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Biden Says Economic Agenda Would Advance Clean Energy Jobs

Biden Says Economic Agenda Would Advance Clean Energy Jobs

President Joe Biden urged lawmakers to support his economic agenda, saying it would combat climate change and create high-paying jobs by accelerating development of clean energy.

“We have to pick up the pace,” Biden said Tuesday during a visit to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Arvada, Colorado. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

The visit to the research facility capped Biden’s first presidential trip to the western U.S., where he held events to generate support for his economic agenda by pointing to the region’s increasingly devastating wildfires and persistent drought.

The trip comes as congressional Democrats -- who narrowly control the House and Senate -- are engaged in high-stakes negotiations over a $3.5 trillion tax and spending plan that encompasses much of Biden’s agenda, including expanding social programs and addressing climate change. 

Biden said his separate infrastructure bill, which has passed the Senate and is awaiting a final vote in the House, would help the U.S. withstand increasingly severe weather. “We’re going to provide support to make our communities, including tribal nations, much more resilient to the impacts of climate change,” Biden said.

Read More: Clean Energy, EV Infrastructure Plan Advanced by House Panel

Earlier this week, House Democrats released a new package of tax increases hitting corporations and the wealthiest Americans to partially offset Biden’s spending proposals. The plan would raise $2.1 trillion over 10 years by increasing the top corporate tax rate from 21% to 26.5% and the top rate on capital gains would rise from 20% to 25%.

The increases are less than originally sought by the White House -- a bid to hold the support of moderate and business-minded Democrats from swing districts. But leaders still face a difficult task holding ranks, with sharp differences among House Democrats over a drug pricing overhaul and Senate Democrats signaling deep divisions over the effort’s overall cost.

Republicans have objected to the amount of spending championed by the president, and have said increasing taxes on businesses would hurt the economy.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.