A3
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021
Biden goes big on infrastructure
Funded by higher
taxes on large
businesses
By JOSH BOAK and
LISA MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Pres-
ident Joe Biden wants $2 tril-
lion to reengineer America’s
infrastructure and expects
the nation’s corporations to
pay for it.
The president was travel-
ing to Pittsburgh on Wednes-
day to unveil what would be
a hard-hatted transformation
of the U.S. economy as grand
in scale as the New Deal or
Great Society programs that
shaped the 20th century.
White House offi cials say
the spending over eight years
would generate millions of
new jobs as the country shifts
away from fossil fuels and
combats the perils of climate
change. It is also an eff ort to
compete against the technol-
ogy and public investments
made by China, which has
the world’s second-largest
economy and is fast gaining
on the United States’ domi-
nant position.
White House press secre-
tary Jen Psaki said the plan is
“about making an investment
in America — not just mod-
ernizing our roads or rail-
ways or bridges but build-
ing an infrastructure of the
future.”
Biden’s choice of Pitts-
burgh for unveiling the plan
carried important economic
and political resonance. He
not only won Pittsburgh and
its surrounding county to
help secure the presidency,
but he launched his cam-
paign there in 2019. The city
famed for steel mills that
powered America’s indus-
trial rise has steadily piv-
oted toward technology and
health care, drawing in col-
lege graduates in a sign of
how economies can change.
The Democratic presi-
dent’s infrastructure projects
would be fi nanced by higher
corporate taxes — a trade-off
that could lead to fi erce resis-
tance from the business com-
munity and thwart attempts
to work with Republicans
lawmakers. Biden hopes to
pass an infrastructure plan by
summer, which could mean
relying solely on the slim
Democratic majorities in the
House and the Senate.
The White House says the
largest chunk of the proposal
includes $621 billion for
roads, bridges, public transit,
electric vehicle charging sta-
tions and other transportation
infrastructure. The spend-
ing would push the coun-
try away from internal com-
bustion engines that the auto
industry views as an increas-
ingly antiquated technology.
Matt Rourke/AP Photo
An Amtrak train departs 30th Street Station in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
child care, family tax cred-
its and other domestic pro-
grams, another expendi-
ture of roughly $2 trillion
to be paid for by tax hikes
on wealthy individuals
and families, according to
people familiar with the
proposal.
Funding the fi rst $2 tril-
lion for construction and
“hard” infrastructure proj-
ects would be a hike on
corporate taxes that would
raise the necessary sum
over 15 years and then
reduce the defi cit going for-
ward, according to a White
House outline of the plan.
Biden would undo a signa-
ture policy achievement of
the Trump administration
by lifting the corporate tax
rate to 28% from the 21%
rate set in a 2017 overhaul.
To keep companies from
shifting profi ts overseas
to avoid taxation, a 21%
global minimum tax would
be imposed. The tax code
would also be updated so
that companies could not
merge with a foreign busi-
ness and avoid taxes by
moving their headquarters
to a tax haven. And among
other provisions, it would
increase IRS audits of
corporations.
Democratic lawmakers
embraced Biden’s plan on
Wednesday. Senate Major-
ity Leader Chuck Schumer,
of New York, said it would
create millions of jobs.
GOP whip, said.
Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell dismissed
Biden’s package as nothing
more than a “Trojan horse”
for tax hikes.
“This is not going to be
apparently an infrastruc-
ture package,” said McCo-
nnell, who also said Biden
called him about the plan on
Tuesday. “It’s called infra-
structure. But inside the Tro-
jan horse there’s going to be
more borrowed money and
massive tax increases on all
the productive parts of our
economy.”
The business commu-
nity favors updating U.S.
infrastructure, but it dislikes
higher tax rates. U.S. Cham-
ber of Commerce Exec-
utive Vice President and
Chief Policy Offi cer Neil
Bradley said in a statement
that “we applaud the Biden
administration for mak-
ing infrastructure a top pri-
ority. However, we believe
the proposal is dangerously
misguided when it comes to
how to pay for infrastruc-
ture.” The Business Round-
table, a group of CEOs,
would rather have infra-
structure funded with user
fees such as tolls.
Former President Don-
ald Trump, in a statement,
blasted his successor’s pro-
posal, claiming it “would be
among the largest self-in-
fl icted economic wounds in
history.”
‘THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE APPARENTLY AN
INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE. IT’S CALLED
INFRASTRUCTURE. BUT INSIDE THE TROJAN
HORSE THERE’S GOING TO BE MORE BORROWED
MONEY AND MASSIVE TAX INCREASES ON ALL THE
PRODUCTIVE PARTS OF OUR ECONOMY.’
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell
An additional $111 bil-
lion would go to replace
lead water pipes and
upgrade sewers. Broadband
internet would blanket the
country for $100 billion.
Separately, $100 billion
would upgrade the power
grid to deliver clean elec-
tricity. Homes would get
retrofi tted, schools mod-
ernized, workers trained
and hospitals renovated
under the plan, which also
seeks to strengthen U.S.
manufacturing.
The new construction
could keep the economy
running hot, coming on the
heels of Biden’s $1.9 trillion
coronavirus relief package.
Economists already esti-
mate it could push growth
above 6% this year.
Separately, Biden will
propose in the coming
weeks a series of soft infra-
structure investments in
“I look forward to work-
ing with President Biden to
pass a big, bold plan that will
drive America forward for
decades to come,” Schumer
said at an event in Buff alo.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio,
an Oregon Democrat and
chairman of the House
Oversight and Transporta-
tion Committee, wants to
have a highway and transit
bill passed out of the com-
mittee in May. He called
Biden’s plan “visionary and
exactly what people across
this country have been ask-
ing for from national leaders
for years, even decades.”
But key GOP and busi-
ness leaders were already
panning the package.
“It seems like Presi-
dent Biden has an insatia-
ble appetite to spend more
money and raise people’s
taxes,” U.S. Rep. Steve
Scalise, of Louisiana, the
Pittsburgh is a series of
steep hills and three inter-
secting rivers. Its steel mills
once covered the sky in
enough soot that men needed
to take spare white shirts to
work because their button
downs would turn to gray by
lunch. Only last year the city,
amid the coronavirus pan-
demic, met Environmental
Protection Agency standards
for air quality, even though it
is increasingly the home of
tech and health care workers
with college degrees.
Infrastructure spending
usually holds the promise
of juicing economic growth,
but by how much remains a
subject of political debate.
Commutes and shipping
times could be shortened,
while public health would
be improved and construc-
tion jobs would bolster con-
sumer spending.
Standard & Poor’s chief
U.S. economist, Beth Ann
Bovino, estimated last year
that a $2.1 trillion boost
in infrastructure spend-
ing could add as much as
$5.7 trillion in income to
the entire economy over a
decade. Those kinds of anal-
yses have led liberal Dem-
ocrats in Congress such as
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a
Washington state Democrat,
to conclude Tuesday, “The
economic consensus is that
infrastructure pays for itself
over time.”
But the Biden adminis-
tration is taking a more cau-
tious approach than some
Democrats might like. After
$1.9 trillion in pandemic aid
and $4 trillion in relief last
year, the administration is
trying to avoid raising the
debt to levels that would
trigger higher interest rates
and make it harder to repay.
Psaki said Tuesday that
Biden believes it’s “the
responsible thing to do”
to pay for infrastructure
through taxes instead of bor-
rowing. The White House in
its outline of the plan also
couched the tax hikes as a
matter of fairness, noting
that 91 Fortune 500 compa-
nies paid $0 in federal cor-
porate taxes in 2018.
Biden’s eff orts may also
be complicated by demands
from a handful of Demo-
cratic lawmakers who say
they cannot support the bill
unless it also addresses the
$10,000 cap on individuals’
state and local tax deduc-
tions put in place under
Trump and a Republican-led
Congress.
With a narrow majority in
the House, they could con-
ceivably quash any bill that
doesn’t signifi cantly lift the
cap or repeal it entirely.
“I can only vote for a
bill that has meaningful tax
impact for my constituents
if it addresses the SALT cap
(state and local tax deduc-
tion),” tweeted U.S. Rep.
Tom Malinowski, a Demo-
crat from New Jersey.
“We say No SALT, no
deal,” said U.S. Rep. Tom
Suozzi, of New York, and
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell and
U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer,
of New Jersey, all Demo-
crats, in a joint statement.
Associated Press writ-
ers Kevin Freking and Zeke
Miller contributed to this
report.
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
Consult a
PROFESSIONAL
What do you have
in stock?
LEO FINZI
Astoria’s Best
HP 20.7” All-in-One Desktop
Intel i3 1080p, 8 GB memory,
256 GB HDD
$649.99
Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat/Sun Closed
77 11th Street, Suite H
Astoria, OR • 503-325-2300
AstoriasBest.com
New & used laptops, desktops & All in
Ones computers; Printers- HP, Epson,
Canon; TV streaming devices – Roku,
Google Chromecast and Wireless Display
Adapters; Networking- Wireless adapters,
Routers, Switches, Ethernet Cables, WiFi
Extenders; Mice and Keyboards; Copy and
Photo Paper; Phone Chargers & Cables; USB
cables, hubs, extenders; etc. etc. etc.
And 5 knowledgeable, experienced and
friendly associates to help you with sales
and repair of technology
Q: Why do my
dentures no
longer fit?
Once teeth are lost, the gums and
bones have a tendency to shrink and
recede. Just like a leg in a cast for several
months receiving no stimulation, then
removing the cast and seeing a withered
leg, the dental jaw bone is stimulated by
the function of the teeth and the forces of
chewing. When teeth are removed, this
stimulation is lost, and for many denture
wearers, the bone will shrink resulting in a
change of bone volume and a stable denture
fit. If your situation does require loss of teeth
or you now have dentures, ask about dental
implants which can help support dentures
and minimize loss of bone volume.
Please contact our office at 503-325-0310
for an evaluation.
A:
JEFFREY M. LEINASSAR
DMD, FAGD
L E I NA S S A R
DENTAL EXCELLENCE
503/325-0310
1414 MARINE DRIVE,
ASTORIA
www.smileastoria.com
Q: Do I need to
check with my
insurance before
coming in?
All you need to do is give us
ASTORIA A:
your insurance card during your
CHIROPRACTIC
free initial consult. We will then
determine what your coverage
can provide. Even if we are out
503-325-3311 of network with your insurance
1490 Marine Drive, company we may still be able to
Suite 202
Astoria, Oregon find coverage via your insurance.
Alicia M. Smith, DC
Owner
Q: What is the advantage
of planting bare root
plants over potted
trees and shrubs?
A: There are several advantages in the
winter, and now in early spring while
the plants are still dormant (no leaves).
With no soil around the roots, the plant
Farm & Garden will establish quicker than container-grown
plants. Also, the root systems are much larger
34963 Hwy. 101 Business so they will reach maturity faster.
Astoria • 503-325-1562
The price advantage is substantial, and the
plant vigor is robust. Take advantage of this
For beautiful gardens short window of opportunity and save.
& healthy animals
We have a great selection to choose from and
information sheets to help your plantings
succeed. Berries, veggies, fruit trees and roses
www.brimsfarmngarden.com are steadily rolling in!
BRIM’S