JOe Biden said his $ 2 trillion plan to rebuild the “ruined” roads, bridges, railways and other infrastructure would rival the space race in its ambition and bring about economic and social change on a scale as big as the New Deal. The president also promised that his “one-of-a-kind” investment will reverse the longstanding racial disparities exacerbated by previous national mobilizations.
Embedded in its extensive infrastructure agenda, the first part of which Biden unveiled this week, are hundreds of billions of dollars dedicated to projects and investments that the government says will promote racial equity in jobs, housing, transportation, health and education, while improving economic results for communities of color.
“This plan is important, not just for what and how it is built, but it is also important where we build it,” said Biden at a union carpenter’s training center outside Pittsburgh last week. “Includes everyone, regardless of race or postal code.”
His proposal would replace lead pipes and service lines that have disproportionately harmed black children; reduce air pollution that has long harmed black and Latino neighborhoods near ports and power plants; “Reconnect” neighborhoods isolated by previous transportation projects; expand affordable housing options to allow more colored families to buy houses, increase wealth and eliminate exclusive zoning laws; rebuild the public housing system; and prioritize investments in “frontline” communities whose residents are predominantly people of color, usually the first and most affected by climate change and environmental disasters.
The plan also allocates $ 100 million to workforce development programs targeting historically underserved communities and $ 20 million to upgrade historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority institutions (MSIs), and quadruples funding. for the manufacturing extension partnership to boost investment in “minority-owned companies located in the countryside”.
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party (WFP), said it was clear that Biden was listening to activists and understood the interconnected challenges of racial injustice, climate change and economic inequality.
“This is not race neutral – it is actually quite aggressive and specific,” he said, looking at the coalition of black voters and women who helped Biden get the Democratic nomination and win the White House.
Perhaps the most daring part of the proposal is a $ 400 billion investment in care for elderly and disabled Americans. In his speech, Biden said that his agenda would create jobs and increase wages and benefits for millions of “invisible, underpaid and underestimated” caregivers, especially black women.
Ai-jen Poo, co-founder and executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, called it “one of the most impactful plans to deal with racial and gender inequality in our economy”.
Poo said the coronavirus pandemic, which disproportionately harms women and people of color, shows how health workers are essential to the nation’s well-being. Even so, many of these workers still struggle to take care of themselves and their families.
Poo believes that Biden’s plan can do for care and savings what previous employment programs have done for the industry, turning dangerous, low-income jobs into opportunities for mobility and security. Home care workers have been excluded from labor protections – Poo said that this effort puts them at the forefront.
“There is nothing more fundamental and empowering for our economy than taking good care of families,” she said. “Without it, nothing else can work – we can’t even build roads, bridges and tunnels without care.”
Biden’s plan also provides for $ 100 billion for high-speed broadband internet, along with provisions to improve access and accessibility, which White House officials say will help close the digital divide between white, black and Latino families. .
“The internet is a tool that we all trust,” said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. “And when certain segments of the population, especially those who have been historically left out, don’t have access to the tools, they are even further behind.”
Biden said his plan would help cut costs, increase competition and provide short-term subsidies for low-income families. Siefer said these measures are important, but she was skeptical that rates would drop enough to make high-speed internet accessible to low-income families without more permanent subsidies.
Improving digital literacy is also key to tackling racial inequality, said Siefer, adding: “To really achieve equity, we have to go beyond thinking: let’s just make it available”.
The proposal also includes $ 5 billion for community-based violence prevention programs, an investment that black and Latino activists have long argued will help reduce the impact of armed violence.
The government has suggested that additional efforts to close the racial wealth gap, such as universal kindergarten, affordable higher education and improved family leave, will come in the second part of what could be a $ 4 trillion program.
Republicans accuse Biden of presenting a “Trojan horse” to finance progressive initiatives.
“Biden’s plan includes hundreds of billions of spending on left-wing policies and blue state priorities,” said the Republican National Committee. He highlighted parts of the bill that aim to combat racial and gender inequality, such as “$ 400 billion for an ‘unrelated’ home assistance program that ‘was one of the main demands of some union groups’.”
While many high-ranking Democrats welcomed the plan, many progressives said it did not go far enough. They asked for $ 10 trillion over the next decade to tackle climate change, including more robust investments in renewable energy and a goal of switching the US to net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Biden said he is open to negotiations and hopes to attract Republicans to the plan. The president suggested that Republicans would act quickly if they knew that Capitol drinking water flowed through lead pipes.
As Congress begins the process of turning Biden’s bill into legislation, progressive groups are mounting a campaign to pressure lawmakers to adopt an even more ambitious agenda. The WFP is part of a coalition of groups that organize protests to demand that Congress provide a “transformational economic recovery”.
“If you’re going to be big and bold, be big and bold and solve the problem completely,” said Mitchell. “We are in a time of crisis and we will not have another chance.”