Antony Blinken promotes US infrastructure bill as vital to competition with China
- ‘Our domestic renewal and our strength in the world are completely intertwined,’ says US secretary of state
- Senate bill on verge of passage calls for US$550 billion in new spending and includes money for increased production of batteries and rare earth minerals
The US needs to invest in education, roads, railways, ports and broadband if it wants to remain globally competitive against China and other adversaries and show the strength and resiliency of its democratic system, the nation’s top diplomat said on Monday.
The speech by Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the University of Maryland came as the administration makes an all-out effort to get Congress to pass a massive bipartisan infrastructure bill. The Senate version, which could pass this week, calls for US$550 billion in new spending and includes research into forced labour in China and money for increased production of batteries, rare earth minerals and other critical goods.
“The Chinese and Russian governments, among others, are making the argument in public and private that the United States is in decline,” said Blinken. “Nothing would put to rest faster their specious argument about America’s best days being behind us than if the United States made serious investments in our domestic renewal right now.”
Thirty years ago, the United States was first in the world in spending on research and development relative to its economic size and China was eighth. Now the US has slipped to the ninth position and China is in second place, he said.
“We could be doing better. That is the hard truth. We’re falling behind,” he said. “It’s our job to pick up the baton and carry it forward for future generations.”