It’s Wednesday.
In 1 more day…
For Wednesday, November 10th, 2021, President Biden has received his daily brief. This morning he has met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The President will travel to Milford, Delaware to attend the funeral of former Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner. This afternoon President Biden will head to Baltimore, Maryland to receive a briefing on the Port of Baltimore. While in Baltimore, President Biden will deliver remarks on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
Former Governor of Delaware Ruth Ann Minner passed away on November 4th, 2021, at the age of 86. Delaware Online said of Minner that; Her improbable political career eventually led to four terms in the Delaware House of Representatives, another three in the Delaware Senate, and two as lieutenant governor. She was also the state’s first female lieutenant governor.
President Biden has tweeted 2 times so far for Wednesday…
The President issued the following statement:
Today, we received two pieces of economic news which underscore that our recovery is continuing to progress, but that we also have more work to do before our economy is back to normal.
First, on employment, we learned that we have had six consecutive weeks of decline in new unemployment claims. The number of workers losing their jobs is at the lowest level since the pandemic began. Unemployment claims are down 70% since I took office. Unemployment has fallen so far this year at the fastest rate since the 1950s. It’s a jobs recovery that has happened years faster than after the Great Recession of 2008. America is getting back to work.
And, on inflation, today’s report shows an increase over last month. Inflation hurts Americans pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me. The largest share of the increase in prices in this report is due to rising energy costs—and in the few days since the data for this report were collected, the price of natural gas has fallen. I have directed my National Economic Council to pursue means to try to further reduce these costs, and have asked the Federal Trade Commission to strike back at any market manipulation or price gouging in this sector. Other price increases reflect the ongoing struggle to restore smooth operations in the economy in the restart: I am travelling to Baltimore today to highlight how my Infrastructure Bill will bring down these costs, reduce these bottlenecks, and make goods more available and less costly. And I want to reemphasize my commitment to the independence of the federal reserve to monitor inflation, and take steps necessary to combat it.
Going forward, it is important that Congress pass my Build Back Better plan, which is fully paid for and does not add to the debt, and will get more Americans working by reducing the cost of child care and elder care, and help directly lower costs for American families by providing more affordable health coverage and prescription drugs—alongside cutting taxes for 50 million Americans including for most families with children. 17 Nobel Prize winners in economics have said that my plan will “ease inflationary pressures.” And my plan does this without raising taxes on those making less than $400,000 or adding to the federal debt, by requiring the wealthiest and big corporations to start to pay their fair share in taxes.
We are making progress on our recovery. Jobs are up, wages are up, home values are up, personal debt is down, and unemployment is down. We have more work to do, but there is no question that the economy continues to recover and is in much better shape today than it was a year ago.
White House.gov. 11/10/2021.
When Biden Bits was published for Tuesday, President Biden had retweeted 1 time. He added 5 tweets giving him a Tuesday Tweeting Total of 5 tweets & 1 retweet.
I’m almost positive the above tweets were quotes from his past remarks, but alas, I’m not locating those remarks in the same form so we turn to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal information provided by the White House.
Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness. For far too long, Washington policymakers have celebrated “infrastructure week” without ever agreeing to build infrastructure. The President promised to work across the aisle to deliver results and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. After the President put forward his plan to do exactly that and then negotiated a deal with Members of Congress from both parties, this historic legislation is moving to his desk for signature.
This Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will rebuild America’s roads and bridges, deliver clean drinking water to every household, This Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will rebuild America’s roads, bridges and rails, expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in communities that have too often been left behind. The legislation will help ease inflationary pressures and strengthen supply chains by making long overdue improvements for our nation’s ports, airports, rail, and roads. It will drive the creation of good-paying union jobs and grow the economy sustainably and equitably so that everyone gets ahead for decades to come. Combined with the President’s Build Back Framework, it will add on average 1.5 million jobs per year for the next 10 years.
White House.gov.
“Clean drinking water for every American…”
Deliver clean water to all American families and eliminate the nation’s lead service lines
Currently, up to 10 million American households and 400,000 schools and child care centers lack safe drinking water. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will invest $55 billion to expand access to clean drinking water for households, businesses, schools, and child care centers all across the country. From rural towns to struggling cities, the legislation will invest in water infrastructure and eliminate lead service pipes, including in Tribal Nations and disadvantaged communities that need it most..
“High-speed internet for every American…”
Ensure every American has access to reliable 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. And, according to the latest OECD data, among 35 countries studied, the United States has the second highest broadband costs. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will deliver $65 billion to help ensure that every American has access to reliable high-speed internet through a historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment. The legislation will also help lower prices for internet service and help close the digital divide, so that more Americans can afford internet access.
“Better roads and bridges for every American…”
Repair and rebuild our roads and bridges with a focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity, and safety for all users.
In the United States, 1 in 5 miles of highways and major roads, and 45,000 bridges, are in poor condition. The legislation will reauthorize surface transportation programs for five years and condition. The legislation will reauthorize surface transportation programs for five years and invest $110 billion in additional funding to repair our roads and bridges and support major, transformational projects. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal makes the single largest investment in repairing and reconstructing our nation’s bridges since the construction of the interstate highway system. It will rebuild the most economically significant bridges in the country as well as thousands of smaller bridges. The legislation also includes the first ever Safe Streets and Roads for All program to support projects to reduce traffic fatalities, which claimed more than 20,000 lives in the first half of 2021.
The Third Tweet:
Improve transportation options for millions of Americans and reduce greenhouse emissions through the largest investment in public transit in U.S. history.
America’s public transit infrastructure is inadequate – with a multibillion-dollar repair backlog, representing more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 rail cars, 200 stations, and thousands of miles of track, signals, and power systems in need of replacement. Communities of color are twice as likely to take public transportation and many of these communities lack America’s public transit infrastructure is inadequate – with a multibillion-dollar repair backlog, representing more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 rail cars, 200 stations, and thousands of miles of track, signals, and power systems in need of replacement. Communities of color are twice as likely to take public transportation and many of these communities lack sufficient public transit options. The transportation sector in the United States is now the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation includes $39 billion of new investment to modernize transit, in addition to continuing the existing transit programs for five years as part of surface transportation reauthorization. In total, the new investments and reauthorization in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal provide $89.9 billion in guaranteed funding for public transit over the next five years — the largest Federal investment in public transit in history. The legislation will expand public transit options across every state in the country, replace thousands of deficient transit vehicles, including buses, with clean, zero emission vehicles, and improve accessibility for the elderly and people with disabilities.
While this last tweet for Tuesday could be placed in the above. It requires more links…
The video is 1 minutes and 38 seconds long.
President Biden: I know a lot of Americans are worried whether or not there’s going to be enough stock on the shelves for Thanksgiving and for Christmas, whether they’re going to be able to get what you need because there was a short supply last year because of COVID and a range of other things. But you know, I just got off the phone with the largest retailers in America. And here what they came up with: They all told me that things are really moving along. One of the things I did several months ago was speed up the operation and the ports on the West Coast that have 40 percent of all the goods that come through the Pacific Ocean. And we’ve moved it way, way along in terms of getting more products in and letting people know that they’re going to be available. We’ve also moved how to get them from the ports to the stores, from the stores to your doors. And the bottom line is all the folks I spoke with, not just the East Coast, but the West Coast–they just all are confident that things are going to be much different at Thanksgiving, and a much different Christmas this year. And so the expectation is it’s not going to be like this time last year. You’re going to be able to get to the store, get to the outlets you’re looking for, get the products you need, the gifts you want. That’s what we’ve been working on. And that’s why when I passed this thing called the Infrastructure Bill, that has a lot of money to improve our ports, improve our highways, improve our transportation systems, bring down costs, and also create good jobs. So that’s what this is all about, getting back to normal, getting back to a place where we lead the world again in our infrastructure. And we lead the world again and continue to be the fastest-growing economy in the world.
The fact-sheet on: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Improves the Supply Chain from Ship to Store
I’m skipping the introduction to the bullet points…
- Upgrade our nation’s airports and ports to strengthen our supply chains and reduce costs, improve U.S. competitiveness, reduce emissions. Our ports and waterways need repair and reimagination to address long-term disinvestment that has weakened the resilience of our supply chains. The United States built modern aviation, but our airports lag far behind our competitors. According to some rankings, no U.S. airports rank in the top 25 of airports worldwide and no U.S. port ranks in the top 50 ports for efficiency. The legislation invests $17 billion in port infrastructure and waterways and $25 billion in airports to address repair and maintenance backlogs, reduce congestion and emissions near ports and airports, and drive electrification and other low-carbon technologies. Port infrastructure and waterway investments will double as an investment in environmental justice in and around port facilities by deploying zero-emission technologies and reducing idling and emissions, which impair air quality in adjacent neighborhoods and communities, often which are historically disadvantaged.
- Repair and rebuild roads and bridges critical to trucking goods movement and lower costs for American families. Almost 70% of the goods movement volume in the United States is transported by trucks, while 1 in 5 miles of highways and major roads, and 45,000 bridges, are in poor condition. The legislation will reauthorize surface transportation programs for five years and invest $110 billion in additional funding to repair our roads and bridges and support major, transformational projects along the goods movement supply chain. The legislation makes the single largest investment in repairing and reconstructing our nation’s bridges since the construction of the interstate highway system. The legislation provides States greater flexibility to address surface transportation workforce development, training, and education needs, including activities that address current workforce gaps, including training opportunities for truck drivers to support a renewed national goods movement system. Additional trained truck drivers and expanded trucking routes, will help reduce costs of everyday goods and services, saving money for American families.
- Increase investments in freight rail and intermodal infrastructure to improve safety, efficiency, and job growth for long-distance inland goods movement. Freight and intermodal rail are core to the inland movement of goods through our supply chain, delivering goods over long-distances in an efficient and environmentally friendly manner. The legislation invests $5 billion in the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant program, which supports highway and rail projects critical to efficient goods movement and provides $5 billion to the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant program, which funds projects that improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail. The DOT’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program will add landside port infrastructure as an eligible project category and make permanent the transit-oriented development project eligibility, supporting States in utilizing freight rail and intermodal investments at catalysts for economic development and job growth from their shores to their stores. This additional infrastructure will allow more goods to be transported by rail, increasing competition and reducing costs for consumers. A new $500 million railroad crossing elimination grant program will invest in safety across the goods movement chain and protect the health and well-being of the traveling public.
- Make our supply chain infrastructure resilient against the impacts of climate change, cyber-attacks, and extreme weather events. Millions of Americans feel the effects of climate change each year when their roads wash out, power goes down, or schools get flooded. These effects are exacerbated when our supply chains for making and moving goods are disrupted, and those same Americans can’t access the goods and services they need on a regular basis. Last year alone, the United States faced 22 extreme weather and climate-related disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each—a cumulative price tag of nearly $100 billion. Now that disruptions have shown how vulnerable these lines of global commerce can be due to COVID-19, the Biden Administration will not go back to business as usual. Passing this legislation increases our resilience in the face of climate change, cyber-attacks, and natural disasters. The legislation makes our communities safer and our infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change and cyber-attacks, with an investment of over $50 billion to protect against droughts, floods and wildfires, in addition to a major investment in weatherization. The legislation is the largest investment in the resilience of physical and natural systems in American history.
The White House also published a recent blog on the; Recent Progress and Actions on Port Congestion
Snip:
Last month, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) workers joined together to commit to shift towards 24/7 operations, aimed at boosting both throughput and efficiency at our nation’s ports. Some of the countries’ largest companies joined in as well, committing to move more containers during off-peak hours. Both major railroads responsible for moving goods out of the ports, BNSF and Union Pacific, announced discounts to customers on each container moved by rail during the weekend and Union Pacific also decided to operate its station near the ports 24/7. Port Envoy Porcari has also been leading thrice weekly meetings with terminal operators, shipping lines, and other key stakeholders to identify operational problems and immediate solutions at the two ports.
White House.gov. 11/10/2021.
As mentioned in the linked Biden Bits from Tuesday, President Biden on Monday, hosted the NBA Champ’s the Milwaukee Bucks.
Bucks Forward Khris Middleton was unable to attend the White House event so two players (sorry I have no idea their names) called Middleton via FaceTime to chat with President Biden. The clip is 1 minute and 13 seconds long.
And for me personally, the reaction from the player who called Khris, is probably the best part of the 1 minute and 13 second clip. He was very worried Khris was gonna decline his call. 🙂
There is no daily presser listed on the schedule. *shrug*.
President Biden’s remarks are scheduled for 4:10 p.m. D.C., time.
This is an Open Thread.
