President Biden thread

Per the BRIDGE REPORT

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There are 171.5 million daily crossings on over 45,000 structurally deficient U.S. bridges in poor condition.    1 in 3 U.S. Bridges Needs Repair or Replacement.  At the current rate, it would take 40 years to fix all of the nation's structurally deficient bridges.

In PA, top bridges needing repair is along I95  in Philadelphia --major artery between Delaware and New Jersey/New York -- many sections I travel frequently.   Hope this bill funnels monies to get sections I95 bridges fixed.

Please place EV charging stations in the nations highway Welcome Centers and airports -- would allow me buy electric vehicle to travel cross country.

VOX 03/31/21

What's in President Biden's 2 TRILLION infrastructure , environmental and jobs plan

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Here are the top lines of what’s in the American Jobs Plan.

• The $621 billion in infrastructure spending is the largest chunk of Biden’s plan, aiming to modernize 20,000 miles of highways, roads, and main streets, fix the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country, and repair 10,000 smaller bridges. Biden’s plan calls for $85 billion to modernize public transit and $80 billion to be put toward Amtrak for repairs and improving train corridors.
• Invests $174 billion in the electric vehicle market, building out a network of 500,000 EV chargers on roads by 2030. The plan also calls for the electrification of 20 percent of the school bus fleet, and using federal procurement to electrify the entire federal fleet, including the US Postal Service. It also talks about giving consumers point of sale rebates and tax incentives to buy American-made electric vehicles, incorporating a plan from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
• Eliminates all lead pipes and service lines in drinking water systems, and puts $56 billion in grants and flexible loans to states, tribes, and territories to upgrade drinking, wastewater, and stormwater systems.
• Invests $100 billion to build out the nation’s high-speed broadband infrastructure to 100 percent coverage, including in remote and rural areas. Biden’s plan also commits to working with Congress to reduce the price of broadband, but doesn’t specify exactly how.
• Invests $213 billion to build and retrofit over 2 million homes and commercial buildings, including community colleges, aging schools, child care facilities, veterans’ hospitals, and federal buildings. Biden’s plan calls for 1 million affordable housing units to be produced or retrofitted, and over 500,000 homes for low- and middle-income homebuyers to be built or rehabilitated. The plan also calls for the elimination of exclusionary zoning.
• Puts $16 billion toward plugging old oil and gas wells, abandoned coal and uranium mines, as well as funding environmental resiliency jobs including restoring forests, wetlands, and watersheds. The plan calls for $10 billion to create a Civilian Climate Corps to conserve public lands and waters, one of Biden’s campaign promises. Conservation advocates argued that environmental restoration and resilience jobs like these can put people to work even more quickly than clean energy jobs. “Some of the earliest job wins you’re going to see are going to be in the restoration space,” Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, told Vox. “They don’t require materials or construction, new fabrication of different goods and materials. The only thing that’s needed is money.”
• Invests $100 billion to modernize the nation’s electrical grid, and extend and expand the production and investment tax credits to accelerate clean energy jobs and projects in wind, solar, and other forms of renewable energy.

Slate 0/331/21

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Biden Administration

I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to bite members of his Secret Service detail and poop on his floors.

PBS 4/01/2021

President Biden holds first cabinet meeting after unveiling $2 trillion infrastructure plan

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To begin with, the full Cabinet met Thursday in the spacious East Room, rather than the comparatively cramped West Wing room that bears its name, to allow for social distancing. All attendees, including the president, donned masks. And the afternoon meeting did not include the over-the-top tributes to the chief executive that came to define Cabinet meetings held by President Donald Trump.

The timing of the first meeting was deliberate: a week after the full Cabinet was confirmed and a day after Biden released his infrastructure plan, which will likely dominate Washington through the Summer and shape next year’s midterm elections.

The White House allowed press to witness just the opening three minutes of the meeting, where the president tapped five Cabinet secretaries “to take special responsibility to explain the plan to the American public.” He directed Transportation’s Pete Buttigieg, Energy’s Jennifer Granholm, Housing and Urban Development’s Marcia Fudge, Labor’s Marty Walsh and Commerce’s Gina Raimondo to be visible to Americans and lead outreach on Capitol Hill.

Biden also directed the entire Cabinet to examine their agency spending to ensure it follows his “Buy American” commitment....

 

First I've heard of these lawsuits...

ABC News 4/02/2021

Republicans trod well-worn path to court to sue Biden

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These are busy days for Republican state attorneys general, filing repeated lawsuits that claim President Joe Biden and his administration are overstepping their authority on immigration, climate change, the environment and taxes...

...Most of the action is in federal courts where former President Donald Trump was able to appoint conservative judges.,,,

The legal action reflects GOP opposition to Biden initiatives, but it also is providing the attorneys general, many with higher political ambitions, to showcase their willingness to stand up to Biden and unabashedly side with Trump.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2022, brags in a TV ad that he is “on the conservative front line suing to stop the Biden administration’s worst abuses."

The main target of lawsuits filed so far have been executive orders issued by Biden. But several states also have sued over a provision of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan that prohibits states from using their share of federal money to reduce taxes. ...

Consistent mask and social distancing message via Cabinet photo.

A cabinet that looks like America..

Can you tell who's in the back row doorway, new glasses not cuttin' it to identify?