The Need for Action in Maryland; For decades, infrastructure in Maryland has suffered from a systemic lack of investment. The need for action is clear, Maryland’s infrastructure received a C grade on its Infrastructure Report Card. The American Jobs Plan will make a historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure.
- ROADS AND BRIDGES: In Maryland there are 273 bridges and over 2,201 miles of highway in poor condition. Since 2011, commute times have increased by 5.1% in Maryland and on average, each driver pays $637 per year in costs due to driving on roads in need of repair. The American Jobs Plan will devote more than $600 billion to transform our nations’ transportation infrastructure and make it more resilient, including $115 billion repairing roads and bridges.
- PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Marylanders who take public transportation spend an extra 66.3% of their time commuting and non-White households are 2.7 times more likely to commute via public transportation. 23% of trains and other transit vehicles in the state are past useful life. The American Jobs Plan will modernize public transit with an $85 billion investment.
- RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE: From 2010 to 2020, Maryland has experienced 31 extreme weather events, costing the state up to $10 billion in damages. The President is calling for $50 billion to improve the resiliency of our infrastructure and support communities’ recovery from disaster.
- DRINKING WATER: Over the next 20 years, Maryland’s drinking water infrastructure will require $9.3 billion in additional funding. The American Jobs Plan includes a $111 billion investment to ensure clean, safe drinking water is a right in all communities.
- HOUSING: In part due to a lack of available and affordable housing, 353,000 renters in Maryland are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. The President proposes investing over $200 billion to increase housing supply and address the affordable housing crisis.
- BROADBAND: 3.8% of Marylanders live in areas where, by one definition, there is no broadband infrastructure that provides minimally acceptable speeds. And 34.5% of Marylanders live in areas where there is only one such internet provider. Even where infrastructure is available, broadband may be too expensive to be within reach. 10.9% of Maryland households do not have an internet subscription. The American Jobs Plan will invest $100 billion to bring universal, reliable, high-speed, and affordable coverage to every family in America.
- CAREGIVING: Across the country, hundreds of thousands of older adults and people with disabilities are in need of home and community-based services. The President’s plan will invest $400 billion to help more people access care and improve the quality of caregiving jobs.
- CHILD CARE: In Maryland, there is an estimated $615 million gap in what schools need to do maintenance and make improvements and 51% of residents live in a childcare desert. The American Jobs Plan will modernize our nation’s schools and early learning facilities and build new ones in neighborhoods across Maryland and the country.
Full release by the White House below.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many small businesses struggled to grow and compete globally as a result of the U.S.’ aging infrastructure, constrained workforce, and tax code that benefits large, multi-national corporations.
Prior to the pandemic, more than half of small business owners said infrastructure investments are crucial to the success of their business, 7 in 10 felt it was important for Congress to fund broadband projects, and nearly two-thirds considered local roads and bridges average, poor, or very poor quality.
The American Jobs Plan will reduce small business shipping delays by upgrading our nation’s transportation infrastructure; help “mom-and-pop” shops reach new customers by providing universal broadband; and enable Main Street win the 21st century by training American workers for the jobs of the future.
And, President Biden’s plan provides direct support to small businesses, including by increasing access to federal contracts and investing more than $110 billion in financing and technical assistance programs that will benefit small businesses, including small manufacturers.
- Increase federal contracting opportunities for small businesses. From fixing highways and rebuilding bridges to upgrading Veterans Affairs medical centers and rehabilitating other federal buildings, the President’s plan will mobilize small contractors to meet the great challenges of our time.
- Launch a historic effort to empower small business creation and expansion in underserved communities. The American Jobs Plan will create a national network of small business incubators and innovation hubs to ensure all Americans have a fair shot at starting and growing their own business.
- Encourage small businesses – especially underserved small businesses – to fully engage in the innovation economy. President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $5 billion in federal programs that empower small firms to participate in federal research and development initiatives that have the potential for commercialization.
- Help minority-owned manufacturing businesses access capital. The American Jobs Plan will create a new grant program through the Minority Business Development Agency that will help small, Brown- and Black-owned manufacturers access private capital.
- Create a new financing facility for small manufacturers. President Biden is calling on Congress to seed a new financing program to co-invest with private capital in the industrial base.
- Increase access to billions of dollars of lending and investment capital. The American Jobs Plan will enable small businesses to drive the recovery by investing $15 billion in the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program and $5 billion in the Small Business Investment Company program.
- Strengthen manufacturing supply chains and innovation ecosystems. President Biden is also calling on Congress to bolster the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Manufacturing USA; create a new office to monitor industrial capacity and support the production of critical goods; and establish regional hubs to fuel technology development and create new businesses around the country.
Alongside his American Jobs Plan, President Biden is releasing a Made in America Tax Plan that will help level the playing field between small businesses and large, multinational corporations. President Biden’s plan will reward investment at home and fundamentally shift how countries around the world tax corporations so that big corporations can’t escape or eliminate the taxes they owe by offshoring jobs and profits from the United States and pay a lower tax rate than small businesses.
