Biden plans to invest two trillion dollars in infrastructure

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US President Biden: A total of four trillion dollars in investments planned

Photo: JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS

With a trillion dollar program, US President Joe Biden plans to fundamentally modernize his country's infrastructure and stimulate economic growth.

Biden wants to present the details in a speech in Pittsburgh late in the evening, Central European Time - but the White House has already announced a few things in advance:

• The program is therefore a volume of

  two trillion dollars

  have

• and should be planned

  for eight years

  .

• It is to be financed by

  raising the corporate tax

  from 21 to 28 percent.

The infrastructure plans are only one of two parts of an even broader investment program.

In April, Biden wants to present the plans for the health system.

A total of around four trillion dollars is estimated for both parts of the program.

Just three weeks ago, Congress passed the $ 1.9 trillion corona aid package.

The new infrastructure program will create "millions of well-paying jobs" and strengthen the United States' position in competition with China, said a senior White House official.

The plan is based on a "bold vision" for the benefit of "American workers" and communities, said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Specifically, according to the Reuters news agency, the infrastructure program includes measures totaling $ 2.3 trillion:

• Roads, rails, traffic: 650 billion dollars

  
  

  More than 30,000 kilometers of roads and 10,000 bridges are to be rehabilitated.

  Of the money, $ 174 billion will also be used to promote electric mobility through discounts for buyers and better domestic supply chains.

  Local traffic is to receive $ 85 billion and Amtrak 80 billion.

  25 billion dollars are to go to the airports, 17 billion to waterways and ports.

  Road safety is also earmarked for $ 20 billion to better protect cyclists and pedestrians.

  After all, $ 25 billion has been earmarked for "ambitious" transportation projects that are "too big for the current funding programs."

• Housing and school buildings: $ 650 billion

  
  

  . Broadband, the power grid and the supply of clean drinking water are all on the agenda.

  Among other things, all remaining lead lines are to be replaced, which, according to the White House, still supply up to ten million US households.

  Two million homes and hospitals for veterans are to be built or existing ones are to be renovated.

  A total of $ 100 billion has been earmarked for the modernization or new construction of public schools.

  This section also includes the sealing of oil and natural gas wells and old mining sites, also with a view to creating jobs.

• Industry, education, research: $ 580 billion.

  
  

  Here, $ 180 billion is budgeted for research and development in the field of clean energy and $ 50 billion for domestic chip production.

  Additional funds in an unspecified amount are to be used for incentives to create new jobs in traditional coal regions and to expand supply chains in the USA.

• Care: $ 400 billion

  
  

  One in six employees in critical care professions lives in poverty, according to the Biden government.

  The program provides for the construction or financing of facilities for hundreds of thousands of elderly citizens and people with disabilities in order to create "well-paid" care facilities.

However, tough disputes with the opposition Republicans in Congress over the project are to be expected.

One of the sticking points is likely to be the planned increase in corporate tax.

Under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, the corporate tax was drastically reduced from 35 to 21 percent, now exactly half of this reduction is to be reversed.

Most of the infrastructure in the USA dates back to the 1950s and is ailing in many places.

Because of the narrow majorities of Biden's Democrats in Congress, however, it is unlikely that the project will be fully implemented without the participation of some of the Republicans.

Biden's predecessors Trump and Barack Obama also had big plans for modernizing the infrastructure, but made very limited progress in this area.

fdi / AFP / Reuters