US President Barack Obama, scrambling to spur job creation, proposed a six-year plan on Monday to rebuild US infrastructure with an initial US$50 billion investment and prepared new business tax cuts.
“We are going to rebuild 150,000 miles [240,000km] of our roads — that’s enough to circle the world six times ... We’re going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles [6,400km] of our railways — enough to stretch coast-to-coast,” Obama told a labor rally in Milwaukee where several thousand supporters cheered his every line.
The infrastructure plan, one of several initiatives Obama is unveiling this week, was immediately criticized by Republicans, who many analysts predict could win control of the House of Representatives in Nov. 2 congressional elections.
With fellow Democrats facing punishment from recession-weary voters in November, Obama is under pressure to do more to create jobs and bring down the stubbornly high 9.6 percent unemployment rate, even as economists agree he has few good options left.
An administration official said Obama would propose today in Cleveland that businesses be allowed to write off all their new investments in plant and equipment through next year.
The plan would cut business taxes by US$200 billion over two years, the official said. The administration hope is that businesses worried about the sagging US economy would nonetheless want to take advantage of the tax break by going ahead with plans for plant and equipment investments.
Obama is also expected to announce today a proposal for the US Congress to increase and permanently extend a tax credit for business research and development. It would cost US$100 billion over 10 years.
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
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MISSILE MISSION: The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology said it does not make policy, but would be glad to obtain certification to assemble the missiles The Ministry of National Defense-affiliated Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is in the process of getting certified to assemble an additional 1,985 Stinger missiles on top of those from US arms sales, a senior defense official said yesterday. Washington is to send a team to Taiwan to evaluate the institute’s manufacturing capabilities and information security, said the official, who commented on condition of anonymity. The ministry initially bought 500 missiles for the army and navy, but later increased the order to 2,485 in response to an increase in Beijing’s military activities around the nation, and to meet the army’s urgent need
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