Biden launches US$700 billion recovery plan, vowing to stimulate economy and ‘Buy America’
- The goal is ‘to sharpen America’s competitive edge’ in new industries like battery technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnologies and clean energy
- Biden’s plan also promotes new tax rules including hiking the corporate tax rate to 28 per cent from 21 per cent, and expands union access to empower workers
The Democratic challenger presented his sweeping “Build Back Better” proposal, a contrast to Trump’s “America first” agenda, during a speech at a metalworks plant in a swing state critical to either candidate’s victory in November.
Vice-President Mike Pence was simultaneously barnstorming Pennsylvania, defending his boss’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and assuring voters that Trump was best qualified to revive the sputtering economy.
Biden’s manufacturing and innovation plan aims to bring back positions lost during the coronavirus pandemic, and create more than 5 million new jobs by investing in domestic production and research and shrinking foreign supply chains.
The multipronged approach also tightens “Buy America” guidelines, promotes new tax rules including hiking the corporate tax rate to 28 per cent from 21 per cent, and expands union access to empower American workers.
“That’s what my plan is, to build back better,” Biden told ironworkers after touring their 101-year-old factory near Scranton, the blue-collar city where the former vice-president grew up.
The goal, he said, is “to sharpen America’s competitive edge” in new industries like battery technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnologies and clean energy, adding “that’s the future”.