Will Biden's "Build Back Better" happen???

Joe Biden addressed a joint session of congress a few days ago and he had talked about the COVID recovery (rescue plan), the jobs plan and the family plan. Considering that this was a political speech it was scant on details. (Sometimes committee discussions are scant on details as well) 

The crux of the jobs plan is to create more well paying union jobs, reduce carbon emissions, while not increasing taxes on the people who make less than $400,000. My assumption is that the term "jobs plan" sounds better than infrastructure rejuvenation and new infrastructure. To the people who do not necessarily pay close attention to the speeches, infrastructure rejuvenation sounds like stuff that should be getting done anyway i.e. bridge maintenance and  new infrastructure sounds like a tax increase and an inconvenience. 

He briefly touched on the following potential infrastructure projects: 

-Roads, bridges and highways 

-Ports, airports, rail corridors and transit lines 

-Clean water 

-High speed internet 

-Modern power grid 

The projects are very exciting and necessary, especially basic projects such as replacing lead pipes in communities around the country and making sure the electricity grid is resilient. 10 million homes and 400,000 educational institutions seem to have lead pipes leading to them. Rail and transit projects are important as well when it comes to both reducing GHG's and improving the economy. 

He seemed to be very aware of the fact that house and senate republicans could scuttle chances of getting bills and funding passed and therefore used the terms bipartisan, Republican and taxes frequently during the speech to congress. The Republican response was a direct contradiction to what was mentioned during the speech. Biden (D): "I will not impose any tax increase on people making less than $400,000", "I will not add a tax burden, additional tax burden on the middle class of this country" Mitch (R):"We heard about the so called jobs plan packed with punitive tax hikes at exactly the time our nation needs a recovery", "This administration wants to jack up taxes in order to nudge families toward the kinds of jobs Democrats want them to have". 

On the topic of jobs, he touched on the creation of 1.3 million new jobs in the first 100 days of taking office and in the same speech talked about 2 million women dropping out of the workforce due to the pandemic. Whenever I hear the term "new jobs", I wonder if they are full-time/ part-time jobs and if the jobs in question have any benefits (medical/ dental insurance) 

The president was invited to speak at Amtrak's 50th birthday on April 30 2021 in Philadelphia, PA. There were a few more details, with regards to the Acela rolling stock on the NE corridor and the possibility of reducing the number of curves in the rail line therefore increasing the speed of trains in the corridor. There was also a mention of halving the carbon emissions by 2030, if more freight went by rail instead of other modes of transport. (Making sure the trucker associations, don't get the subtle message) 

Amtrak Acela trainset: The future of travel in the United States

The big question, that always looms in the United States, is if anything, in the jobs plan, will actually get done. Let us not even get into the messy world of transit and water which involves the state and municipal governments. In the U.S. the mantra is Administrative, i.e. an idea/ direction from the executive (Whitehouse), a creation of an authorization bill (bill to formally request money) by both the House and the Senate and then the most important of all, the appropriation bill (bill to transfer money from the Treasury to the authorization act) again by both the house and senate. Before either the authorization or the appropriation bills become law they need to be reconciled in both the house and the senate. i.e. both houses need to agree on the same bill. It would be interesting to see the outcome of this legislative session, when it comes to the infrastructure program considering President Biden, Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell have had long careers in the senate. Why am I saying that? All three of them should be well versed in parliamentary procedures in order to out manoeuvre each other. 

References: 

President Biden. "Address to a joint session of congress" Whitehouse briefing room 167:73 (28 Apr 2021) available from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/29/remarks-by-president-biden-in-address-to-a-joint-session-of-congress/ Accessed 05/ 01/ 2021 

President Biden. "Amtrak's 50th anniversary" Whitehouse briefing room  (30 Apr 2021) available from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/30/remarks-by-president-biden-at-an-event-marking-amtraks-50th-anniversary Accessed 05/ 01/ 2021   

Senator McConnell (KY). "Joint session of congress." Congressional Record 167:74 (29 Apr 2021) p. S2313 available from https://www.congress.gov/117/crec/2021/04/29/167/74/CREC-2021-04-29-pt1-PgS2313.pdf Accessed 05/ 02/ 2021 

"The next generation of Acela." Amtrak (25 Sep 2019) available from https://www.amtrak.com/next-generation-acela-express Accessed 05/ 02/ 2021