AOC
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) leaves the U.S. Capitol after passage of the stimulus bill known as the CARES Act on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. The stimulus bill is intended to combat the economic effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued President Joe Biden's $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal 'needs to be way bigger.'
  • "The important context here is that it's $2.25T spread out over 10 years," she tweeted.
  • Earlier this week, progressive Democrats unveiled a $10 trillion version of the infrastructure and climate legislation.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the size of President Joe Biden's $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal, which the administration is formally unveiling this week.

"This is not nearly enough," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Tuesday. "The important context here is that it's $2.25T spread out over 10 years. For context, the COVID package was $1.9T for this year *alone,* with some provisions lasting 2 years. Needs to be way bigger."

Biden's bill, called the American Jobs Plan, includes billions in funding for research, development, and physical infrastructure, including roads and bridges, public transportation, water systems, ports and airports, and broadband internet. Woven through the plan are climate and environmental priorities, including funding to transition to electric vehicles, retrofit buildings, and modernize the nation's electric grid. A big chunk of the spending – $400 billion – would go to at-home caregiving for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The $2.2 trillion would be spent over the course of eight years and is expected to create millions of jobs. And the plan would raise taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans to pay for its spending priorities.

Earlier this week, progressive Democrats in the House and Senate unveiled their own version of the legislation – which would invest $10 trillion in infrastructure and jobs over the next decade. The proposal – called the THRIVE Act – has significantly more ambitious climate-related goals and more explicitly targets support to marginalized comm unites most impacted by environmental degradation.

Ocasio-Cortez hasn't co-sponsored THRIVE and is reportedly planning to re-introduce her Green New Deal proposal, which would call for even more far-reaching investments to fight climate change, create jobs, and rectify inequality.

Biden's infrastructure proposal is the first of two bills the White House is planning to push. The second will focus on what they call "human infrastructure," including funding for universal childcare and pre-K. The total cost of the two bills is expected to be about $4 trillion.

Biden is set to lay out his proposal, part of his "Build Back Better" agenda, during a Wednesday afternoon speech in Pittsburgh. The plan is something of an opening offer and congressional Democrats will work out many of the details in the coming weeks.

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