President Biden’s American Jobs Plan proposes to spend hundreds of billions on new infrastructure, upgrading the U.S. water system and creating a variety of new jobs across industries. The total proposed spending comes out to around $2.65T, and here is where all that money is likely going.
- Transportation infrastructure is the single biggest category of spending in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, totalling an eye-popping $621B.
- Biden’s plan includes money for different enhancements in several sectors, including $40B to improve public housing, $52B for domestic manufacturing and $100B for expanded broadband.
- President Biden’s $2.65T in additional spending is meant to be offset by corresponding tax increases, making it revenue neutral despite the high price tag.
- It remains to be seen how the American Jobs Act will change as it becomes law, with several congresspeople proposing to increase allocations to pet projects
We found the 10-year estimates of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan thanks to observers at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. We wanted to visualize the main parts of Biden’s spending program as well as the specific initiatives getting the money. The result is an intuitive and detailed look at where a giant bucket of $2.65T in federal spending is ultimately going.
The single largest category of funding in Biden’s proposal is for transportation infrastructure ($621B). This money will be spread out across a variety of different things, including electric vehicles ($174B), roads and bridges ($115B) and airports ($25B). There’s no question that American infrastructure is crumbling due to a lack of funding over several decades. Biden’s proposal is to take a big step forward toward infrastructure parity across the developed world.
Infrastructure funding alone would make Biden’s proposal a historically massive investment. But there’s a lot of other money in the American Jobs Act too. Billions are set to be plowed into job training programs ($40B), broadband ($100B), clean water ($56B) and building new public school buildings ($50B). Additional hundreds of billions will get spent on clean energy tax credits, as Biden pledges to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. And another pot of money totalling $400B is devoted to home care services as America’s population continues to age.
So where is the U.S. federal government planning to get all this money? Although most of the recent economic stimulus was added on top of the exploding national debt, that’s not the case for Biden’s American Jobs Plan. According to Biden’s proposal, the new allocations would be offset by tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations with global operations. It remains to be seen how the proposal will change as it becomes law. Some politicians are already trying to increase the funding for some items in Biden’s plan, like infrastructure. Others are angling to get pet projects in their home districts funded, potentially bringing back pork barrel spending.
Regardless of how Biden’s proposal develops over the next several weeks, $2.65T in federal spending would no doubt change the employment landscape across the U.S. to counteract the impact of COVID-19. How much do you think Biden will ultimately get to spend? Let us know in the comments.
Data: Table 1.1