In a speech at a vocational training center in Howell, Michigan, Biden said that “opposing these investments is complicity in America’s decline.”
He added, “These bills are not about left versus right, or centrist versus progressive, or anything that pits Americans against each other. These laws are about competition versus contentment, they’re about creating opportunities rather than rejecting them, that we lead the world or watch the world pass us by.” “.
In his speech, the US president warned that “our competitors are not waiting,” referring in particular to China, which “produces more steel in a month than America produces in a year,” and which has become the leader in the development of electric cars.
“In recent years, China has spent almost three times as much on its infrastructure as we have,” the Democratic president added.
“We led the world in research and development…but then something happened. We slowed down,” he said, warning that “as a nation we risk losing our advantage.”
Biden reminded that statistics show that the level of education and infrastructure in the United States has declined significantly compared to what is their level in other developed countries.
A new opinion poll published by Quinnipiac University on Tuesday showed that 62% of Americans support Biden’s infrastructure investment project (compared to 65% in August) and 57% support his social spending project (compared to 62% in August).
Before leaving Washington, Biden held a video meeting with a group of moderate Democratic parliamentarians, the day after a similar meeting with a group representing the left wing of the party.
The White House said Monday’s meeting was “constructive” and that they “discussed their shared commitment to seizing this moment to make investing in families the heart of our economic growth and competitive strategy.”
The Democrats control Congress only by a very small majority, so very few members can overturn the president’s initiatives.
For Biden, time is running out to pass these two legislation because next year the focus will be on the midterm elections, with most analysts expecting Republicans to regain control of at least one of the two houses of Congress.
At stake is a $1.2 trillion infrastructure project and a larger plan to rebuild a crumbling social support system and combat climate change.
Initially, the proposed total value of these two projects was $3.5 trillion, but after the moderates insisted on their opposition to approval of funding of this size, Biden decided to push towards funding close to two trillion dollars.
The internal differences come at a time when the Democratic Party is facing a confrontation with the Republican Party in Congress against the backdrop of raising the public debt ceiling, which exposes the country to the risk of default, for the first time in its history, in repaying its debts.
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