President Joe Biden to travel to Kentucky
As part of the pitch, Biden and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell made a rare appearance together in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky on Wednesday to discuss the nearly $1 trillion infrastructure that lawmakers have bipartisanly approved for 2021. Emphasize spending.
The Democratic president also has bipartisan elects visiting Kentucky’s side of the Cincinnati area, including Senator Sherrod Brown, Ohio Democrat, Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. I plan to join the group of officials. said the White House.
Biden’s bipartisan blitz was announced two days before Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives from Democrats on Tuesday after Republicans won the November election. It will end Biden’s rule and complicate Biden’s future legislative agenda. Democrats remain in power in the Senate.
Before leaving Washington on vacation late last year, Biden appealed for less partisanship, stating, “Everyone is talking to each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, not as members of ‘Team Red’ or ‘Team Blue.’ I hope to meet you,” he said. Who are we really, fellow Americans. ”
The president’s visit will help Kentucky and Ohio build a new Ohio River bridge near Cincinnati and improve the existing overloaded span, a frequently used freight route connecting the Midwest. appeared to be related to the recent announcement that it would receive more federal subsidies than $.and the South.
Congestion at the Brent Spence Bridge on Interstates 75 and 71 has for years been a frustrating bottleneck on a critical shipping corridor and a symbol of America’s growing infrastructure needs. According to officials, the bridge was built in the 1960s to carry about 80,000 vehicles a day, but its narrow lane saw twice as much traffic as it did on federal roads. The Administration declared the bridge functionally obsolete.
The planned project will cover about 8 miles (12 kilometers) and will include improvements to the bridge and some connecting roads, as well as construction of a nearby companion span. The states have coordinated to seek funding under the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal Biden signed in 2021.
McConnell said the companion bridge “will be one of the bill’s crowning achievements.”
DeWine said the two states have been talking about the project for almost 20 years, “and now we can finally move beyond talks and get to work.”
Officials hope to break ground later this year and complete much of the work by 2029.
Biden’s visit could also give Beshear a political boost as he seeks re-election this year in a Republican-majority state.
In a December 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Beshear gave a mixed review of Biden’s job performance. had joined.
“Sometimes I think I did well, sometimes I wish I could have done better,” Beshear said of Biden.
Other senior government officials are also expected to help push Biden’s economic policies this week.
In Chicago on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “How the president’s economic plan is reshaping our infrastructure and creating high-paying jobs — jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, and “How to revitalize marginalized communities” will be discussed.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered the same message Wednesday in New London, Connecticut.
Mitch Landrieu, the White House official charged with facilitating infrastructure spending, will join soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco on Thursday, who will represent her in Congress.
Biden was due to return to the White House on Monday after spending about a week with his family in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The president kicked off New Year’s Day on Sunday by attending mass at Christiansted’s Holy Cross Catholic Church, where he has seen the first sunrise of 2023 and attended religious services during past visits to the island.