[ti:Biden Announces $2 Trillion Infrastructure Spending Plan] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]American President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday [00:05.12]a $2 trillion spending plan that is, in his words, [00:10.64]"a once-in-a-generation investment in America." [00:16.88]Biden said it is “the largest American jobs investment [00:22.16]since World War II.” [00:25.16]He added it will create millions of jobs, [00:29.00]grow the economy and help the country compete against China. [00:36.36]The plan is the first of Biden’s two proposals [00:40.72]called the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. [00:46.48]He promised to release the second plan in a few weeks. [00:52.96]The Biden administration said in a statement [00:56.40]that the American Jobs Plan provides money [01:00.48]to improve the country’s roads and bridges [01:03.92]and to build charging stations for electric vehicles. [01:09.96]Other projects include housing for the poor, [01:13.80]expansion of high-speed internet service, [01:17.28]and money for research and manufacturing. [01:22.24]The administration said the plan would be paid for [01:26.72]by raising the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent, [01:33.48]establishing a minimum tax rate on corporate earnings, [01:38.56]and ending tax breaks for fossil fuel companies and others. [01:45.40]The Biden administration said the largest amount of money, [01:50.04]$621 billion, would go to transportation projects. [01:57.60]These include fixing 32,000 kilometers of highways, [02:03.12]repairing 10,000 bridges and building 500,000 charging stations. [02:11.40]The plan is designed to push the nation’s automobile industry [02:16.36]to build more electric vehicles. [02:20.12]The plan includes $400 billion to expand [02:25.12]home-based care for older people and the disabled. [02:30.36]One of the largest investments includes $213 billion [02:36.44]to help build housing for the poor. [02:40.68]Another $111 billion will go to new water [02:45.92]and sewage system for homes. [02:50.20]High-speed internet, clean energy for electrical systems and public schools [02:56.40]will each receive a $100 billion investment. [03:01.84]The plan will also invest more than $500 billion [03:06.72]to help manufacturing in the country, retrain workers [03:11.60]and support research and development. [03:16.36]Biden announced the plan in an appearance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, [03:21.56]the same city in which he launched his presidential campaign. [03:27.04]The city once famous for its steel factories [03:31.00]was central to the rise of American industrial power. [03:36.28]As steel manufacturing disappeared over time, [03:40.04]Pittsburgh re-invented itself as a center of health care, [03:44.84]technology and academic research. [03:49.36]The new spending proposal came just 20 days [03:53.32]after Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion spending plan [03:59.60]to help Americans affected by the coronavirus health crisis. [04:05.60]Lawmakers in the president’s Democratic Party [04:08.92]have expressed support for the plan. [04:12.12]Republican Party lawmakers have criticized it. [04:17.00]White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the plan is “about [04:22.48]making an investment in America — not just modernizing our roads [04:28.52]or railways or bridges but building an infrastructure of the future.” [04:35.36]Mitch McConnell, the leader of Senate Republicans, [04:39.16]said he is “not likely” to support the spending proposal. [04:45.32]He said the plan will result in “more borrowed money, [04:49.88]and massive tax increases on all the productive parts of our economy.” [04:57.48]McConnell told reporters that Biden spoke to him [05:01.28]about the spending plan in a call on Tuesday. [05:06.52]The Business Roundtable is an organization of American business leaders. [05:12.44]It supports what it calls “user pay” models for infrastructure building. [05:20.20]And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business interest group, [05:25.04]called Biden’s plan "dangerously misguided" [05:29.20]in how it expects to pay for infrastructure improvement. [05:34.60]At the same time, some members of Biden’s own Democratic party [05:40.04]think the infrastructure spending plan should be bigger. [05:45.28]Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York [05:50.32]called the plan “not nearly enough” in a Twitter post. [05:55.76]She noted that it calls for spending $2.25 trillion over 10 years [06:03.60]as compared to the coronavirus spending plan of $1.9 trillion for this year alone. [06:13.08]The plan, Ocasio-Cortez added, “Needs to be way bigger.” [06:20.20]I'm Caty Weaver. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM