President Biden traveled to Michigan on Tuesday to rally Americans to support the massive social and infrastructure spending packages that he has failed to sell to members of his own Democratic Party.
The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in the Senate is being held hostage by progressives in the House of Representatives until the Senate also passes Biden’s $3.5 trillion social spending plan, which moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) say is at least $2 trillion too high.
The infighting forced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to cancel a vote last Thursday on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure deal and sent Biden scrambling to Capitol Hill the next day for a half-hour meeting with Democrats, after which he said the infrastructure bill will not be able to be passed without a deal on the social spending measure, calling his key legislative measures “tied together.”
Following a tour of a union training center in Howell, Mich., Biden warned that the US is in “danger of losing its edge” after making big investments to win the space race and to develop the internet.
He said the nation must regain its momentum, adding that the country is at an “inflection point.”
“These bills are not about left versus right or moderate versus progressive or anything that pits Americans against one another,” he said. “These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency. They’re about opportunity versus decay. They’re about leading the world or continuing to let the world pass us by, which is literally happening,” he said at the training facility for the International Union of Operating Engineers.
He said the two spending plans would fund “physical infrastructure” and “human infrastructure.”
“We need to get this done, but it isn’t enough just to invest in our physical infrastructure. We’re gonna lead the world like we used to. If we’re going to do that, we have to also invest in our people,” he said.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) met Biden at the airport in Lansing and accompanied him to the union center.
Slotkin, who won re-election in November in a district that former President Donald Trump narrowly carried in 2020, said she talked to the president about the infrastructure bill on the ride from the airport.
“We are not going to take this bill and pass on more debt to our kids, and we are not going to pay for this bill on the back of working families,” Slotkin said.
She’s among the Democratic lawmakers who have said they won’t consider the bipartisan infrastructure plan until the Senate votes on the $3.5 trillion package that funds a range of social programs like paid leave, child care, pre-K, and expansions of Medicare and Medicaid.
Republican demonstrators stood by the side of the road as the president’s convoy carried him to the union facility, with some holding signs that read “Build Back Broke,” the Detroit News reported.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s trip to Michigan would serve as a reset to the gridlock on Capitol Hill and a way to illustrate how the initiatives in those legislative packages can help Americans.
“He wants to go out there and talk about the components and the piece of these bills that will make people’s lives better, even as we’re having very important conversations about the legislative logistics here,” Psaki told reporters at the White House briefing Monday.
She pointed out that Michigan is a state that would benefit from the spending measures.
“Just to give you a couple of examples: Michiganders … spend an extra 67 percent of their time commuting because of the need for updating infrastructure. I mean, this is something that impacts people across the state every single day,” she said.
“Almost 10 percent of people in Michigan don’t have broadband access. That is really something that will help level the playing field for people, whether they’re in urban or rural communities. Forty-four percent of people in Michigan live in childcare deserts,” Psaki added.
Biden on Monday said the negotiations were continuing but blamed two Democratic senators for holding up his agenda.
Responding to a question about why the Capitol Hill veteran was having trouble getting his Democratic colleagues on board, Biden said he has been stymied by two senators.
“I have been able to close a deal with 99 percent of my party — two people,” Biden told reporters Monday, referring to Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
Both senators have balked at the price tag for the spending plan.
“Look, I need 50 votes in the Senate. I have 48,” Biden said.
Before jetting off to Michigan, Biden held a virtual meeting with Democratic members of the House about the two bills, the White House said.
