WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will travel to Pittsburgh Friday to tout an infrastructure plan he hopes will give Democrats a boost in the midterm elections, arriving as a major bridge collapse in the city provides a tragic backdrop for the need to repair the nation’s infrastructure.
After a bridge collapsed near Frick Park Friday morning, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden will proceed with the trip as planned and “will stay in touch with officials on the ground about additional assistance we can provide.” He “is is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time,” Psaki tweeted.
The president is scheduled to visit Mill 19 in Pittsburg, which was once a major metals producer and has now shifted its focus to developing technology for artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics.
The White House is looking to use the trip to promote the $500 billion infrastructure law passed last year, which it sees as one of its key selling points for the midterm elections as it kicks off efforts to bolster Democrats on the ballot.
Two of the three leading Democrats on Pennsylvania’s statewide ballot this spring — Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a leading Senate candidate; and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the likely Democratic nominee in the race for governor — will not attend because of scheduling conflicts, the Associated Press reported.
The absence of the two officials comes as Democrats are assessing how to navigate an unpopular president in the upcoming elections. Biden ended his first year in office with his job approval rating at 43 percent, according to an NBC News survey. Six in 10 respondents in the poll said they disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy, while more than half gave him low marks on dealing with the Covid pandemic.
“The President will talk about how his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is already strengthening in our supply chains and critical infrastructure — our roads, bridges, ports, airports, and more – giving us an edge in producing more in America and exporting it to the world,” a White House official said in a statement Friday morning, before the bridge collapse.
Biden has frequently talked about the $110 billion in the law that will provide for repairing and replacing some of the 45,000 bridges in the country that are in poor condition.
Pittsburgh officials said they were still investigating the cause of the bridge collapse. Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said the collapse highlights the need for the funding ahead of Biden’s visit.
“At the end of the day, this is critical. We need to get this funding and we are glad to have the president coming today,” Gainey said Friday at a press conference.
During his remarks, Biden plans to highlight the 367,000 manufacturing jobs that the economy has created since he took office, and tout the recent announcements of new chip manufacturing plants in Ohio by Intel and a new Michigan GM plant that will add thousands of future jobs, the White House official said.
He plans to also use the remarks to push the House to pass a bill aimed at increasing U.S. competitiveness with China, the official added.
Biden will have some good news to trumpet on the economy. The Commerce Department released data Thursday showing that the U.S. economy grew last year at its fastest pace since 1984, with gross domestic product expanding by 5.7 percent in 2021. The economy grew 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the data showed, though economists are expecting that to slow in 2022 due to inflation and the omicron variant.
“The President will talk about the remarkable economic progress we’ve made over his first year in office — including the fastest single year of job growth in American history, the biggest unemployment drop on record, and as we learned on Thursday, the fastest economic growth in 2021 in almost four decades,” a White House official said.
— via www.nbcnews.com
The Chenab Times News Desk