Local Experts Discuss Biden's $2T Infrastructure Plan

It feels like The Sound of Ideas just talked about a major spending bill from the Biden administration with the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill called the American Rescue plan a few weeks ago. 

But last week, President Biden announced another $2 trillion plan that he hopes will be passed by congress, this time all about Infrastructure. The plan includes money for what we think of as traditional infrastructure, like fixing 20,000 miles of roads, and 10,000 bridges.

But it also pushes the definition of infrastructure, to address issues like climate change by accelerating the shift to cleaner energy sources. It would also try to repair racial injustices, by replacing all of the country's lead pipes as well as reconnecting neighborhoods that have been cut off from surrounding areas due to highway construction, many of those specific to minority majority neighborhoods.

The White House said the $2 trillion dollars will be paid for, by increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28%, over a period of 15 years. 

The bill is already facing opposition from Republicans and business groups who called the tax increases a nonstarter, and criticize the administration for creating the plan, while in an interview on Sunday's "Meet the Press," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the bill "a generational investment" that can position the country for the future.

We'll discuss the ins and outs of the plans on The Sound of Ideas with local experts. 

Later in the hour, Cleveland lawyer Terry Gilbert discusses his 50 year career pursuing justice for the disenfranched, the subject of his new memoir, "Trying Times."

-Grace Gallucci, Executive Director & CEO, Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency
-Aaron Domini, Principal, OHM Advisors

-Terry Gilbert, Civil Rights Attorney & Author, "Trying Times"