The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden laid out a key plank of his economic agenda for the country: “Build Back Better.”
In a half-hour speech Thursday, the former Vice President of the nation laid out the first part of his economic plan, Build Back Better, focused on immediate relief for communities and small businesses struggling amid the pandemic, but centered around manufacturing and innovation The Biden proposal aims to reduce dependence on foreign economies, especially in medical supply chain.
“If I’m fortunate enough to be elected president, I’ll be laser-focused on working families, the middle-class families that I came from (…) This will be a mobilization of R&D and procurement investments in ways not seen since World War II (…) “The days of Amazon paying nothing in federal income tax will be over (…) It’s not sufficient to build back, we have to build back better (…) I do not buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past,” Biden said, per NPR, outlining that he believes the future should be “made in America, all in America,” achieved with an agenda to “Buy American,” which includes a $700 billion investment in procurement and research and development for new technologies such as biotech, clean energy and artificial intelligence.
Biden’s economic plan, which will be released in tranches, according to US News, includes $400 billion to be spent over four years on American-made products, materials and services to modernize infrastructure and better national security. Another $300 billion would go to research and development in technology, which the campaign said would create 3 million jobs and come with “historic investments in communities of color.” If elected, he has promised to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour and reverse Trump’s tax and trade policies. The three pillars of his the Jo Biden economic agenda, according to his site, are: modernizing infrastructure, addressing racial inequality, and workforce development.
Both him and President Trump are appealing to working-class voters with platforms grounded on reinvesting in American manufacturing and innovation.
We're in the middle of an economic crisis. But it's not enough to just turn things around — we have to build back better. We have to revitalize American manufacturing and make sure the future is made in America — by all of America.
Here's how we'll do it: https://t.co/lPgZPDPC98 pic.twitter.com/ZjJ3pKiLrK
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 9, 2020
