Biden pushes big plans as key to avoid 'America's decline'

Howell (US): Calling opponents of his plans "complicit in America's decline, President Joe Biden made the case Tuesday that his ambitious social spending proposal is key to America's global competitiveness even as he acknowledged the current USD 3.5 trillion price tag will shrink.

With his plans in jeopardy on Capitol Hill, Biden journeyed to Michigan, declaring he wanted to set some things straight about his agenda and cut through what he dismissed as noise in Washington.

America's still the largest economy in the world, we still have the most productive workers and the most innovative minds in the world, but we're at risk of losing our edge as a nation, he said at a union training center, surrounded by bulldozers and other heavy equipment.

The president went on to spell out his plans in greater detail than he has in some time, after spending the past week deep in the details of negotiations on Capitol Hill. He highlighted popular individual parts of the plan, including funding for early childhood education and investments to combat climate change, rather than the expensive topline.

And he emphasised that the trillions in spending would be drawn out over a decade and paid for by tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

Speaking briefly to reporters afterward, Biden acknowledged that the overall USD 3.5 trillion number for his social spending bill will decline, but he insisted that he and Democrats in Congress will get it done.

And in a signal of how much still may change by the time the bill makes it to his desk, Biden later suggested he'd sign a bill that included the controversial Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used for abortions in most cases.