The Big Deal: Buttigieg Compares Biden’s Infrastructure Law to The New Deal

One of the most significant achievements of the Biden-Harris administration is one about which most Americans know little: The administration is radically transforming U.S. infrastructure, and on Monday they announced an additional 4.2 billion dollars in infrastructure grants to fund 44 projects across the country that aim to improve safety, quality of life, support supply chains, and create good-paying jobs.

“I think it’s important to reflect on all of the consequences of that failure to invest that we have seen over the years. It’s led to everything from infrequent and unreliable bus service to limited passenger rail options to ports and airports unable to keep up with demand to detours due to weight limited bridges and, of course, roads in disrepair. Addressing that, finally addressing that, is part of why President Biden’s infrastructure law is a big deal, so much so that I like to call it the big deal, because I think it rivals the New Deal in its impact,“Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on a Monday call with reporters in which PoliticusUSA took part.

“We’ve got more than 63,000 projects just on the infrastructure side alone, in every state in the US, and some of them are very specific, narrow scope and intersection being realigned a sidewalk connecting parts of town that used to be disconnected,” Buttigieg  said. “These are projects that together can create hundreds of thousands of good jobs, many of them available, whether you have a college degree or not.”

It’s true, these projects are not only improving safety, but providing good paying jobs. Yet many Americans, including many with those jobs, are unaware of the connection.

I asked about the fact that too many Americans are unaware of this ongoing accomplishment, which will meet its undoing in 2026 if not supported by the next president.  An analyst said it was important for people to understand the connection between the increased jobs and the increased wages attached to those jobs coming from working on infrastructure projects.

The analyst pointed out that it’s hard to separate the increase in good paying jobs resulting from the Infrastructure Bill from other achievements of the Biden administration, like the Inflation Reduction Act, noting that some people are working in some of the auto factories and the chips factories being created through the Biden-Harris administration’s work.

The analyst said today’s media environment can mean that sometimes good news is no news, as a potential reason why many Americans are unaware of these connections, noting that it’s important for communities to understand the benefits coming to them from Biden’s infrastructure push —  and to know that it will be up in 2026, when our leaders will be deciding what a future infrastructure authorization will look like.

Communities need to understand the benefits that are coming to them are both the benefit of having new, better roads, highways, bridges and ports and also the benefit of the jobs involved in building them.

Some key projects include:

– $147 million to reconstruct a significant intersection on Grand Avenue above freight rail tracks in Phoenix, Arizona. This will improve safety for drivers and pedestrians and reduce delays.

– $217 million to expand the capacity of the South Port Terminal at the Port of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. This will support additional roll-on, roll-off cargo at the port, which is already the most efficient auto facility on the East Coast.

– Over $86 million to modernize the I-20 freight corridor in Mississippi by resurfacing the highway and repairing bridge infrastructure.

– $66 million to replace the US 1 bridge in Florida, widening the highway shoulders, adding a bicycle and pedestrian path, and expanding the bridge’s lifespan.

– $90 million to improve a 3-mile elevated rail corridor on the South Side of Chicago, eliminating nearly 20,000 hours of delays for passengers.

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Ex-president Donald Trump talked about “Infrastructure Week” for nearly his whole term, but it never actually happened. It took President Joe Biden, whose long career afforded him a lot of good will and a keen mind for negotiating (an actual deal maker, if you will), to make the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law happen.

In a few weeks, it will be the three year anniversary of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Americans would be celebrating, if only they knew about it.

The Big Deal is the perfect name for one of the President’s signature accomplishments, especially given his “It’s a BFD” comment to then President Obama about the passage of the Affordable Care Act in March of 2010.

The Big Deal is indeed a BFD. Things like this matter in micro and macro ways, because they demonstrate that the U.S. can have good governance if the people vote for it. Cynicism is sold to you by people who benefit from you believing that good things aren’t possible and we shouldn’t even bother wanting them.

Wish away. Just make sure you vote accordingly.

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