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I'm told the $1 trillion infrastructure bill is a give away to the rich
that it is a payout to big oil and corporations more broadly. They say it's worse than passing nothing. Yet no one will provide any specifics that show that the bill does what they say. Are there provisions in the bill that actually are corporate giveaways? If not, isn't irresponsible to trash Biden's efforts without any evidence?
40 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
other than it is typical RW-speak, or maybe ultra-green speak. 
In any event, if we pass the $1T bill to fix roads and bridges and such it would just increase vehicle emissions unless we pass the green parts of the bigger bill to encourage the shift to electric vehicles.
new spend, the other $650 billion in the bill is just renewals of previous programmes)
Biden wanted $2.6 trillion in new spend and tax incentives (plus of course the renewals)
The Infrastructure Plan: What’s In and What’s Out (it's brutal)
Biden wanted $2.6 trillion in new spend and tax incentives (plus of course the renewals)
The Infrastructure Plan: What’s In and What’s Out (it's brutal)
Biden's original plan:
What was left after the conservadems and the Rethugs took a 2 trillion USD hatchet to it
And so what
the money is not going to be used for its orginal purpose...so this is a good use in my opinion.
the money is not going to be used for its orginal purpose...so this is a good use in my opinion.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/28/politics/infrastructure-bill-explained/index.html
What's missing
The deal leaves out Biden's proposal to spend $400 billion to bolster caregiving for aging and disabled Americans -- the second largest measure in the American Jobs Plan. His proposal would have expanded access to long-term care services under Medicaid, eliminating the wait list for hundreds of thousands of people. It would have provided more opportunity for people to receive care at home through community-based services or from family members.
It would also have improved the wages of home health workers, who now make approximately $12 an hour, and would have put in place an infrastructure to give caregiving workers the opportunity to join a union. Also left on the sideline: $100 billion for workforce development, which would have helped dislocated workers, assisted underserved groups and put students on career paths before they graduate high school. The deal also leaves out the $18 billion Biden proposed to modernize the Veterans Affairs hospitals, which are on average 47 years older than a private-sector hospital.
What's also out is a slew of corporate tax hikes that Biden wanted to use to pay for the American Jobs Plan but that Republicans staunchly opposed. Biden's original proposal called for raising the corporate income tax rate to 28%, up from the 21% rate set by Republicans' 2017 tax cut act, as well as increasing the minimum tax on US corporations to 21% and calculating it on a country-by-country basis to deter companies from sheltering profits in international tax havens.
It also would have levied a 15% minimum tax on the income the largest corporations report to investors, known as book income, as opposed to the income reported to the Internal Revenue Service, and would have made it harder for US companies to acquire or merge with a foreign business to avoid paying US taxes by claiming to be a foreign company.
It would also have improved the wages of home health workers, who now make approximately $12 an hour, and would have put in place an infrastructure to give caregiving workers the opportunity to join a union. Also left on the sideline: $100 billion for workforce development, which would have helped dislocated workers, assisted underserved groups and put students on career paths before they graduate high school. The deal also leaves out the $18 billion Biden proposed to modernize the Veterans Affairs hospitals, which are on average 47 years older than a private-sector hospital.
What's also out is a slew of corporate tax hikes that Biden wanted to use to pay for the American Jobs Plan but that Republicans staunchly opposed. Biden's original proposal called for raising the corporate income tax rate to 28%, up from the 21% rate set by Republicans' 2017 tax cut act, as well as increasing the minimum tax on US corporations to 21% and calculating it on a country-by-country basis to deter companies from sheltering profits in international tax havens.
It also would have levied a 15% minimum tax on the income the largest corporations report to investors, known as book income, as opposed to the income reported to the Internal Revenue Service, and would have made it harder for US companies to acquire or merge with a foreign business to avoid paying US taxes by claiming to be a foreign company.
How Congress will pay for it
snip
According to the bill text and the 57-page summary of the bill released last week, lawmakers leaned heavily on repurposing unused Covid relief funds to pay for the legislation. The bill text lists savings from rescinding unobligated appropriations for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for small businesses and nonprofit groups, the Paycheck Protection Program, the Education Stabilization Fund and relief for airline workers, among others.
Another item in the bill text is $53 billion that stems in part from states opting to terminate the pandemic unemployment benefits early to push the jobless to return to work. Some 26 states announced that they would stop at least one of the federal unemployment programs before they are set to end in early September -- though Indiana and Maryland have had to continue the payments after losing court battles. Also, the Congressional Budget Office reduced its forecast for the unemployment rate because of the improving economy.
More savings would come from delaying a controversial Trump administration rule that would radically change how drugs are priced and paid for in Medicare and Medicaid until 2026, at the earliest. The measure would effectively ban drug makers from providing rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and insurers. Instead, drug companies would be encouraged to pass the discounts directly to patients at the pharmacy counter. It is currently expected to go into effect in 2023. The summary lists the savings as $49 billion and the CBO report as nearly $51 billion.
Also, the infrastructure proposal relies on generating $56 billion in economic growth resulting from a 33% return on investment on the long-term projects, according to the summary. Biden said in a statement that the bill won't raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year and does not include a gas tax increase or fee on electric vehicles. He initially called for raising taxes on corporations to fund the infrastructure investments -- but that proposal did not make it into the latest package after strong opposition from Republicans.
Another item in the bill text is $53 billion that stems in part from states opting to terminate the pandemic unemployment benefits early to push the jobless to return to work. Some 26 states announced that they would stop at least one of the federal unemployment programs before they are set to end in early September -- though Indiana and Maryland have had to continue the payments after losing court battles. Also, the Congressional Budget Office reduced its forecast for the unemployment rate because of the improving economy.
More savings would come from delaying a controversial Trump administration rule that would radically change how drugs are priced and paid for in Medicare and Medicaid until 2026, at the earliest. The measure would effectively ban drug makers from providing rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and insurers. Instead, drug companies would be encouraged to pass the discounts directly to patients at the pharmacy counter. It is currently expected to go into effect in 2023. The summary lists the savings as $49 billion and the CBO report as nearly $51 billion.
Also, the infrastructure proposal relies on generating $56 billion in economic growth resulting from a 33% return on investment on the long-term projects, according to the summary. Biden said in a statement that the bill won't raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year and does not include a gas tax increase or fee on electric vehicles. He initially called for raising taxes on corporations to fund the infrastructure investments -- but that proposal did not make it into the latest package after strong opposition from Republicans.
which both touch on mere potential rather than ablative absolutes.
Hey... we get it.
