“The President has a plan to fix our infrastructure and a plan to pay for it.”
(White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki)
With an optimistic tone of getting the support from the highly-divided Congress, Joe Biden is ready to present his infrastructure plan aiming to revive the economy once again, making climate change his first priority.
The $3 trillion infrastructure plan would be focused on his erstwhile promised “Build Back Better” plan during the presidential campaign.
Within this upcoming plan will be a series of investments in the infrastructure domain. Not only this, but he is also aiming to revive the domestic markets of the United States that were shattered in the wake of the novel coronavirus.
The primary motive of the plan remains to introduce climate-friendly milestones, keeping in view the competitiveness of the US markets with China.
What is Biden’s infrastructure plan, and how will it enhance Biden’s agenda to heal the climate in time, when the deteriorating climate is posing an existential threat to the world? Let’s see.
Biden’s Infrastructure Plan: An Effort to Heal the Climate
The two-pronged package revolves around US compliance to achieving carbon-free power production by the end of 2035.
Initially, Biden is eyeing to rebuild the aging infrastructure facilities, including railway tracks, bridges, and highways.
At the same time, he is also focusing on those technologies in the $3 trillion bill that could mitigate the dangerous emissions of greenhouse gases.
Pittsburg, where Joe Biden started his presidential campaign, is hosting Biden for the event, during which he is about to announce the project.
The climate-friendly agenda of the Biden administration in the upcoming plan will include:
- Installation of a vast number of charging stations for electric vehicles.
- Incentivizing the masses to purchase electric vehicles.
- Building of energy-efficient homes
- Construction of electric power lines.
With the passage of time, the world is trying to shift its focus from the traditional form of vehicles to electric cars. This global transition towards clean energy will be benefited greatly from this infrastructure plan with the promotion of electric vehicles.
The second important element will be the aforementioned construction of energy-efficient homes.
As a matter of fact, domestic electricity consumption is causing significant strain on the energy resources of the country, especially in the time of the pandemic, where lockdowns have increased domestic electricity consumption to a great extent.
With the introduction of energy-efficient homes under Biden’s infrastructure plan, this burden on the national grid stations will be reduced to a great extent, ultimately helping the country achieve the already promised goals of the green future.
Will Republicans Join the Bandwagon, or Is It Another Tussle on Its Way?
Winning Congressional support would be a tricky thing for Democrats, especially at a time when Democrats had to use the budget reconciliation process to pass the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package to avoid the traditional sixty vote requirement, aka filibuster, in the Senate.
The garnering of Republicans’ support is also one of the reasons why Biden is trying to split the packages into two so that they could get the Republicans’ support in the matters of common interest, at least.
Republicans may try to start up their rhetoric of blaming Democrats for sponsoring the “Green New Deal” once again, as the discussion on climate change is imminent.
The bill will also be focused on promoting renewable energy to lessen the US carbon emissions, so this debate seems to be the prominent hurdle for Democrats in garnering Republicans’ support, as Republicans recently blamed the Green New Deal for the electricity crisis in Texas.
While on the one hand, Democrats are planning to introduce the plan, on the other, Republicans have already started lobbying to take care of the legislation in Congress.
As Jen Psaki said that the required $3 trillion for the plan would be collected by increasing the taxes on Americans, Republicans are also going to give a tough time to Democrats for increasing the taxes, if it happens.
Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has already said,
“My advice to the administration is if you want to do an infrastructure bill, let’s do an infrastructure bill. Let’s not turn it into a massive effort to raise taxes on businesses and individuals.”
(Mitch McConnell)
Final Thoughts
While Democrats have already signaled that they are ready to discuss the plan in Congress, the Republican agenda to accuse Democrats of socialism in the country would go to new heights in the wake of the introduction of this plan.
Democrats have also hinted that they could use budget reconciliation, once again, to pass this plan, yet Joe Manchin is already in the news to give a tough time to Democrats on Biden’s infrastructure plan.
The second part of the plan is related to healthcare, educational facilities, and childcare, which Biden will announce later.
As the situation stands, Democrats do not have enough support in the Senate to pass the upcoming infrastructure plan in its totality.
Biden should be ready to face staunch opposition from Republicans’ benches on raising the taxes and furthering the Green New Deal.
The final wording of the proposed plan will be unveiled soon by Biden, but another Democrats-Republicans tussle is on its way for sure.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.