handing your children and grandchildren a country that will lead the world in producing Clean Energy Technology and will address one of the biggest threats of our time. Thats what we will do. All together along with the American Rescue plan. We will create millions of jobs. Estimated by some wall street outfits of 18 million jobs in 4 years. Good paying jobs. It levels the Playing Field so new jobs are good jobs you can raise a family on and ensure free and fair choice to organize and bargain collectively. My plans and congress to pass the proact and send it to my desk. This plan is not important not only for what and how it build but important to where w