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Biden unveils $700 billion economic recovery plan
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping
$700 billion plan Thursday to help the battered US economy recover
from the coronavirus crisis, a direct challenge to Donald Trump’s
“America First” agenda as they square off in the presidential race.
The Democratic challenger’s manufacturing and innovation plan aims
to bring back jobs lost during the pandemic and create more than five
million new jobs by investing in domestic production and research,
shrinking foreign supply chains, and promoting new tax rules and union
access that empower American workers.
The six-pronged approach, which tightens “Buy America” guidelines,
will be fleshed out later Thursday during a Biden speech in Dunmore,
Pennsylvania where he will also tour a metal works plant.
“Biden does not accept the defeatist view that the forces of
automation and globalization render us helpless to retain well-paid
union jobs and create more of them here in America,” the campaign said
in a summary of the ambitious plan.
“US manufacturing was the arsenal of democracy in World War II, and
must be part of the arsenal of American prosperity today, helping fuel
an economic recovery for working families.”
Biden’s plan aimed at protecting American workers underscores a
recognition that, despite Trump’s poor overall job approval numbers
voters still see the president as stronger than Biden on handling the
US economy.
Trump won the White House in 2016 largely on the promise of
bringing back lost manufacturing jobs. He also blamed immigrants for
many of the nation’s economic woes, and as president he fueled a trade
war with China.
Biden’s plan relies on what the campaign described as the “full
power of the federal government to bolster American industrial and
technological strength.”
It proposes a $400 billion investment in domestic product
procurement, and $300 billion for research and development (R&D) as
well as breakthrough technologies including reusable energy and
electric vehicle development and usage.
“This will be the largest mobilization of public investments in
procurement, infrastructure and R&D since WWII,” the campaign said.
Biden’s team savaged Trump for denying science, underfunding R&D,
implementing a “trickle-down economics” strategy that rewards
corporate executives but not working families, and introducing
policies that encouraged more manufacturing to move abroad.
It also warned that Trump’s erratic leadership has exacerbated the
coronavirus crisis and led to shortages in personal protective
equipment like masks and other supplies, and said Biden would move
quickly to close critical US supply chain gaps.
As president he would immediately launch a 100-day supply chain
review to determine vulnerabilities in sectors like medical equipment.
Biden meanwhile is deploying several of his former campaign rivals
to sell his economic recovery plan.
Senator Amy Klobuchar hosts a virtual roundtable with Arizona
voters on Friday, while former Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg heads to
New Hampshire to do the same.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2115hrs