Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021 Remarks on Jobs and Infrastructure Legislation in La Crosse, Wisconsin June 29
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Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021 Remarks on Jobs and Infrastructure Legislation in La Crosse, Wisconsin June 29, 2021 Good afternoon. Thank you, Laurie. Please, please, please sit down. I once said that to a big crowd; it was in the evening. I said, "Please, sit down." And there were no seats. They were out in a football field. [Laughter] And the press pointed out, "Biden is losing it." [Laughter] But I can see you all have seats. [Laughter] Laurie, thank you very much. I told Laurie, when she was showing me the bus she's driving now: Back when I was in law school, I drove a school bus during the summers to pick up spending money. And from one bus driver to another, Laurie—[laughter]—I want to thank you for all you do to make this city run, to help folks get where they need to go. And you do it in a way that sometimes is not always easy. I'm glad to be here with great Wisconsin leaders. Gov, I guess I landed at the airport just a few minutes before you did. Thank you for making the effort to be here. And my good friend, Tammy Baldwin—Senator Baldwin is here. And Congressman Ron Kind is—and, Mom, thank you for raising a good kid. And Mayor Reynolds. I was telling the mayor—he just won reelection—he won election. And I said, "You know, I always wonder why everybody runs for mayor," because they—it's the hardest job in American politics. They know where you live. [Laughter] You can't go to the grocery store. "Why is that pothole still there?" I get it. You don't even control that. But anyway, Mr. Mayor, thank you for your service. Thank you for willing to serve. I'm here in Wisconsin to celebrate a step forward for my country—our country—to talk a little bit about what it's going to mean for working families here in Wisconsin and across the Nation. When I was sworn in 5 months ago, I pledged to put my whole soul into bringing America together. I said I was running for three reasons, the last one of which I said is to unite America. I admit it's difficult, and I think some of my friends in the press thought it was impossible. I still don't think it is, but—because I believe that there's nothing we cannot do if we bring—come together as a nation, Democrats and Republicans. And we're really divided on a whole range of things. But if you look back across our history, from the transcontinental railroad to the creation of the internet, you can see the truth in that idea, about coming together. Because America— America—has always been propelled into the future by landmark national investments— investments that only the Government has the capacity to make; only the Government, working together, could make. Today happens to mark—coincidental—but today is the 60th [65th]* anniversary of one of those significant investments to change the Nation. Sixty-five years ago today, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the bill that created the Interstate Highway System. Sixty-five years ago today. That was the last infrastructure investment of the size and scope of what—the agreement I'm about to talk about today. It's time for us to write a new chapter in that story. After months of careful negotiation, of listening, of compromising together in a good faith, moving together, with ups and downs and * White House correction. 1 some blips, a bipartisan group of Senators got together and they forged an agreement to move forward on the key priorities of my American Jobs Plan, and one of them is sitting in front of me. As a result, this is a generational investment—a generational investment—to modernize our infrastructure, creating millions of good-paying jobs—and that's not coming from me, that's coming from Wall Street—millions of good-paying jobs that position America to compete with the rest of the world in the 21st century, because China is way out-working us, in terms of infrastructure. And it's going to make the world of difference for families here in Wisconsin. Here's what it's going to do: This deal will put American workers to work in good-paying jobs, not minimum wage jobs, not 15-dollar-an-hour jobs. Prevailing wage jobs, good-paying jobs, repairing our roads and our bridges. You all know why that matters. One in 5 miles of highway and roads in America are in poor condition—1 in 5 miles. Some States it's worse where the weather is tougher. Five percent—50 years—50 [40]* percent of our bridges are over 50 years old. More than 1,000 bridges here in Wisconsin are rated as structurally deficient by engineers—1,000 just in Wisconsin. And I'm not—that doesn't make Wisconsin better or worse; it's—all across the Nation, it's this way. The bridges—the 10 most traveled bridges in America need repair, and some need to be completely rebuilt. More than 600—more than 600 here in the State of Wisconsin—bridges have weight limits to prevent trucks from crossing. That means long detours for farmers heading to market. It's more than just an inconvenience; it's about safety as well. In November 2019, a school bus in Arcadia, Wisconsin, tipped over going around a curve and went into a ditch with 20 students on board. It wasn't because of snow or ice; it was just an old country road. It was rough conditions. Thank God nobody was seriously injured at the time. But this is a drain on our economy as well. Typical American—typical American—and it varies slightly from State to State—but the typical American pays a hidden tax of more than $1,000 a year in wasted time—wasted time—and fuel due to traffic congestion. Now, in the more the rural the areas, the less the congestion. But that creates other difficulties. You all know that feeling: losing time, sitting in traffic, or being rerouted because the bridge isn't wide enough or the road is poorly maintained. This deal is going to put Americans back to fixing all of that and good-paying jobs. This deal will also put Americans to work replacing 100 percent of our Nation's lead water pipes. You know, there's 400,000—well, I won't get into the numbers; I get a little carried away—but it's really dangerous. Every single American child, at home or in school, will soon be able to turn on that faucet, and their moms and dads know that the water they're drinking is clean and safe. I'll give you an example of why that matters. Just look at the city of Milwaukee. Milwaukee has more than 160,000 water service lines. More than 70,000 of them, nearly half, have lead service lines. And by the way, I'm not—it's not picking on Wisconsin, Gov. Every State is like this. But just to know what you're going to be doing for the State of Wisconsin here. You know, we know that exposure to lead in drinking water can trigger a number of serious problems. Even low levels of lead can cause behavioral and learning problems in children, impairing their growth. There are up to 10 million homes with lead pipe service lines and pipes. Children in up to 400,000 schools—400,000 schools—and childcare facilities are at risk of exposure to lead. This deal contains the largest investment in clean drinking water and waste water infrastructure in American history. 2 This deal also provides something you're very familiar with in the Island. It provides funding to get dangerous chemicals out of our water systems, known as PFAs, or "forever chemicals." This is a problem all across the country, and I know that you're feeling it right here—right here. Here in La Crosse County, just this spring, the State had to provide free bottled water to thousands of people on French Island because they were worried about those chemicals in the groundwater, which were linked to cancer and other illnesses. We'll pay for that. We'll get that done. We're also going to surge Federal resources to help address the forever chemicals not just here, but all across America. Unfortunately, Wisconsin is not unique in this problem. This deal will also put Americans to work building transmission lines, the largest investment in clean energy transmission in American history. Power outages cost the U.S. economy up to— now, this is—now, we know this, but until you add it up, it doesn't seem to be that big a deal. It costs the economy, Congressman, $70 billion annually. You hear me? Nationally, $70 billion annually. And as climate change induces extreme weather events more and more frequently, we need to make investments to build a more resilient grid to carry this electricity. The majority of the Nation's grid is aging. Some components are over a century old. And 70 percent of transmission and distribution lines are well into the second half of their lifespans. You saw what happened in Texas this winter: The entire system in the State collapsed. The entire system. That's why we have to act. This deal will modernize the power grid to be more energy efficient and resilient to—and resistant to extreme weather; resilient against bad actors who try to hack and attack the grid.