The American Jobs Plan is a large-scale investment to revitalize infrastructure, create jobs, and strengthen the U.S. economy. Decades of disinvestment have left roads, bridges, water systems, and the power grid in poor condition, while the country has fallen behind in manufacturing, research, and workforce training. This plan seeks to modernize infrastructure, expand clean energy, and boost domestic production, ensuring economic security and global competitiveness.
Infrastructure, Transportation, and Public Services
The plan allocates $621 billion to repair roads and bridges, modernize public transit, and expand rail networks. It also invests in electric vehicles (EVs), funding 500,000 EV charging stations and replacing diesel transit vehicles to support clean energy adoption. Additionally, the plan upgrades airports, ports, and inland waterways to improve trade and transportation efficiency.
Clean Energy, Housing, and Digital Access
A key focus is resilient infrastructure to withstand climate change. The plan modernizes the electric grid, removes lead pipes from drinking water, and expands broadband access to underserved communities. It commits $213 billion to building, preserving, and retrofitting over two million homes to address housing shortages and increase affordable and energy-efficient housing options.
Strengthening the Workforce and Domestic Manufacturing
The plan invests $300 billion in research, innovation, and manufacturing, securing U.S. supply chains and promoting technological advancements. Additionally, $100 billion will be directed toward workforce development, focusing on clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and caregiving jobs to meet future industry needs.
Care Economy and Fair Wages
With $400 billion allocated, the plan expands home healthcare services, improves wages for essential workers, and strengthens Medicaid-based care. It also promotes union rights, fair wages, and safe workplaces, ensuring that American jobs offer economic security and career growth.
Corporate Tax Reform
To fund these initiatives, the Made in America Tax Plan raises the corporate tax rate to 28%, eliminates tax loopholes, and prevents multinational corporations from shifting profits overseas. This ensures businesses contribute their fair share while encouraging domestic job creation.
Rebuild Clean Drinking Water Infrastructure, a Renewed Electric Grid, and High-Speed Broadband to All Americans
Millions of Americans still struggle with polluted drinking water, unreliable electricity, and limited access to high-speed internet. Despite paying high costs for these services, many communities, especially in rural and low-income areas, lack the infrastructure necessary to meet modern needs. The American Jobs Plan seeks to change this by making historic investments in clean water, power, and digital connectivity, ensuring every American has access to essential services.
Ensure Clean, Safe Drinking Water is a Right in All Communities
Aging water systems and lead-contaminated pipes threaten public health across the country. Approximately six to ten million homes still receive drinking water through lead pipes and service lines, exposing families, particularly children, to toxic chemicals. The plan will invest $111 billion to remove all lead pipes nationwide, including those in 400,000 schools and childcare facilities. In addition, billions will be dedicated to modernizing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, ensuring clean and safe water for all. Funds will also address toxic PFAS contamination, which has polluted water supplies in many communities. This investment will improve public health and create thousands of well-paying jobs in water infrastructure development.
Revitalize America’s Digital Infrastructure
Access to high-speed internet is no longer a luxury – it is necessary for work, education, and healthcare. However, more than 30 million Americans live without adequate broadband, particularly in rural and tribal communities. The American Jobs Plan allocates $100 billion to expand broadband infrastructure and ensure 100% nationwide coverage. The initiative prioritizes community-owned networks, nonprofit providers, and rural electric co-ops to improve affordability and competition. It also requires internet providers to disclose pricing clearly and seeks to lower broadband costs, ensuring that no American is left behind in the digital economy.
Reenergize America’s Power Infrastructure
The country’s outdated power grid has led to frequent blackouts and rising energy costs. The American Jobs Plan will invest $100 billion in modernizing electricity transmission, improving resilience, and transitioning toward 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. This includes the construction of at least 20 gigawatts of high-voltage transmission lines, supported by tax incentives and private investment. These improvements will create union jobs for electricians, line workers, and engineers while making energy more reliable and affordable.
To further reduce environmental hazards, the plan sets aside $16 billion to clean up orphan oil and gas wells and abandoned coal mines. These sites release harmful pollutants into the air and water, disproportionately affecting rural communities. By plugging these wells and restoring degraded land, thousands of workers will be employed in efforts that protect both public health and the environment.
Build Next-Generation Industries in Distressed Communities
Transforming polluted and economically stagnant areas into innovation hubs is key to long-term prosperity. The plan commits $5 billion to redevelop abandoned industrial sites, turning them into centers for clean energy and sustainable business growth. Investments will also support new industries in carbon capture, hydrogen power, and advanced clean manufacturing, ensuring that communities hit hardest by industrial decline have a path to economic recovery.
Build, Preserve, and Retrofit Homes and Commercial Buildings; Modernize Schools, Colleges, and Childcare Facilities; and Upgrade Veterans’ Hospitals and Federal Buildings
America faces a severe shortage of affordable housing, with millions of families paying more than half their income on rent and struggling to buy homes. The American Jobs Plan commits $213 billion to construct, preserve, and modernize over two million homes and commercial buildings, making them affordable, energy-efficient, and resilient. The plan also eliminates restrictive zoning laws that drive up housing costs and invests $40 billion to improve public housing infrastructure, ensuring safer living conditions, lower costs, and energy efficiency.
Investing in schools and childcare facilities is essential to closing the opportunity gap. Too many children, particularly those in low-income communities, attend schools with outdated facilities that pose health and safety risks. The plan dedicates $100 billion to upgrade and build new public schools, ensuring safer, energy-efficient learning environments equipped with modern technology and labs. It also provides $12 billion to enhance community colleges and $25 billion to expand childcare facilities in high-need areas, boosting parents' workforce participation and supporting economic growth.
Veterans deserve modern, high-quality healthcare, yet VA hospitals are among the oldest public health facilities in the country. The plan allocates $18 billion to renovate VA hospitals and clinics and $10 billion to upgrade federal buildings, ensuring government offices provide safe, sustainable, and efficient spaces for workers and the public. These investments will modernize critical infrastructure and create thousands of well-paying jobs, strengthening communities across the nation.
Invest in R&D, Revitalize Manufacturing and Small Businesses, and Train Americans for the Jobs of the Future
High-paying jobs are concentrated in a few regions, leaving many Americans without access to economic opportunities. President Biden aims to revitalize U.S. manufacturing, strengthen small businesses, and invest in research and development to create well-paying jobs nationwide. Public investment has historically driven technological breakthroughs, from semiconductors to the internet. Now, the U.S. must recommit to R&D, manufacturing, and workforce development to compete globally.
Investing in R&D and Future Technologies
Public R&D funding has declined over the last 25 years, allowing competitors like China to close the gap. Biden’s plan calls for $180 billion to boost innovation, strengthen U.S. leadership in critical technologies like AI and biotech, and modernize research infrastructure. $50 billion would support the National Science Foundation in advancing key technology sectors. In comparison, $40 billion would upgrade research labs, with half allocated to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions. Additionally, $35 billion would fund clean energy and climate research, accelerating energy storage, carbon capture, and electric vehicle breakthroughs. The plan also aims to eliminate racial and gender disparities in STEM by investing $10 billion in R&D at HBCUs and creating research incubators to support underserved communities.
Revitalizing U.S. Manufacturing and Small Businesses
Manufacturing drives productivity and exports, yet many industrial regions have been hollowed out. Biden proposes $300 billion to rebuild American manufacturing, secure critical supply chains, and protect against future crises like pandemics. $50 billion would create a Commerce Department office to oversee industrial capacity, while another $50 billion would boost semiconductor production through the CHIPS Act. Investments in medical countermeasures, stockpiling, and rapid vaccine development would strengthen pandemic preparedness.
To lead clean energy, the plan directs $46 billion in federal procurement toward electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and advanced clean energy technology. Regional innovation hubs and a $20 billion Community Revitalization Fund would support economic growth in underserved areas. In comparison, $52 billion would expand access to capital for domestic manufacturers, ensuring small businesses can innovate and scale.
Workforce Development for the Future
With rapid economic shifts, millions of Americans need new skills to secure well-paying jobs. Biden’s plan calls for $100 billion in workforce training, including $40 billion for dislocated workers and high-growth industries like clean energy and caregiving. Programs will focus on underserved communities, with $12 billion dedicated to justice-involved individuals and long-term unemployed workers. A subsidized jobs initiative would help those struggling to reenter the workforce.
Investments in registered apprenticeships and technical education will create 1-2 million new apprenticeship slots, increasing access for women and people of color. Through community college partnerships, $48 billion will enhance workforce training infrastructure, strengthen labor protections, and expand career pathways in STEM and technical fields.
Create Good-Quality Jobs with Fair Wages, Worker Protections, and the Right to Unionize
As the country recovers from the pandemic and economic crisis, there is a need for stronger worker protections and expanded union rights to ensure economic growth benefits all Americans, especially women and workers of color who have long faced discrimination. President Biden’s plan prioritizes good-paying union jobs tied to infrastructure and clean energy projects, ensuring fair wages and safe workplaces. The plan also calls for stronger labor protections, enforcing workplace safety standards, and supporting the right to collective bargaining. Additionally, federal infrastructure and clean energy investments will be tied to prevailing wages and local hiring programs, ensuring workers benefit from economic recovery efforts.
The Made in America Tax Plan
Biden’s plan also addresses corporate tax loopholes that incentivize profit shifting and job offshoring. The 2017 tax law slashed corporate taxes and allowed companies to avoid paying their fair share, with many Fortune 500 companies paying no federal taxes. The new tax reform will set the corporate tax rate at 28 percent, reversing unfair advantages given to large corporations and funding critical infrastructure projects.
To stop offshoring, the plan strengthens the global minimum tax on U.S. multinationals, ensuring they pay at least 21 percent on foreign earnings, calculated country-by-country to prevent profit shifting. It will also end tax breaks for companies moving jobs abroad and provide credits for onshoring, ensuring investments stay in the U.S.
Biden’s tax reform promotes international cooperation by encouraging other countries to adopt substantial minimum taxes, preventing a race to the bottom where corporations seek out tax havens. It also closes loopholes that allow U.S. corporations to avoid taxes by merging with foreign companies. Additionally, the plan eliminates tax breaks for fossil fuel companies and reinvests those funds into clean energy and environmental cleanup efforts.
A 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations’ book income ensures the most profitable businesses pay their fair share, and an increase in IRS enforcement will crack down on tax avoidance by large corporations. These reforms will raise over $2 trillion in 15 years, fully funding the American Jobs Plan and reducing the deficit. Biden’s plan prioritizes fairness, ensuring corporations contribute to the country’s economic growth rather than exploiting loopholes to avoid taxes.
Mary Watson
