On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden stood in a machine-filled oil warehouse in Wisconsin, touting his trillion-dollar infrastructure plan, arguing that the United States needs everything from better bridges to broadband to remain competitive.
Comparing his efforts with the creation of the interstate highway system that weaved the world’s largest economy more than half a century ago, Biden said that this is “an effort that only the government has the ability to make.”
“This is an intergenerational investment in modernization,” he said, “allowing the United States to compete with the rest of the world in the 21st century.”
Biden spoke at a municipal maintenance and storage facility in the blue-collar town of La Crosse, Wisconsin-he narrowly overthrew the state in a tense election with Donald Trump in 2020.
In a huge shack, the presidential tour and subsequent speeches in front of a small audience have almost no ingenious production methods.
Instead, Biden stepped onto the stage, surrounded by heavy equipment, including trucks and road signs. Huge road construction machines crowded adjacent rooms, and the smell of engine oil permeated the entire building complex.
When talking to the driver of the hybrid bus—Biden said this should be a model for the American hybrid and electric bus fleet—he asked whether crumbling bridges and highways were a local problem.
“This is our main obstacle now,” the driver replied. “We are behind in this regard.”
Biden is a long-time car enthusiast who likes to talk about the working-class roots of his family. He clearly hopes that his infrastructure construction can do more than just repair the American economy.
Infrastructure spending is welcomed by voters, and a successful launch may boost his Democratic hopes in the mid-term congressional elections next year—and his own re-election in 2024.
Biden is pushing for two infrastructure bills.
The first is mainly focused on traditional areas such as roads and bridges. Negotiations are underway. Republicans are considering a rare moment for bipartisan cooperation in Congress.
The package will also pay for the replacement of unhealthy lead pipes in households across the country, the promotion of broadband Internet and the establishment of a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
At approximately US$1 trillion, whether the plan will inspire the two parties to reach an agreement is far from certain.
However, regardless of whether Republican support is passed, Biden also intends to use his ultra-thin Democratic control of Congress to enact a larger spending bill that also includes what he calls “human infrastructure”-such as increasing Pre-school education and higher education. education. This single bill may reach trillions of dollars.
Either way, Biden bet his legacy on an issue that he believes is deep-rooted, which is a battle for survival for supremacy on the world stage.
In his Wisconsin speech, he said that “China is fully investing” in infrastructure spending and lags far behind the United States in R&D spending.
Biden wrote earlier on Yahoo that a large-scale infrastructure transformation will “send a signal to ourselves and the world that American democracy can serve the people and serve the people.”