Remember when the term 'Infrastructure Week' was a joke during the Trump/Pence years because the supposed 'Great Builder' could not get a Congress under his party's control to pass an Infrastructure Law.
They were more concerned with passing tax cuts for the rich, attempting to take away health care from millions, and confirming Supreme Court Justices that stripped away a woman's national rights to reproductive freedom rather than modernize the nation's electric grid, airports, ports, roadways, and bridges.
Voters who seem to be having some unfathomable nostalgia for the Trump/Pence years need to remember that his administration prioritized deregulation of the nation's environmental footprint rather than investing in the replacement of lead pipes in some of our poorest communities so water could get safely to vulnerable families.
They also tanked the economy and caused the deaths of thousands over their misguided and horrendous approach to the Coronavirus.
Oh and Trump tried to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021.
It is important that voters do not forget these facts in their longing for the good old days that never were.
Fast forward to now and it is the Biden/Harris Administration, whose leaders were able to secure the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and CHIPS Acts that have made Infrastructures weeks and the expansion of good paying blue and green collar jobs a reality.
President Biden even poked fun at his predecessor in a recent trip to Racine Wisconsin, where he took part in the announcement of the construction of a new Microsoft facility on the very grounds of a Trump endorsed a Foxconn facility that never made it past the groundbreaking hole they dug.
In the below video clip from the event, the President said:
"My predecessor made promises that he broke more than kept. Left a lot of people behind in communities like Racine. On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises and we leave no one behind."
Mr. Biden further mocked Trump in describing his predecessor's trip to Racine six years ago to tout the Foxconn facility, saying:
"We had Infrastructure week every day for four years. Didn't build a damn thing. His Administration promised a ten billion dollar investment of Foxconn...create 13,000 new jobs...he came here...literally holding a golden shovel promising to build the Eighth Wonder of the World. Are you kidding me? Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels and then they fell into it...They wasted hundreds of millions of dollars of your state and local tax dollars to promise a project that never happened. Foxconn turned out to be just that. A con..."
The President also reminded listeners that unlike Mr. Trump, Wisconsin has seen net positive job growth during his time in office.
Overall, the Biden/Harris team can tout several substantive accomplishments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. These include:
- 9,400 bridge repair projects.
- 165,000 miles of road improvements.
- Funding 5,000 clean energy school buses.
- Modernizing 300 airport terminals across the country.
- Replacing 1.7 million lead toxic pipes.
- Removing hazardous material from 15 million acres of land.
- 23 million low income households getting access to the internet.
- Infrastructure projects to over 200 tribal communities.
- Plugging 8,000 discarded oil and gas wells.
In the latest data for Arizona, a state President Biden visited in March to highlight the expansion of Chandler's Intel Plant, the numbers look positive as local and state leaders along with Biden/Harris Administration officials continually celebrate infrastructure accomplishments and the Biden/Harris Investing in America strategies week after week.
Among the positive data from the Grand Canyon state, according to the Administration are:
- The creation of 352,400 new jobs.
- Billions to fund affordable and reliable internet, clean water access , and transportation improvements for roads, bridges, clean energy busing, railways, electric charging stations, and airports.
- A close to 10 to 1 private to public investment ratio in these projects.
Last month, the Biden/Harris Tsar on Infrastructure, former New Orleans' Mayor Mitch Landrieu participated in a series of infrastructure related events, spearheaded in part by the aforementioned legislation passed during the Biden/Harris Administration.
Legislation like CHIPS and the Inflation Reduction Act that Donald Trump opposed.
At the event in Mesa with Mayor John Giles, Mr. Landrieu said:
“Landmark laws like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act — signed into law by Joe Biden — are delivering for communities all across the country, allowing companies to invest billions of dollars in the clean energy industries of the future. While Donald Trump broke promises to communities all across America, President Biden has delivered for Arizonans.”
Mayor Giles, a Republican, relayed:
“President Biden has kept his promises on infrastructure. The Biden administration has been successfully laying the foundation for a more connected, resilient, and prosperous Arizona and our city is seeing the difference.”
At an earlier event in Phoenix, Mayor Kate Gallego offered:
“While Donald Trump turned ‘infrastructure week’ into a punchline and failed to deliver over four years, and instead handed out tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations at the expense of investments in America, President Biden and Democrats have actually delivered investments in local communities like Phoenix,”
This week, in the latest infrastructure week for real, Mayor Gallego posted:
In Tucson with Landrieu, Mayor Regina Romero commented:
“Donald Trump's administration was unpredictable and ineffective. Within months of taking office, President Biden got to work to make a difference for Arizona families. President Biden bet on Arizona youth, workers, and families, investing in them through work training, where Trump left them behind.”
When voters go to the polls this November, they need to remember that during the Trump/Pence years Infrastructure Week was a joke.
With the Biden/Harris Administration, Infrastructure Week is a constant reality that is moving Arizona and the nation forward and lifting individuals and families up, especially those in blue and green collar professions.
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