President Biden Announces $2.25 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

President Biden has announced a four-part, eight-year plan that includes $621 billion for transportation and $650 billion for initiatives tied to improving public safety and accessibility to essential services, such as clean water and high-speed broadband investment. The proposal also includes $580 billion for strengthening American manufacturing, $180 billion of which is proposed as investment in non-defense research and development. The plans are meant to catalyze investments in clean energy and encourage low-emission technologies necessary to constrain global warming, as well as position the U.S. to expand its domestic manufacturing capabilities.
 
The clean energy portion of the plan calls for sweeping investments in electric vehicles, renewable power, and the electric grid as part of a blueprint to bolster the U.S. economy while combating climate change. The initiative would give a 10-year extension to tax credits for wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects, and includes a particular focus on offshore wind development. Other key energy and water infrastructure proposals include:
 

• $174 billion for the electric vehicle sector, including charging station infrastructure
• $115 billion to repair roads and bridges
• $111 billion for water infrastructure, including $54 billion in state grants, $45 billion to replace lead piping, and $10 billion to monitor and remediate PFAS contamination
• $100 billion for grid resiliency and high-voltage transmission
• $35 billion in the full range of solutions needed to achieve technology breakthroughs that address the climate crisis, including $15 billion for technology demonstration projects for climate R&D priorities
• $16 billion to clean up abandoned mines and gas wells
• $5 billion investment in remediation and redevelopment of Brownfield and Superfund sites.

As part of the administration’s goal to create a carbon free power sector by 2035, the plan would also establish an Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard aimed at cutting electricity bills and pollution and expand the 45Q tax credit for CO2 sequestration.
 
For manufacturing and R&D investment, President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $50 billion to create a new office at the Department of Commerce dedicated to monitoring domestic industrial capacity and funding investments to support production of critical goods, a plan similar to the Endless Frontier Act proposed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last year. The plan also calls for a $50 billion investment in semiconductor manufacturing and research and $46 billion in federal procurement of a wide area of clean energy and energy efficient technologies.
 
At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the proposal would invest $20 billion in regional innovation hubs through a Community Revitalization Fund, as well as provide $14 billion for NIST to expand its efforts to bring together industry, academia, and government to advance technologies and capabilities critical to future competitiveness. The proposal calls for a quadrupling of NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership program and would invest $40 billion for new programs to provide training in high-demand sectors such as clean energy and manufacturing.
 
The plan also calls for $12 billion in investments in community college facilities, technology grants, and workforce development opportunities in local economies. States will be responsible for using the dollars to address both existing physical and technological infrastructure needs at community colleges and identifying strategies to address access to community college in education deserts.
 
For more information on the ‘American Jobs Plan’ proposal, visit:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/