{"id":128887,"date":"2021-09-16T21:18:52","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T04:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=128887"},"modified":"2021-09-16T21:18:52","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T04:18:52","slug":"president-biden-on-the-economy-bipartisan-infrastructure-3-5-trillion-reconciliation-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=128887","title":{"rendered":"President Biden on the Economy, Bipartisan Infrastructure &#038; $3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good afternoon.  I want to start by thanking the House committees for working hard this week to advance critical components of the economic plan that I\u2019ve put before the Congress.  I know we still have a long way to go, but I\u2019m confident that Congress will deliver to my desk both the bipartisan physical infrastructure plan and the Build Back Better plan that I have proposed.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l7mIqLA8ZyE\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ve said many times before: I believe we\u2019re at an inflection point in this country \u2014 one of those moments where the decisions we\u2019re about to make can change \u2014 literally change the trajectory of our nation for years and possibly decades to come. <\/p>\n<p>Each inflection point in this nation\u2019s history represents a fundamental choice.  I believe that America, at this moment, is facing such a choice.  And the choice is this: Are we going to continue with an economy where the overwhelming share of the benefits go to big corporations and the very wealthy?  Or are we going to take this moment right now to set this country on a new path \u2014 one that invests in this nation; creates real, sustained economic growth; and that benefits everyone, including working people and middle-class folks?<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s something we haven\u2019t realized in this country for decades.<\/p>\n<p>The data \u2014 (clears throat) \u2014 excuse me.  The data is absolutely clear.  Over the past 40 years, the wealthy have gotten wealthier, and too many corporations have lost their sense of responsibility to their workers, their communities, and the country.<\/p>\n<p>Just look at the facts.  CEOs used to make about 20 times the average worker in the company that they ran.  Today, they make more than 350 times what the average worker in their corporation makes.<\/p>\n<p>Since the pandemic began, billionaires have seen their wealth go up by $1.8 trillion.  That is, everyone who was a billionaire before the pandemic began, the total accumulated wealth beyond the billions they already had has gone up by $1.8 trillion.  Simply not fair.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s \u2014 how is it possible that 55 of the largest corporations in this country paid zero dollars in federal income taxes?  They made over $40 billion in the year 2020, and they\u2019ve paid zero.  Think about that.  Zero dollars in federal taxes on $40 billion in profits.<\/p>\n<p>How is it possible that the wealthiest billionaires<br \/>\nin the country can entirely escape paying income tax on what they\u2019ve made?<\/p>\n<p>How is it possible for millionaires and billionaires that can pay a lower rate of tax than teachers, firefighters, or law enforcement officers?<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the simple truth.  For a long time, this economy has worked great for those at the very top, while ordinary, hardworking Americans \u2014 the people who built this country \u2014 have been basically cut out of the deal.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ve said this from the time I announced I was going to run: I believe this is a moment of potentially great change.  This is our moment to deal working people back into the economy.  This is our moment to prove to the American people that their government works for them, not just for the big corporations and those at the very top.<\/p>\n<p>When I was sworn in as President, the nation was struggling to pull out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Job growth was anemic, with just over 60,000 new jobs per month in the three months before I was sworn in.<\/p>\n<p>Then we went to work and passed the American Rescue Plan back in March.  And it worked.  It\u2019s still working.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last three months, we\u2019ve been creating, on average, 750,000 new jobs per month.  Our economy is growing at the fastest rate we\u2019ve seen in nearly 40 years.<\/p>\n<p>Our recovery is unique in the world.  We\u2019re the only developed country in the world whose economy is now bigger than it was before the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>While this is all good news, I know many Americans are still struggling to make it through each and every day.<\/p>\n<p>For too many, it\u2019s harder and harder to pay the bills \u2014 food, gas, rent, healthcare.  I get it.  We still have a long way to go to get the economy where it needs to be.<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve said for a long time: Coming out of this economic crisis as deep as the one we were in was never going to be easy.  But we\u2019re doing it, and we can continue to do it.<\/p>\n<p>COVID, supply chain issues, and bad actors seeking to profit off the pandemic are all contributing to the challenges we\u2019re facing.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why I\u2019ve made getting COVID under control my top priority from my first day as President.  Everything \u2014 everything, from our public health to our economy, depends on this.<\/p>\n<p>We made enormous progress against the virus through the summer, and now we\u2019ve put ourselves in a strong position to battle this Delta variant.  That\u2019s why the actions I proposed on vaccines last week are so critical: from requiring federal workers to get vaccinated; requiring healthcare workers to be vaccinated; requiring employers with over 100 employees to institute vaccine and\/or test protocols, calling on \u2014 for them to be able to know what their employers \u2014 their employees are doing before they walk through the door; calling for vaccine or test requirements to enter big venues; and a whole series of steps I proposed to protect our kids in schools.<\/p>\n<p>Wall Street firms have analyzed the impact of these plans, and they\u2019re projecting that these new requirements will help 12 million more Americans get vaccinated, which will help more businesses stay open and more Americans back to work.<\/p>\n<p>The data shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with my proposal.  That\u2019s \u2014 there\u2019s no surprise, given that 76 percent of American adults have already gotten at least one shot.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2014 but we\u2019re facing a lot of pushback, especially from some of the Republican governors.  The governors of Florida and Texas \u2014 they\u2019re doing everything they can to undermine the lifesaving requirements that I\u2019ve proposed.<\/p>\n<p>And some of the same governors attacking me are in states with some the strictest vaccine mandates for children attending school in the entire country.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in Mississippi, children are required to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus, and more.  These are state requirements. <\/p>\n<p>But in the midst of a pandemic that has already taken over 660,000 lives, I propose a requirement for COVID vaccines, and the governor of that state calls it, quote, a \u201ctyrannical-type move\u201d?  A \u201ctyrannical-type move\u201d? <\/p>\n<p>This is the worst kind of politics because it\u2019s putting the lives of citizens of their states, especially children, at risk.  And I refuse to give in to it. <\/p>\n<p>These policies are what the science tells us we need to do.  They\u2019re going to save lives.  And they\u2019ll protect our economic recovery as well, and allow the economy to continue to grow.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re also going after the bad actors and pandemic profiteers in our economy.  There\u2019s a lot of evidence that gas prices should be going down, but they haven\u2019t.  We\u2019ll be taking a close look at that.<\/p>\n<p>Taxpayers in this country also have paid for extraordinary effort to keep our country going over the past year or so. <\/p>\n<p>Unlike the last administration, which resisted oversight and allowed taxpayers to be victimized by fraud, we\u2019re working hard to protect vulnerable Americans from having their identities stolen \u2014 as a consequence of their unemployment check stolen as well.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re going offer organized criminal \u2014 we\u2019re going to go after organized criminals that defraud America or misuse COVID funds.<\/p>\n<p>Look, we\u2019re also taking a closer look at places in our economy where fewer and fewer corporate giants are controlling more and more of the marketplace in the area that they work.<\/p>\n<p>Just look at agriculture and the food industry.  A very small number of giant corporations now dominate the market, which gives them the ability to drive up prices because they face so little competition.<\/p>\n<p>As we work to build healthier competition in our economy and crack down on bad actors, the American Rescue Plan, which we passed in March, is still working to give hardworking Americans \u2014 hardworking people some relief.<\/p>\n<p>One of the best examples of that relief is the expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which, in effect, is essentially a historic tax cut for families with children.<\/p>\n<p>Just yesterday, 39 million working moms and dads got their direct payment.  That money is going to help cover groceries, the mortgage, new pairs of shoes \u2014 all the things that kids need.  It\u2019s a tax cut for working families.<\/p>\n<p>So, we\u2019re working to provide as much relief as we can right now to American families.  But here\u2019s the truth: Yes, the pandemic has caused a lot of economic problems in the country, but the fact is our economy faced challenges long before this pandemic struck.  Working people were struggling to make it long before the pandemic arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Big corporations and the very wealthy were doing very well before the pandemic.  That\u2019s why I\u2019ve said \u2014 starting back in my campaign for president \u2014 that it\u2019s not enough just to build back; we have to build back better than before.  And that\u2019s how it all begins. <\/p>\n<p>Big corporations and the super wealthy have to start paying their fair share of taxes.  It\u2019s long overdue. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not out to punish anyone.  I\u2019m a capitalist.  If you can make a million or a billion dollars, that\u2019s great.  God bless you.  All I\u2019m asking is you pay your fair share.  Pay your fair share just like middle-class folks do.  But that isn\u2019t happening now.<\/p>\n<p>Today, in this country, right now, the top 1 percent, for example, evade an estimated $160 billion in taxes that they owe each year.  Not new taxes, taxes that they owe. <\/p>\n<p>And the way it works is this: If you\u2019re a typical American \u2014 like I suspect most of the press people sitting in front of me here \u2014 you pay your taxes.  Why?  Because you get a W-2 form.  It comes in the mail every year.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS gets that information as well.  Your taxes get deducted from your paycheck, and you pay what is owed beyond that.  That\u2019s why about 99 percent of working people pay the taxes they owe.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s not how it works for people with tens of millions of dollars.  They play by a different set of rules.  And they\u2019re often not employees themselves, so the IRS can\u2019t see what they make and can\u2019t tell if they\u2019re cheating.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how many of the top 1 percent get away with paying virtually nothing.  It\u2019s estimated by serious economists that that number is about $160 billion collectively owed each year that doesn\u2019t get paid.  It\u2019s not an even playing field.  My plan would help solve that.  For example, it would give the IRS the resources it needs to keep up with the lawyers and accountants in the super \u2014 of the super-wealthy.<\/p>\n<p>It would ask just for two pieces of information from the banks of these folks: that amounts \u2014 the amounts that come into their bank accounts and what amounts go out of their bank accounts, so that the wealthy can no longer hide what they\u2019re making and they can finally begin to pay their fair share of what they owe.<\/p>\n<p>That isn\u2019t about raising their taxes.  It\u2019s about the super-wealthy finally beginning to pay what they owe \u2014 what the existing tax code calls for \u2014 just like hardworking Americans do all over this country every Tax Day.<\/p>\n<p>Look \u2014 and like I said just a few minutes ago, 55 of the most profitable corporations in America paid zero in federal income taxes on what amounted to $40 billion in profit.  Not a penny.  That\u2019s not right.  And my economic plan will change that.  Not punish anybody, just make them pay their fair share.<\/p>\n<p>But my Republican friends in Congress don\u2019t want to change the law.  So, what are they doing?  They\u2019re attacking me and my plan \u2014 which is fine.  But if we\u2019re going to have a debate, let\u2019s have an honest debate. <\/p>\n<p>My Republican friends are attacking my plan, saying it\u2019s \u201cbig spending.\u201d  Let me remind you, these are the same folks who just four years ago passed the Trump tax cut totaling almost $2 trillion in tax cuts \u2013- a giant giveaway to the largest corporations and the top 1 percent.  And listen to this: Almost none of that $2 trillion tax cut was paid for.  It just ballooned the federal deficit.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the unpa- \u2014 unpaid bills ranked up \u2014 racked up by the last administration are projected to increase the national debt by more than $8 trillion over time.<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019m proposing is totally different from that approach for three reasons: <\/p>\n<p>First, my plan is paid for.  It\u2019s fiscally responsible, because our investments are paid for that by making sure that corporations and the wealthy Americans pay their fair share.<\/p>\n<p>Second, we\u2019re not going to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000.  That\u2019s a lot of money.  Some of my liberal friends are saying it should be lower than that.  But only corporations and people making over $400,000 a year are going to pay any additional tax.<\/p>\n<p>And third, not only will no one making under $400,000 see their taxes go up, the middle class are going to going to get some tax cuts \u2014 some breaks.<\/p>\n<p>My plan benefits ordinary Americans, not those at the top who don\u2019t need the help.  It\u2019s a historic middle-class tax cut, cutting taxes for over 50 million families.<\/p>\n<p>My Republican friends are making a different choice though.  They\u2019d rather protect the tax breaks of those at the very top than give tax breaks to working families.  It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n<p>But let me ask you this: Where is it written that all the tax breaks in the American tax code go to corporations and the very top?  I think it\u2019s enough.  I\u2019m tired of it.<\/p>\n<p>For me, it\u2019s pretty simple: It\u2019s about time working people got the tax breaks in this country.  That\u2019s what my plan does.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s what it also does: By asking big corporations and the very wealthy to pay their fair share, it makes it possible to invest in America, to invest in the American people.<\/p>\n<p>According to leading economists \u2014 forecasters like Moody\u2019s and major international financial institutions \u2014 my plan will create \u2014 make us \u2014 create jobs, make us more competitive, and grow our economy and lessen \u2014 lessen, not increase \u2014 inflationary pressure.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s been handed out today, but, by the way, 15 Nobel laureates in economics released a letter yesterday arguing that exame [sic] \u2014 that exact same point.<\/p>\n<p>They said, and I quote \u2014 and this is from 15 Nobel laureates in economics \u2014 quote, \u201cBecause this agenda\u2026\u201d \u2014 the one I\u2019m talking about, mine \u2014 \u201cBecause this agenda invests in long-term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease long-term inflationary pressures.\u201d  It will ease it.<\/p>\n<p>Let me highlight just a few provisions of my plan.  I know this is long, and I apologize, but it\u2019s important, I think. <\/p>\n<p>My plan lowers the cost of daycare and childcare and eldercare for families and [has] the added benefit of allowing millions of people, mostly women \u2014 who are not able to go back to work because of very young family members or elderly people they\u2019re taking care of \u2014 allow them to go back to work.  It\u2019s estimated in the millions that can\u2019t go back.<\/p>\n<p>It lowers healthcare premiums for millions of families.  It lowers prescription drug costs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices.  And it strengthens Medicare by adding dental, vision, and hearing coverage for \u2014 if you\u2019re on Medicare.<\/p>\n<p>It also extends the tax cut for families with kids that we passed in the American Rescue Plan in March.<\/p>\n<p>All of this will mean thousands of dollars in savings for the average American family on some of the toughest and most important bills they have to pay every month.<\/p>\n<p>My Republican friends talk a lot about inflation, but if you want to talk about actually lowering the cost of living for people in this country, my plan does just that.<\/p>\n<p>By strengthening the capacity of our economy, it will also reduce inflationary pressures over the long run.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s something else my plan does: It confronts the crisis of extreme weather events that we\u2019re seeing all around us and around the world \u2014 but just here in America.  We see it everywhere.  We know it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n<p>In just the past few weeks \u2014 and there\u2019s more to come \u2014 I\u2019ve seen the destruction of hurricanes in Louisiana, where winds got up to a hundred- \u2014 gusts of 179 miles an hour; the deadly toll from flooding in New York, where 20 inches of rain, and New Jersey, more than 11 inches of rain in some areas.<\/p>\n<p>More than 5 million acres of our lands and communities have burned to the ground in wildfires just this year alone.  That\u2019s more than the size of the entire state of New Jersey burned to the ground.  When I was out in California, I flew over some of these areas. <\/p>\n<p>In addition, there\u2019s a severe drought in the West and the Midwest.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a blinking code red out there for the nation.  We can\u2019t wait to act.<\/p>\n<p>Extreme weather, just last year, cost the American public $99 billion in damage \u2014 $99 billion in damage last year.  And unfortunately, we\u2019re likely to break that record this year.<\/p>\n<p>And the evidence is overwhelming that every dollar we invest in resilience saves six dollars down the road \u2014 when the next fire doesn\u2019t spread as widely or the power station holds up against the storm. <\/p>\n<p>We need to rebuild with resilience \u2014 with resilience in mind \u2014 so roads are built higher; levees are built more \u2014 made more strong \u2014 stronger; transmission lines are better protected, and so much more.<\/p>\n<p>You know, I hope we\u2019re past debating climate change in this country.  Now we have to act, and we have to act fast.  And my plan does that.<\/p>\n<p>Let me end with this.  This pandemic has been God-awful<br \/>\nfor so many reasons: the lost lives \u2014 as I said, over 660,000; the jobs, the businesses lost; the lost time in school for our kids.<\/p>\n<p>But it does present us with an opportunity: We can build an economy that gives working people a fair shot this time.  We can restore some sanity and fairness to our tax code.  We can make the investments that we know are long overdue in this nation.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s exactly what my bipartisan infrastructure plan does \u2014 I should say, our bipartisan infrastructure plan does: investments in roads, bridges, highways; clean water in every home and every school; universal broadband; quality and affordable places for families to live.<\/p>\n<p>And we can invest in our people \u2014 giving our families a little help with their toughest expenses, like daycare, childcare, eldercare, prescription drugs, healthcare, preparing our young people to compete against any country in the world with preschool and community college.<\/p>\n<p>We can confront this crisis of extreme weather and climate change, and not only protect our communities but create new opportunities, new industries, and new jobs.<\/p>\n<p>In short, this is an opportunity to be the nation we know we can be \u2014 a nation where all of us \u2014 all of us, not just those at the top \u2014 are getting a share of the benefits of a growing economy in the years ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s not squander this moment trying to preserve an economy that hasn\u2019t worked too well for Americans for a long time. <\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s not look backward, just trying to rebuild what we had.  Let\u2019s look forward, together, as one America \u2014 not to build back, but to build back better.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all very much.  And God bless you all.  May God protect our troops.  Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good afternoon. I want to start by thanking the House committees for working hard this week to advance critical components of the economic plan that I\u2019ve put before the Congress. I know we still have a long way to go, but I\u2019m confident that Congress will deliver to my desk both the bipartisan physical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Chrome-Legacy-Window-9162021-91414-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128889,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128887\/revisions\/128889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/128888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}