"The way I can pay for this, is making sure that the largest companies don't pay zero, and reducing the (2017 corporate) tax cut to between 25 and 28," Biden was quoted as stating in the report.
Corporate tax hikes are directed at helping defray the costs of the president's ambitious infrastructure plan and American Families Plan, which would implement things like expanded education, child care and paid leave.
Biden has pledged to fund the bill without adding to the federal deficit, mostly by increasing the corporate tax rate that was cut as part of the Trump administration’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
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The 25% rate has already been backed by West Virginia’s Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, the one lawmaker who will probably have the most power over the fate of the bill, provided Biden can’t coax any of Manchin’s Republican colleagues to maintain it.
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Thus far, Republicans in Congress have explained that any changes at all to the 2017 tax cuts bill would amount to a red line for the GOP.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week prophesied that Biden would not earn a single Republican vote for the American Jobs Plan, or for its companion bill, the education and family-focused American Families Plan.
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A White House spokeswoman announced earlier Thursday that negotiations are proceeding this week between the White House and lawmakers in both parties about the details of the infrastructure package.
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Republicans have issued the outlines of a counteroffer, offering a narrow infrastructure bill that’s a quarter the size of the Biden proposal. It has yet to get serious attention.
Speaking against the backdrop of the aging Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles on Thursday, Biden further signaled that he plans to push Republicans into the difficult political situation of having to publicly choose to protect their 2017 corporate tax reductions over creating thousands of blue-collar jobs.
“This is all about making a choice, a choice between giving tax breaks to the super wealthy and to corporations, and investing in working families,” he said.
Notwithstanding the partisan jabs, Biden emphasized that he is still open to negotiating a bipartisan agreement with Republicans, before trying to pass the infrastructure bill on a pure party-line vote.
“I’m ready to compromise. What I’m not ready to do, I’m not ready to do nothing,” said Biden. “I’m not ready to have another period where America has another ‘infrastructure month’ and doesn’t change a damn thing.”
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