Biden Bits: I Love Amtrak

Biden Tweets Logo. Image by Lenny Ghoul.

It’s Wednesday.

Wednesday, August 4th, 2021, President has received his daily brief. This morning D.C., time he will meet with Presidential Advisor and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology, Dr. Eric Lander, to discuss preparing for future pandemics. The meeting is closed to the press.

President Biden has tweeted 2 times so far for Wednesday; I will be sharing them down thread.

Tuesday when Biden Bits was posted, President Biden had 4 tweets. He added *8 tweets and 0 retweets giving him a Tuesday Tweeting Total of 12 tweets and 0 retweets.

*One of the tweets has been deleted.*

The Coronavirus Vaccine Tweets…

The video stream is 32 minutes and 44 seconds long. President Biden’s remarks can be found here.

President Biden (4:13): It’s heartbreaking, particularly because it’s preventable.

President Biden (16:29): Right now, too many people are dying or watching a loved one dying and saying, “If I just got vaccinated. If I just…” Folks, this is isn’t about politics. The virus doesn’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. This is about life and death. Life and death.

President Biden (4:17): That’s why we’re doing everything we can to get more people vaccinated.  And we’re seeing real results. In the past two weeks, we have seen a 55 percent increase in the average number of new people getting vaccinated every day. In the last seven days alone, nearly 3 million Americans have gotten their first shot.  That’s the highest seven-day total in a month. Importantly, over the past two weeks, the eight states with the highest current case rates have seen a doubling of the number of people newly vaccinated each day.  The message is getting through, apparently.

Since, I’m already late, and stumbled upon this while searching for one last thing before I wrap her up. I’m going to take some seconds to share it.

I hope and pray people listen…

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Week Tweets…

The video is 1 minute and 4 seconds long.

President Biden (): [The video starts with him holding a picture of himself from aboard the Amtrak train] So for every single reason, every time I look at this picture, I think of two things. I think of all the people’s windows I used to look in as I was riding (snort) by, wonder what was on their mind, what they needed. I always try to put myself in the other person’s position. I had two young boys at home. I had just lost my wife and my daughter. I wanted to be home every night with them. I didn’t want to move away from the rest of the family. And so I’d take Amtrak. I left my house about 7:30 am, I’d come home at 8:30 to see my boys. I couldn’t have done it, but for Amtrak and the train service. I have a program it’s called Build Back Better, to provide for a significant improvement in rail service in America because so many people need it to commute to work. Not as far as I did, 250 miles a day. But they need it. That’s why I ran, because ordinary, hard working middle class folks deserve a shot.

From the updated White House fact-sheet on the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill:

Passenger and Freight Rail
Unlike highways and transit, rail lacks a multi-year funding stream to address deferred maintenance, enhance existing corridors, and build new lines in high-potential locations.

The legislation positions Amtrak and rail to play a central role in our transportation and economic future. This is the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago.

The legislation invests $66 billion in rail to eliminate the Amtrak maintenance backlog, modernize the Northeast Corridor, and bring world-class rail service to areas outside the northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Within these totals, $22 billion would be provided as grants to Amtrak, $24 billion as federal-state partnership grants for Northeast Corridor modernization, $12 billion for partnership grants for intercity rail service, including high-speed rail, $5 billion for rail improvement and safety grants, and $3 billion for grade crossing safety improvements.

White House.gov. 08/02/2021.

To view more details on the rail section from the draft infrastructure bill the find friendly feature says start on page 697.

From the updated White House fact-sheet on the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill:

Roads, Bridges, and Major Projects

One in five miles, or 173,000 total miles, of our highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. Bridges in poor condition pose heightened challenges in rural communities, which often may rely on a single bridge for the passage of emergency service vehicles.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will invest $110 billion of new funds for roads, bridges, and major projects, and reauthorize the surface transportation program for the next five years building on bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization bills passed out of committee earlier this year. This investment will repair and rebuild our roads and bridges with a focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity, and safety for all users, including cyclists and pedestrians. The bill includes a total of $40 billion of new funding for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation, which is the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system. The bill also includes around $16 billion for major projects that are too large or complex for traditional funding programs but will deliver significant economic benefits to communities.

Safety

America has one of the highest road fatality rates in the industrialized world. The legislation invests $11 billion in transportation safety programs, including a new, $5 billion Safe Streets for All program to help states and localities reduce crashes and fatalities in their communities, especially for cyclists and pedestrians. It includes a new program to provide grants to community owned utilities to replace leaky and obsolete cast iron and bare steel natural gas pipelines, some of which are over 100 years old. It will more than double funding directed to programs that improve the safety of people and vehicles in our transportation system, including highway safety, truck safety, and pipeline and hazardous materials safety.

White House.gov. 08/02/2021.

To view more details on the roads section from the draft infrastructure bill the find friendly feature is semi-useless as roads is mentioned 119 times, but a starting point would be to view section 10003 as indexed on page 2.

Wednesday. 

From the updated White House fact-sheet on the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill:

High-Speed Internet
Broadband internet is necessary for Americans to do their jobs, to participate equally in school learning, health care, and to stay connected. Yet, by one definition, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where there is no broadband infrastructure that provides minimally acceptable speeds – a particular problem in rural communities throughout the country. 

The legislation’s $65 billion investment – which builds on the billions of dollars provided for broadband deployment in the American Rescue Plan – will help ensure every American has access to reliable high-speed internet with an historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment, just as the federal government made a historic effort to provide electricity to every American nearly one hundred years ago.

The bill will also help lower prices for internet service by requiring funding recipients to offer a low-cost affordable plan, by requiring providers to display a “Broadband Nutrition Label” that will help families comparison shop for a better deal, and by boosting competition in areas where existing providers aren’t providing adequate service. It will also help close the digital divide by passing the Digital Equity Act (which creates new grant programs for digital inclusion), by requiring the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules banning digital redlining, and by creating a new, permanent program to help more low-income households access the internet. Over one in four households will be eligible for this new Affordable Connectivity Benefit.

White House.gov. 08/02/2021.

To view more details on the broadband section from the draft infrastructure bill the find friendly feature says start with section 60102 as indexed on page 14.

On Tuesday, the White House posted a “10 things you might not know,” about what’s in the Infrastructure bill.

The Off-Topic Tweets…

It’s going to take me some time to real fact-check this, but this is what I’ve found so far.

CBNC:

Tuesday, Aug. 3 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. It marks the additional 214 days that Black women must work to catch up with what white, non-Hispanic men earned last year. In essence, Black women have to work for 579 days to make what white men do in 365. 

On average, Black women are currently paid only 63 cents for every dollar paid to a non-Hispanic white man. For full-time working Black women, this amounts to a median wage gap of $2,009 a month, $24,110 a year and $964,400 over a 40-year career, compared to white men, according to the National Women’s Law Center. 

CNBC. 08/03/2021.

I then found this from 6abc.com; Here’s why experts say this affects everyone. “Black women represent 80% of the sole breadwinners or co-breadwinners of their homes,” says Regina A. Hairston, president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of PA, NJ, and DE. “If they’re not making equal pay, then they’re not able to take care of their households. The economy as a whole is affected by that. If those households are not thriving and not surviving, then it takes a toll on the entire economy.” Census data shows Black women are paid only 63 cents for every dollar made by white men.

I stopped reading at “Census data,” and searched that phrase and found a PDF posted in March of 2021 by National Partnership.org:

Today this means that Black women in the United States who work full time, year-round are typically paid just 63 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. (1)

Footnote 1…

U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement: Table PINC-05: Work Experience in 2019 – People 15 Years Old and Over by Total Money Earnings in 2018, Age, Race, Hispanic Origin, Sex, and Disability Status. Retrieved 18 March 2021, from https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-pinc/pinc-05.html (Unpublished calculation based on the median earnings for all women and men who worked full time, year-round in 2019; full time is defined as 35 hours a week or more)

National Partnership.org. 03/2021.

And that’s where we pause as I don’t have the time (it’s 8:58 a.m., my time), right now, to search the footnote.

Prior to the meeting there was a pool spray. The video below is 6 minutes and 27 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.

The readout from the meeting:

Today, the President and Vice President met with 12 Latino leaders to discuss the Build Back Better Agenda and this Administration’s commitment to equity. During the meeting, the President and Vice President reiterated their promise to invest in Latino families and businesses across the country as we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downfall that resulted from it. The President and Vice President discussed their belief in the American Dream and the promise of America for all, and they vowed to continue working to strengthen our democracy and protect voting rights. Two years after the El Paso massacre, they vowed to keep fighting against the most lethal terrorist threat to our homeland – domestic terrorism rooted in white supremacy, hate-fueled violence in all forms, and the scourge of gun violence in America. President Biden and Vice President Harris also restated their support for immigration reform in reconciliation that provides a path to citizenship for Dreamers, farm workers, TPS holders, and essential workers.

Latino Community Leaders in Attendance:
Ramiro Cavazos, President and CEO, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Domingo Garcia, National President, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Mark Magaña, Founding President and CEO, GreenLatinos
Frankie Miranda, President and CEO, Hispanic Federation (HF)
Janet Murguía, President and CEO, UnidosUS
Lorella Praeli, Co-President, Community Change Action
Nathalie Rayes, President and CEO, Latino Victory
Jess Morales Rocketto, Civic Engagement Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance
Kenneth Romero, Executive Director, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL)
Héctor Sánchez Barba, Executive Director and CEO, Mi Familia Vota
María Teresa Kumar, Founding President and CEO, Voto Latino
Arturo Vargas, CEO, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund

White House.gov. 08/03/2021.

Wednesday.

Former President Barack Obama has scaled back his 60th birthday bash set for this weekend at his Martha’s Vineyard home off the Massachusetts coast due to the surge of infections blamed on the delta variant of the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday.

Attendance is now limited to family and close friends. Published reports had said hundreds of celebrities, politicos and others were expected at Obama’s sprawling house.

“This outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public health guidelines and with COVID safeguards in place,” Obama spokesperson Hannah Hankins said in a statement. “Due to the new spread of the delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends.”

“President Obama is appreciative of others sending their birthday wishes from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon,” Hankins added.

Bloomberg. 08/04/2021.

The deleted tweet…

Deleted on August 4th, 2021.

By my count this is only his second deleted tweet since January, 20th, 2021.


The daily press briefing is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. D.C., time.

This is an Open Thread.

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About Tiff 2521 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.