March 30, 2021

President Joe Biden's $2 trillion, eight-year "American Jobs Plan," to be unveiled Wednesday, contains money for a smorgasbord of interests from roads to the power grid and will also include money for cleaning up abandoned mines — an obvious nod to coal state senators who could be the key to its passage.

Abandoned mine remediation would be particularly attractive for Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat whose support in a tightly locked Senate is key for movement on virtually any legislation, even under sped-up budget reconciliation procedures under which Republicans' votes largely wouldn't matter.

According to several sources who were on a call where White House officials briefed lawmakers Tuesday afternoon, the plan would encompass not just highways and transit but water systems, broadband, supply chain issues and more. It would address electrification and has a major plank on innovation, which involves research funding targeted at areas where the United States is falling behind China and other competitors, such as on semi-conductors and batteries.

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