'China is eating our lunch': Joe Biden touts American Jobs Plan, says 'we got to compete'

United States President Joe Biden on May 6 warned that Congress needs to adopt his proposal for spending multi-trillion dollars to revamp the American economy because China is “eating our lunch.” Speaking on Thursday from Louisiana, Biden pitched his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal as a way to ensure United States’ preeminence on the international level and fixing the dangerous bridges and roads in the country. Even though Democrats fully back Biden’s plan, Republicans either oppose or view it as an uncontrolled spending spree and hence, some of the critics are proposing a comparatively more modest plan.

However, US President has argued that his multi-trillion-dollar plan or ‘American Jobs Plan’ would fund the traditional infrastructures such as roads and transport along with pumping money in services like broadband internet and electric car research and development, and will pay off. According to him, it is a “blue collar blueprint to rebuild America, to supercharge our economy so we can move goods, get to work, become more competitive around the world.”

Joe Biden explained, “We used to invest in research and development in this country in about 2.4 per cent of all — all that we did, making us the leading country in the world in change and research and development.  Well, we now do 0.7.  The Chinese are eating our lunch.  They’re eating our lunch, economically.  They’re investing hundreds of billions of dollars in research and development.”

“That’s why, right now, if it keeps their way, they’re going to own the electric car market in the world.  They’re going to own a whole range — we got to compete.  We got to compete,” he added.

Biden’s three-part program

In less than two months after his inauguration, US President Joe Biden unveiled significant changes in the nation’s tax law. While the American Rescue Plan has been enacted in the United States and is part of Biden’s three-part program, the American Jobs Plan and American Family Plan are on the proposal stage and far from being implemented. The American Rescue Plan provided cash payments to individuals including a number of separate tax law changes that benefitted lower-income people and families. On March 31, Biden proposed the American Jobs Plan and on April 28, he announced the American Families Plan that includes proposals to increase taxes for wealthy individuals. 

Image credits: AP