VOA常速英语:拜登再推2.3万亿基建法案

This is VOA news. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd. President Joe Biden touted his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan Wednesday, hoping to summon public support to push past the Republicans lining up against the massive effort. AP's Ben Thomas reports. "...inaction simply is not an option." Speaking at the White House, the president says that's because the U.S. has fallen behind other countries. "America is no longer the leader of the world because we're not investing." Noting infrastructure evolves, Biden says things such as high speed Internet have become just as essential as roads and bridges. "We need to start seeing infrastructures through its effect on the lives of working people in America." As for funding it through an increase in the corporate tax rate, Biden says he is not looking to punish anybody. "... but damn it - maybe it's because I come from a middle-class neighborhood - I'm sick and tired of ordinary people being fleeced." Again the president says he is open to ideas but "I will not impose any tax increases on people making less than $400,000 a year." Ben Thomas, Washington.

The EU's drug regulator said Wednesday it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and a rare clotting disorder but recommended the vaccine's continued use. Emer Cooke is the executive director of the European Medicines Agency. "A plausible explanation for these rare side events is that, is an immune response to the vaccine, leading to a condition similar to one seen sometimes in patients treated with heparin. It's called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia." Most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 within 2 weeks of vaccination. But based on the currently available evidence, the EMA was not able to identify specific risk factors. Experts reviewed several dozen cases that came mainly from Europe and the United Kingdom, where around 25 million people have received the AstraZeneca vaccine.