Business group pushes back on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's infrastructure pitch
CBSN
Corporations should help pay for infrastructure in a return to historic levels of taxation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday, in remarks met with immediate pushback from the country's biggest business lobbying group.
Yellen pushed the Biden administration's American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, which include more than $4 trillion for infrastructure, education and other provisions to help American families and workers, in her address to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global forum on Economic Recovery. Yellen said the United States has not maintained its infrastructure, let alone modernized it, sufficiently supported public research and development to maintain a technological edge, invested in education and training or built the support systems families need. "We believe the corporate sector can contribute to this effort by bearing its fair share: We propose simply to return the corporate tax toward historical norms," Yellen said.Almost four out of every 10 people in the United States live in a place where air pollution is considered bad enough to put their health at risk, the American Lung Association warned in its latest "State of the Air" report released on Wednesday. That proportion of people — about 39% of the population — had risen sharply since earlier rounds of pollutant data were analyzed for the annual report last year, and the trends were especially pronounced in certain parts of the country.
Between now and 2030, about 10,000 Americans will turn 65 every single day, highlighting a growing concern about the nation's preparedness for elder care often falling on the shoulders of their adult children. This has given rise to a term known as the "sandwich generation," defined as adults who find themselves caring for their aging parents while still raising their own children.