WILMINGTON, Del. – Linking the urgent need to tackle a changing climate with the nation’s growing economic crisis, Joe Biden outlined on Tuesday a $ 2 trillion plan to rebuild American cities and towns through investments in clean energy technologies that they would ultimately deliver on what he said was President Donald Trump’s failed promise to deliver an infrastructure plan.
Speaking in his hometown of Wilmington, Biden noted that Trump promised a grand infrastructure plan in his 2016 campaign, and then every year since he was in the White House.
“It seems like every few weeks, when you need a diversion from corruption charges of your staff or the condemnation of high-ranking members of your administration and political apparatus, the White House announces, citing, ‘It’s Infrastructure Week'” Biden said “How many times have you heard him say that? But he never delivered. He has never really tried. I know how to do it.”
The plan he unveiled Tuesday would represent, according to his campaign, “the largest mobilization of public investment since World War II,” the latest indication of how Biden is dramatically expanding the more modest proposals he had put forward in the Democratic primaries while The nation is staring at a prolonged economic and health crisis due to COVID-19.
Biden began his remarks with fresh punches at Trump about his handling of the pandemic and a defense from Dr. Anthony Fauci. As many states see cases on the rise, Biden said the situation “has gotten so bad that even Donald Trump decided to wear a mask in public.”
“Stop pushing the false choice between protecting our health and protecting our economy. All it does is jeopardize our recovery on both fronts,” Biden said. President, listen to your public health experts instead of denigrating them. “
Biden then moved to the second table of his “Build Back Better” economic plan, a combination of environmental and infrastructure proposals that, according to the campaign, would create millions of new union jobs in the auto industry, transit, the electrical sector, the buildings, housing and innovation. .
The plan notably maintains Biden’s 2050 timeline for establishing a 100 percent clean energy economy with zero net emissions, but sets a more achievable goal to cut the nation’s carbon footprint in half by 2035. The proposal also reaches a week after a joint Force on Climate task, comprised of Biden advisers and Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a former rival for the 2020 nomination, proposed to remove carbon pollution specifically from power plants by 2035. The Task Force was chaired by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., and John Kerry, former Senator, Secretary of State, and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate.
Biden’s campaign ended multiple past “failed” attempts by the president to propose reforms, and a senior campaign official told reporters on Tuesday that “this is a true” infrastructure week “and something that As we know, Trump has tried to make a central part of his economic plan, has consistently failed to come up with meaningful plans, and has certainly failed to make them come true. ”
Biden’s “Build Back Better” economic revitalization plan includes aggressive reforms aimed at keeping jobs in the United States and creating a level playing field for all Americans to contribute to the economy. It is the latest example of Biden’s campaign effort to gain ground against the president in a rare area where voters say they are in favor of Trump, according to recent polls: the economy.
“We continue to bring the economic argument and the work argument directly to Trump and making a really strong contrast as to who can really do these things,” the official added.
As with last week’s announcement of a $ 700 billion plan to increase spending on American-made goods and research and development, in which Biden’s team worked with advisers to Senator Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., Tuesday’s updated climate policy reflects collaboration with major unions, as well as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, another former Democratic presidential hopeful.
Biden’s latest plan represents a slight shift in his vision of clean energy to positions favored by progressive groups. Top campaign advisers explained the change as the culmination of a year-long listening session with activist groups, governors, mayors, unions, and business leaders.
Biden often found himself facing climate activists at campaign events during the Democratic primary season, where he recently voiced his position to a New Hampshire protester in February who listened to his concerns and that his campaign was “working” on defining more goals. achievable.
In a statement to NBC News, the executive director and president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, Gina McCarthy, said Biden’s plan “by far is the most ambitious we have seen of any president in history of our nation, “as a result of hearing numerous concerns from groups across the country that pushed him to do clean energy reforms earlier.
The $ 2 trillion investment over four years also accelerates his initial time frame of spending $ 1.7 billion over 10 years on green spending, which senior campaign officials said is still a tenant of his vision as not all will be included. your initial plan proposals within four years.
The campaign has yet to put a full price on its financial plans, saying it would once the four parts of the “Build Back Better” package are revealed. However, a second senior campaign adviser said the campaign would include most of these proposals in an economic stimulus. Biden hopes Congress will pass once he is elected president to address the pandemic. Part of the plan could be approved by executive order or legislation, and paid for by reversing Trump’s tax bill.
