Joe Biden has said his $ 2 trillion plan to rebuild America’s “crumbling” roads, bridges, railways and other infrastructure would match the ambition of the space race and bring economic and social change on a scale as large as the New World. Deal. The president has also vowed that his once-in-a-generation investment will undo the longstanding racial inequalities exacerbated by past national mobilizations.
Embedded in its sprawling infrastructure agenda, the first installment Biden unveiled this week, hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on projects and investments that the administration says will promote racial equality in employment, housing, transportation, health and education while boosting economic results. improve. for communities of color.
“This plan is important not only for what and how it builds, but it is also important for where we build,” Biden said last week at a carpenters’ union training outside Pittsburgh. “It includes everyone regardless of race or zip code.”
His proposal would replace lead pipes and service cables that have disproportionately harmed black children; reducing air pollution that has long harmed the Black and Latino neighborhoods near ports and power plants; Reconnect neighborhoods cut off by previous transportation projects; expand affordable housing options to enable more families of color to buy homes, build wealth and do away with zoning laws; rebuilding the public housing system; and prioritize investment in ‘frontline’ communities whose inhabitants are predominantly colored people, often the first and worst affected by climate change and environmental disasters.
The plan also allocates $ 100 million to workforce development programs targeting historically disadvantaged communities and $ 20 million to upgrade historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority serving institutions (MSIs), and quadruples funding for the Manufacturing Extensions Partnership to investments in “minority and rural” companies.
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party (WFP), said it was clear that Biden had listened to activists and understood the interlocking challenges of racial injustice, climate change and economic inequality.
“This isn’t race-neutral – it’s actually quite aggressive and specific,” he said, noting 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 caring for elderly and disabled Americans. In his speech, Biden said his agenda would create jobs and increase wages and benefits for the millions of “invisible, underpaid and undervalued” caregivers, mostly women of color.
Ai-jen Poo, co-founder and executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, called it “one of the most impactful plans to tackle racial and gender inequality in our economy.”
Poo said the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately hurt women and people of color, has shown just how critical health care providers are to the well-being of the nation. And yet many of these workers still struggle to provide for themselves and their families.
Poo believes Biden’s plan can do for healthcare and the economy what previous job programs did for manufacturing, turning dangerous, low-paying jobs into opportunities for upward mobility and security. Home health workers are banned from employment protection – Poo said this effort puts them at the forefront.
“There is nothing more fundamental and beneficial to our economy than good care for families,” she said. “Without it, nothing else can function – we can’t even build roads, bridges and tunnels without care.”
Biden’s plan also provides $ 100 billion for high-speed broadband internet, in addition to amenities to improve access and affordability, which, according to White House officials, will help close the digital divide between white and black and Latino families.
“The Internet is a resource we all rely on,” said Angela Siefer, executive director at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. “And when certain segments of the population, particularly those historically excluded, do not have access to the tools, they are even further behind.”
Biden said his plan would help cut costs by increasing competition and providing short-term subsidies to low-income households. Siefer said these measures are important, but she was skeptical that rates would drop enough to make superfast internet affordable for low-income families without more permanent subsidies.
Improving digital literacy is also critical to tackling racial inequality, Siefer said, adding, “To really achieve equality, 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 claimed will help reduce the impact of gun violence.
The government has proposed additional efforts to close the racial wealth gap, such as universal kindergarten, affordable higher education, and improved family leave, which will come in the second part of what could be a $ 4 billion program.
Republicans accuse Biden of providing a “Trojan horse” to fund progressive initiatives.
“Biden’s plan includes spending hundreds of billions on left-wing policies and blue state priorities,” said the Republican National Committee. It selected parts of the bill that aim to address racial and gender inequality, such as “$ 400 billion for an ‘unrelated’ home care program that was” in high demand from some union groups. “
While many high Democrats have welcomed the plan, many progressives have said it doesn’t go far enough. They have called for $ 10 trillion over the next decade to face climate change, including more robust investments in renewable energy and a target to shift the US to net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Biden has said he is open to negotiations and hopes he can lure Republicans to the plan. The president suggested that Republicans would rush to take action when they heard that the drinking water on Capitol Hill was running through lead pipes.
As Congress begins the process of turning Biden’s blueprint into law, progressive groups are campaigning to pressure lawmakers to embrace an even more ambitious agenda. The WFP is part of a coalition of groups that are organizing protests to demand that Congress bring about a “transformational economic recovery.”
“If you want to be big and brave, then be big and brave and solve the problem completely,” Mitchell said. “We are in a moment of crisis and we will not get a chance.”