Illinois congressmen differ on spending priorities in Biden’s $2 trillion tax hike plan

[April 02, 2021]  By Greg Bishop

(The Center Square) – Members of Illinois’ congressional delegation differ on President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion spending plan revealed this week.

To pay for the $2.3 trillion spending plan, the Biden administration is looking to increase federal corporate income taxes by $2 trillion.

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, said in a statement he’s excited about the proposals to replace lead pipes, revive the semiconductor supply chain, and upgrade power transmission lines to allow for more renewables.

“President Biden’s American Jobs Plan prioritizes long overdue and appropriate investments in our nation’s infrastructure and supply chain while creating millions of good-paying union jobs across the country,” Foster said in a statement. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to pass this much-needed legislation while ensuring that the Illinois transportation corridor that is so critical to the whole economy gets its fair share of investment and improvements.”

Around $631 billion is for transportation. Included in that is $174 billion for retooling factories to boost electric vehicle generation. The White House says the plan includes hundreds of billions of spending on goals to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said most of the spending isn’t on infrastructure and seems more focused on changing the nation’s energy grid to things like wind and solar power.

Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., speaks as Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar testifies to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. 

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool

“If we’re going to go to a more ubiquitous electric vehicle fleet on our roadways we have to understand how those get charged, they get charged by base-load generating capacities,” Davis said. “We don’t have the capacity in wind and solar to run our economy in central Illinois, let alone the American economy, on.”

Davis worried the bill will harm the state and nation’s energy infrastructure.

“A lot of it is going to push what I would consider some Green New Deal policies that could have an adverse effect on how many jobs are in our communities at plats like [Springfield City Water Light and Power], at plants like the Clinton nuclear facility.”

Davis also said during a pandemic, and subsequent recovery, it’s not the time to increase taxes on small businesses to achieve ideological goals.

The White House says the plan will “modernize” 20,000 miles of highways, roads and main streets, invest in high-speed broadband, and “modernize” homes, commercial buildings, schools and federal buildings. The measure would also fund community-based home care workers.

Other spending the White House laid out includes $20 billion nationwide for rural bridges, and expansion of various taxpayer-funded construction grants, “of which $3 billion would go to support infrastructure projects in rural areas” of the country.