The president added that America’s position in the world was incumbent on taking aggressive action on modern infrastructure that serves a computerized age. Otherwise, the county would lose out to China in what he believes is a fundamental test of democracy. Republican lawmakers counter that higher taxes would make the country less competitive globally.

“You think China is waiting around to invest in this digital infrastructure or on research and development? I promise you. They are not waiting. But they’re counting on American democracy, to be too slow, too limited and too divided to keep pace.”

(snip)

His administration on Wednesday was pressing the case for tax increases. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it was “self-defeating” for then-President Donald Trump to assume that cutting the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% in 2017 would make the economy more competitive and unleash growth. Yellen said that competing on tax rates came at the expense of investing in workers.

“Tax reform is not a zero-sum game,” she told reporters on a call. “Win-win is an overused phrase, but we have a win-win in front of us now.”

Yellen said the tax increases would produce roughly $2.5 trillion in revenues over 15 years, enough to cover the eight years’ worth of infrastructure investments being proposed.

• Fix highways, rebuild bridges, upgrade ports, airports and transit systems.

• Deliver clean drinking water, a renewed electric grid, and high-speed broadband to all Americans.

• Build, preserve, and retrofit more than two million homes and commercial buildings, modernize our nation’s schools and child care facilities, and upgrade veterans’ hospitals and federal buildings.

• Solidify the infrastructure of our care economy by creating jobs and raising wages and benefits for essential home care workers.

• Revitalize manufacturing, secure U.S. supply chains, invest in R&D, and train Americans for the jobs of the future.

• Create good-quality jobs that pay prevailing wages in safe and healthy workplaces while ensuring workers have a free and fair choice to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively with their employers.