WASHINGTON – Monday was a good day for the President of the United States, Joe Biden. Right now, you could use a few good morning.
“Things are going to change in a big way,” he said on the South Lawn of the White House before a crowd of about 800 guests: members of Congress, mayors, governors and union workers. The change he was referring to was that of America’s infrastructure ranking in the world, but he might as well have been expecting a broader political trend.
“I really think that 50 years from now, historians will look back at this moment and say, ‘That’s the moment America started winning the 21st century competition,'” Biden said.
At last, he was enacting an infrastructure law worth more than $ 1 trillion: money for roads and bridges, public transportation and passenger rail, expanded broadband Internet access, and better water systems.
“You will be safer and you will arrive faster. and we are going to have a lot less pollution, “he said, summarizing some of the effects of the law. “And you understand that it is about jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. “
Ultimately, it was an impetus for his case to Americans that government can and can do great things. And he even offered a fig leaf of the elusive unity that he upholds as a defining principle: Biden thanked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell by name for voting in favor of the bill, and Republicans who voted for the measure joined him. in person at the White House. – even though they have been brand traitors for another leaders of your own party, and some have received death threats as a result of your support.
Republican Senator Rob Portman spoke at the ceremony and said the new spending would have “a positive impact on all Americans.”
The infrastructure measure is very popular. TO Washington Post / ABC Poll reported that 63 percent of Americans said they supported spending $ 1 trillion “on roads, bridges and other infrastructure,” according to the wording that described the bill that Biden was signing Monday.
But it sure doesn’t seem like it’s the president’s support for the bill that has made it popular. The same poll showed that Biden’s approval rating as president had fallen to 41 percent, a new low, and that his party would be heading for an outright hit if next year’s midterm elections were held today, probably losing. control of both houses of Congress. .
Much of what drives that is concern about the economy: 70 percent of those surveyed in that survey rate the economy negatively, and just 39 percent say Biden is doing a good job running it. Biden’s supporters note that just last week the country reported record job gains and a low 4.6 percent unemployment rate, that child poverty dropped dramatically as a result of the measures of its COVID-19 rescue package, wages are rising and stock market indices. They are at record levels. But inflation has been really high this year and many fear it will hold up and get worse; According to the poll, most blame Biden. Derek Thompson of the Atlantic He recently called the dichotomy a case of a decent economic recovery with Biden awash in bad “vibes.”
“Despite many positive economic trends, Americans feel bad about the state of things,” Thompson wrote, “and, understandably, they are blame the party in power. ”
But another thing that hurts Biden, polls suggest, is the perception that he hasn’t accomplished much. Once again, its supporters will point to the massive vaccine launch and the $ 2 trillion COVID-19 rescue package as significant progress in its first year. But Congress’s stalemate on its economic and infrastructure agenda, largely caused by infighting in his own party, which dragged on through the summer and much of the fall will surely have contributed to the perception of ineffective leadership.
Biden will take every opportunity to flag this infrastructure package, achieved with some bipartisan support, to demonstrate action. “Today we are finally getting things done. My message to the American people is that America is moving again and their lives are going to change for the better, ”he said Monday.
He will be making stops across the country over the next week and beyond, spreading the word.
But that message would be clearer if he could sign the rest of his economic agenda – $ 1.75 trillion in social and climate change spending – as well. (The Washington Post / ABC poll showed he is also widely popular, supported by 58 percent of Americans.) That part of Biden’s plan was supposed to pass alongside the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but it remains the subject of disputes in Congress. that may or may not be resolved this week. Senator Joe Manchin, one of the longtime Democratic obstacles to passage of the bill, has again expressed reluctance to support it, given the state of inflation.
Even announcing the victory of the infrastructure bill, Biden on Monday defended the passage of the rest of his package.
“I want you to feel what I feel: pride. Pride in what we can do together as the United States of America. Friends, you know that the same thing happens with my plan to rebuild better for the people, ”he said, referring to his climate and social spending plan, and predicted its imminent approval.
Monday was a day of good news for him, partly as a result of the support of his partisan opponents. You could use many more of them, if only your own party in Congress allowed it.
Reference-www.thestar.com