President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he is willing to compromise on his $2 trillion infrastructure plan, but said that “inaction is not an option.”
Getting the plan through Congress, even with Democratic control of the House and Senate, will be a challenge. He’ll need every Democratic senator to approve, and has little room for error in the House.
With a potential increase to the corporate tax rate, some moderate Democrats may be irritable about raising taxes.
The multi-trillion-dollar plan has also been criticized for containing more than funds for roads and bridges. Funds are also being used for things like Amtrak, rural broadband, the electric grid, rehabbing homes, and research and development for science and health care.
"We need to start see infrastructures through its effect on the lives of working people in America,” Biden said. “What is the foundation today that they need to carve out their place in the middle class to make it? To live? To go to work? To raise their families with dignity? To ensure good jobs will be there for their kids, no matter who they are or what zip codes they live in? That's what infrastructure means in the 21st century. "
Some Republicans say that Biden’s plan goes beyond infrastructure.
“They're trying to take 70% of this bill and call it infrastructure in a new way than we've ever talked about infrastructure before,” Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, said on Fox News Sunday.
While Biden says he is open to negotiating with Republicans and swing Democrats, he promised not to sign any bill that would raise taxes to anyone making less than $400,000 per year.
“We'll be open to good ideas and good-faith negotiations. But here's what we won't be open to. We will not be open to doing nothing. Inaction simply is not an option,” Biden said.
The corporate tax rate would go from 21% to 28% under the plan. The corporate tax rate was previously 35% for more than two decades before it was cut during the Trump administration.
Sen. Mitch McConnell told reporters that increasing the corporate tax rate would not be favored by Republicans.
“I can't imagine that's going to be very appealing to many Republicans,” McConnell said.