Rich should pay for Joe Biden’s infrastructure plans, says Barack Obama

The former president’s support for Joe Biden came as the President postponed a major trip to Chicago on Wednesday.

Joe Biden receives a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine in Washington on Monday. Picture: AFP

Barack Obama has thrown his weight behind the White House’s infrastructure spending plans, ­arguing they are something America “desperately needs” and that the rich should pay for them.

The former president’s support for Joe Biden came as the President postponed a major trip to Chicago on Wednesday to stay behind in Washington and fight for his domestic agenda, which hangs by a thread in congress.

Mr Biden had been meant to address his Covid-19 vaccination policy in Chicago but his two signature legislative policies risk failing in the divided legislature.

“He will now remain at the White House tomorrow to continue working on advancing these two pieces of legislation to create jobs,” an administration official said in a surprise statement.

Mr Obama’s support for his former vice-president comes at a crucial time for Mr Biden’s domestic agenda, the cornerstone of which is two spending bills costing almost $US5 trillion ($6.9 trillion) that are before congress this week. The packages have caused rancour in the Democratic Party.

House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi has Thursday (Friday AEST) for a vote on a bipartisan bill, worth $US1.2 trillion, which will pay for traditional infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

Left-leaning representatives are threatening to oppose it ­unless they see clear signs in the Senate that a bigger spending package will be passed. The $US3.5 trillion bill, which will pay for what the administration has termed “human infrastructure”, includes items such as childcare and climate change measures.

Thanks to a congressional procedure reserved for budget bills, the larger bill requires only the support of all 50 Democrat senators. Centrist Democrat senators have baulked at the amount of spending.

“So when you look at the overall package, it’s got a headline price tag of $US3.5 trillion, but that’s not a single year. It’s spread out over a number of years,” Mr Obama told ABC News in a rare interview.

“And, most importantly, it’s paid for by asking the wealthiest of Americans to pay a few percentage points more in taxes to make sure that we have an economy that’s fair for everybody.”

Mr Biden has said that only those earning more than $US400,000 a year will see an increase in taxes and that companies will also be asked to pay more.

“They can afford it,” Mr Obama said. “We can afford it. I put myself in this category now. I think anybody who pretends that it’s a hardship for billionaires to pay a little bit more in taxes so that a single mum gets childcare support or so that we can make sure that our communities aren’t inundated by wildfires and floods and that we’re doing something about climate change for the next generation – you know, that’s an argument that is unsustainable.”

Mr Obama and his wife, ­Michelle, are understood to have earned more than $US100m, mostly from books and speaking engagements, since leaving the White House in 2017.

The White House is eager to pass the legislation while the Democrats still hold majorities, however slender, in both houses of congress. They fear that in midterm elections in November next year they could lose control of ­either or both houses, making legislating all but impossible. The White House also badly needs a win after Mr Biden’s approval ratings fell last month to 43 per cent, his lowest since he came into office, after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the spike in migrants crossing into the US.

The Times