President elated after Congress passes $1.2tn infrastructure bill
JOE BIDEN hailed a “blue collar blueprint” to rebuild America after Congress finally passed his $1.2 trillion (£0.9trillion) infrastructure bill.
The vote, paying for a transport and broadband internet upgrade, was the first of two massive spending bills which the US president has struggled to get through Congress.
After months in which he has seen his ratings plummet as a result of the congressional deadlock caused by the feuding wings of his own party, the US president was finally able to sound optimistic in the White House yesterday.
Mr Biden now faces the tricky task of pushing through his $1.8 trillion Build Back Better package of social spending which has been held up by rebel Democrat senators West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. The bill includes investments in health, education, tackling climate change and expanding social welfare. Centrists have baulked at plans to pay for the package by raising taxes on the wealthy.
Passage had been stalled for months, while liberals withheld their support to force an agreement on the social policy bill. Progressive Democrats had revolted anew on Friday, with many insisting that they could not back the measure without a vote on the social welfare bill. The infrastructure package was rescued by 13 mostly moderate Republicans who backed the measure.
Six Democratic progressives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri – opposed it.
“This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and it’s long overdue,” an ebullient Mr Biden told reporters. “The vast majority of the thousands of jobs created don’t require a college degree. There’ll be jobs in every part of the country. Red states, blue states, cities, small towns, rural communities and tribal communities.”
The President said the infrastructure bill represented “the most significant investment in passenger rail in 70 years and more investment in public transit than we ever ever made”.
He was equally optimistic when it came to the social spending bill, which will come before Congress by Nov 15.
“Let me be clear, we will pass this in the house and we’ll pass it in the Senate. Build Back Better will be a once-in-ageneration investment in our people.”