Joe Biden: We Cannot Afford Not to Spend $2.5 Trillion on My Infrastructure Plan

President Joe Biden urged Americans to rally behind his dramatic $2.5 trillion economic plan on Wednesday.

“Put simply, these are investments we have to make, we can afford to make them,” he said. “Put another way, we can’t afford not to.”

Biden detailed his plan Wednesday afternoon during a speech in Pittsburgh and said the multi-trillion plan was only the first part of his proposed spending initiative to “build back better.”

The president’s plan spends roughly $639 billion on traditional infrastructure but more than a trillion on proposals that have less to do with infrastructure and more to do with climate change and clean energy goals, expanding health care, and affordable housing.

Biden promised to raise taxes to help pay for his proposed plan.

He emphasized the need to raise the corporate tax from 21 percent to 28 percent.

“No one should be able to complain about that,” he said.

He vowed to end various loopholes to keep companies like Amazon and other top 500 corporations from paying zero taxes.

“I don’t want to punish them but that’s just wrong,” he said.

Despite his planned tax increases, Biden appeared hopeful that Republicans would work with him, asserting that every Republican member of congress realized the importance of spending on infrastructure.

“They know China and other countries are eating our lunch,” he said. “There is no reason why it can’t be bipartisan again.”

Biden promised to meet with Republicans at the White House to discuss his plan and said he would be open to suggestions to improve his plan.

“We’ll have a good-faith negotiation with any Republican,” he said.