Biden Touts Build Back Better to Key CEOs

The White House hosted the chief executives of major U.S. companies including auto and tech sector firms this week to discuss President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better legislation.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley, Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman, Siemens Corp. CEO Barbara Humpton and Corning CEO Wendell Weeks all participated.

A White House official reported Biden met with CEOs "who support passing Build Back Better to discuss the ways his agenda will make the U.S. economy more competitive, increase worker productivity and workforce participation, lower inflation over the long-term, and strengthen business growth."

Biden pushed to pass this spending bill in December. The bill would spend billions of dollars to tackle climate change and boost electric vehicles, and pay for universal preschool, paid family leave and other social safety spending.

Biden's proposal also would increase the current $7,500 EV tax credit to up to $12,500 for union-made U.S. vehicles. It also would create a credit of up to $4,000 for used vehicles. The bill would make GM and Tesla Inc. vehicles eligible for tax credits after they hit the 200,000-vehicle cap on the existing $7,500 credit.

Foreign automakers and Tesla have critized the $4,500 union EV credit.

The proposed legislation also includes a 30% credit for commercial electric vehicles and would allocate $3.5 billion for converting U.S. factories for production of electrified or fuel cell vehicles. It also would revive incentives that could generate $3.7 billion for automotive communities by 2031.

The proposed bill allocates $3 billion to a Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.