Biden signs $1 trillion infrastructure deal
President Joe Biden signed his hard-fought $1 trillion infrastructure deal into law on Monday ahead of a bipartisan, celebratory crowd on the lawn of the White House, declaring that roads, bridges, ports and more will be built. The new infusion of cash is about to change lives. Better for the American people”. But prospects for further bipartisanship ahead of the 2022 midterm elections are tough as Biden returns for more difficult talks on his sweeping $1.85 trillion social spending package.
The president is expected to use the infrastructure law to build back his popularity, which has taken a hit amid rising inflation and an inability to fully shake public health and economic risks from COVID-19.
“My message to the American people is this: America is moving forward again and your life is going to change for the better,” he said.
With the bipartisan deal, the president had to choose between his promise to promote national unity and his commitment to transformative change. The last resort greatly undermined his initial vision for the infrastructure. Yet the administration hopes to sell the new law as a success that will bridge the partisan divide and move the country away from clean drinking water, high-speed internet and fossil fuels.
“Guys, often in Washington, the reason we don’t work is because we insist on getting what we want. Everything,” Biden said. “With this law, we focus on getting things done. focused. I ran for president because I thought the only way to move our country forward was through compromise and consensus.
Biden will move out of Washington to sell the plan more widely in the coming days.
He intends to fly to New Hampshire on Tuesday to visit a bridge on the state’s “red list” for repairs, and he will head to Detroit on Wednesday for a stop at General Motors’ electric vehicle assembly plant, while other officials There are fans outside the country too. The president went to the port of Baltimore last week to highlight how the law could limit supply chain investment inflation and strengthen supply chains, a major concern of voters dealing with high prices.
“We see this as an opportunity because we know the president’s agenda is very popular,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday ahead of the signing. Reaching out to voters “can go beyond the legislative process to talk about how it will help them. And we’re hoping it will have an impact.”
Biden held off on signing the hard-hit infrastructure deal until legislators could return from Congressional recess and embark on a spectacular bipartisan program after it was passed on November 5. On Sunday night ahead of the signing, the White House announced that Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, would help manage and coordinate the implementation of infrastructure spending.
Monday’s gathering on the White House lawn was distinctively jubilant with a brass band and passionate speeches, in contrast to the drama and tension when the package’s fate had been in doubt for several months. The speakers lauded the measure to create jobs, combat inflation and meet the needs of the electorate.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican who helped negotiate the package, celebrated Biden’s desire to turn down his initial offer to help get GOP lawmakers on board. Portman also credited former President Donald Trump for raising awareness about the infrastructure, even though the loser in the 2020 election vehemently opposed the final agreement.
“This bipartisan support for this bill comes because it makes sense to our constituents, but an out-of-center approach should be the norm, not the exception,” Portman said.
Signatures included governors and mayors of both parties, and labor and business leaders. In addition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the guest list includes Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, New York Rep. Tom Reed, Alaska Rep. Don Young and Maryland Gov. Larry. Hogan.
To achieve the bipartisan agreement, the president had to slash his initial ambition of spending $2.3 trillion on infrastructure by more than half. The bill, which becomes law on Monday, includes about $550 billion in new spending over 10 years, as some of the expenditure in the package was already planned.
The agreement eventually found support from 19 Senate Republicans, including Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. Thirteen House Republicans also voted for the infrastructure bill. An angry Trump issued a statement attacking “Old Crow” McConnell and other Republicans for collaborating on “a terrible Democrat Socialist infrastructure plan.”
McConnell said the country “extremely needed” the new infrastructure money, but skipped Monday’s signing ceremony, telling WHAS Radio in Louisville, Kentucky, that he has “other things” to do.
Historians, economists and engineers interviewed by the Associated Press welcomed Biden’s efforts. But he insisted that $1 trillion was not nearly enough to address the decades-long government’s failure to maintain and upgrade the country’s infrastructure. Politics inevitably forced a trade-off in terms of the potential impact not only on the climate but on its ability to overtake and remain the dominant economic power for the rest of this century.
David van Slyke said, “We have to be calm here about our infrastructure gap in terms of the level of investment and go open in the eye, that it will not solve our infrastructure problems across the country. ” Dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Biden unsuccessfully tried to tie the infrastructure package to passing a comprehensive package of $1.85 trillion in proposed spending on households, health care and transition to renewable energy, which could help address climate change. That measure has not yet received substantial support from narrow Democratic majorities in the Senate and House.
Biden continues to work to appease Democratic skeptics such as West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, while holding onto even the most liberal branches of his party. Pelosi signed off on Monday’s bill, saying the separate package would “hopefully pass this week”.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz expressed concern during a Fox News interview on Sunday that Republican support for the infrastructure law could eventually prompt Democrats to rally and support a second package.
“He gave Joe Biden a political victory,” Cruz said of his fellow Republicans. “He will now travel across the country, look at this huge bipartisan victory. And that extra momentum, unfortunately, is more likely to shape their Democrats and pass some multitrillion-dollar spending bill on top of it. ,
Bargaining over infrastructure has shown Biden can still bring Democrats and Republicans together, even as tensions continue over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, who falsely believe that Biden was not legitimately elected president. Yet the result is a product that may not meet the existential threat of climate change or the transformative legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose portrait hangs in Biden’s Oval Office.
“Yes, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a big deal,” said Peter Norton, a professor of history in the University of Virginia’s Department of Engineering. “But the bill is not transformative, because most of it is the same.”
Norton likened limited action on climate change to the start of World War II, when Roosevelt and Congress reshaped the entire US economy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Auto production was banned within two months. The dealership had no new cars to sell for four years as the factory focused on weapons and munitions. To save on fuel consumption, a national speed limit of 35 mph was introduced.
“The emergency we are facing today is a comparable emergency response,” Norton said.
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