Biden’s Agenda

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

mark	transform	corporation
cost	proposal	investment
enact	space (2)	generation
price	audience	come/came/come (2)
tax	wealthy	pay/paid/paid
aim (2)	ambitious	rise/rose/risen
cap (2)	poverty	cut/cut/cut (2)
care (2)	create (2)	it’s about time
face (3)	green (2)	infrastructure
key (3)	issue (3)	address (2)
reform	Congress	broadband
exhort	obsession	peculiarly
agree	mind (2)	dates back to
deal (2)	compare	depression (2)
welfare	major (2)	grow/grew/grown
raft (2)	pandemic	price tag (2)
civil (3)	piece (2)	give/gave/given (2)
set (2)	date (3)	bridge (2)
madam	thing (2)	orthodoxy
ear	divide (2)	spend/spent/spent
set on	massive	say/said/said
repeat	transition	think/thought/thought (2)
policy	agenda	launch (2)
argue	motorway	find/found/found (2)
urgent	crumble	build/built/built
repair	ambition	radical (2)
role (2)	state (4)	measure (2)
fair (3)	spell (2)	foot the bill
bill (2)	touch (2)	foot/feet (3)
earn	spell out	begin/began/begun
deaf	share (4)	come up with
riot	battle (2)	turn a page (2)
bet	capacity	tell/told/told
plea	lawmaker	meet/met/met (2)
vice (2)	podium	get things done
		fall on deaf ears

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

President Biden has marked his first 100 days in office by launching radical and ambitious proposals for America: a once-in-a-generation investment plan, as he called it. If enacted, it could be transformational.

But it comes at a huge cost: a four trillion dollar price tag. Much of it would be paid for by tax rises for corporations and for the most wealthy.

The American Families Plan aims to cut child poverty and put a cap on child care costs. Joe Biden wants to create millions of jobs through a massive program of investment in infrastructure, broadband and green energy. And he plans to address those key issues of police reform and gun control.

But he faces a battle in Congress — especially over those higher taxes.

Our North America editor John Sopple is at the White House. John.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 

The obsession with the first 100 days in office is peculiarly American. It dates back to 1933 and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was the president after the Great Depression and introduced the New Deal, a raft of welfare measures that saw government grow.

Ninety years on Joe Biden won’t mind too much if people start comparing him to FDR.

Because of covid and social distancing, the audience in Congress was much smaller.

But the pandemic has given Joe Biden the space to come up with a set of radical proposals that are a break with 40 years of economic orthodoxy.

Big government, tax and spend are back.

But one thing is totally new.

Joe Biden, US President: “Madam Speaker; Madam Vice-President.

No president has ever said those words from this podium. No president has ever said those words, and it’s about time.”

A lot of people thought the 78-year-old would be a transitional president.

Wrong.

He set on transformation with his plans for European-style welfare policies, a green agenda and the thing he kept on repeating last night: creating new jobs

Joe Biden: “That’s why I propose the American jobs plan, a once-in-a-generation investment in America itself. This is the largest jobs plan since World War II.”

A lot of those jobs will be found in the construction industry. He wants to spend 2.4 trillion dollars ($2.4 trillion) on a rebuild of America’s motorways, airports and railways. There can be no argument that America’s crumbling infrastructure is in urgent need of repair.

But Joe Biden’s ambition goes well beyond roads and bridges: it’s about welfare. It’s about the role of the state.

But Republicans say he’s more interested in social engineering than civil engineering. And in Congress, he spelt out who was going to have to foot the bill — those earning under four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) a year would be untouched, but the wealthiest would see their taxes rise.

Joe Biden, US President: “But it’s time for corporate America and the wealthiest one percent of Americans have just begun to pay their fair share; just their fair share. I think you should be able to become a billionaire and a millionaire, but pay your fair share.”

This is the first major set piece in Congress since the January the sixth riots.

But the president wanted to turn a page, exhorting Americans to come together.

Joe Biden, US President: “Folks as I told every world leader I’ve ever met with over the years, it’s never ever ever been a good bet to bet against America. And it still isn’t we’re the United States of America. There’s not a single thing, nothing. Nothing beyond our capacity.”

Joe Biden also made a plea with lawmakers to work together to get things done. Let’s agree on what we can,” He told them.

Fine words. But in divided America, they’re likely to fall on deaf ears.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

Road. US President Joe Biden seeks a small government with a limited role and involvement in people’s lives and business. True or false?

Street. What is his agenda? What are some of his proposals, plans and ideas?

Highway. Are these projects and programs cheap? Will they be financed mainly by working-class and middle-class taxpayers?

Freeway, Motorway. Is Biden’s agenda unprecedented or does it have a precedence?

Bridge. “A set of radical proposals that are a break with 40 years of economic orthodoxy.” What does this mean?

Airport. Biden feels offended when he is compared to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Is this right or wrong?

Sewer line. Does Biden seek to increase political polarization and instigate class warfare among Americans?
 
 
 

Airport. How would you describe the infrastructure of your city and country? Superb, excellent, very good, good, adequate, needs revamping, crumbling or in ruins?

Port, Harbor. Is there a serious need for revamping, refitting or rebuilding public works? Would it be worth the costs involved?

Canal. What do citizens think of social welfare, public assistance and benefits?

Overpass. Is there lots of controversy and arguments over investments in infrastructure and social welfare?

Tunnel. What do you think people and governments should do?

Railway. What might happen in the future?