Joe Biden on Thursday launched his plan to revive the economy from the coronavirus-related recession with a promise to "build back better" than what existed before the crisis.
Offering a contrast with President Donald Trump's insistence that the economy is bouncing back, the presumptive Democratic nominee framed his economic agenda for the general election and sought to cut into the one policy area in which he lags Trump in public opinion polls.
A centerpiece of Biden's plan is intended to foster manufacturing and encourage innovation, adopting some ideas from his progressive primary rivals, as well as a buy-American focus, but avoiding the big-ticket proposals like the Green New Deal.
"The challenges faced today are among the biggest in our history," he said at a metalworks factory in Dunmore, Penn., a few miles away from his childhood home in Scranton, a place that's been synonymous with the blue-collar workers who helped Trump win the state in 2016.
Biden reiterated his plan to raise the current corporate tax rate back to the 28% it was during the Obama administration from the current 21%.
The former vice president's economic plan is divided into four areas, the first of which he addressed in some detail: a push to buy American and create manufacturing jobs, costing at least $700 billion; building infrastructure and clean energy; advancing racial equity; and modernizing the "caring" economy such as child care and eldercare workers and domestic aides.
Biden has not said how he'd pay for the proposed new spending for manufacturing and technology.
Information for this article was contributed by Bill Barrow and Marc Levy of The Associated Press.