Biden Bits: Russia Alone is Responsible…

February 24, 2022 12:02 pm EST Tiff Biden Tweets (Open Thread) Comments Off on Biden Bits: Russia Alone is Responsible…
Biden Tweets Logo. Image by Lenny Ghoul.

It’s Thursday.

For the second day in a row, President Biden had not tweeted when Biden’s Bits was posted for Wednesday. He ended up with a Wednesday Tweeting Total of 9 tweets and 0 retweets.

Since President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law 100 days ago, the Biden-Harris Administration has made major progress implementing the largest long-term investment in America’s infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century.

The historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will rebuild crumbling road and bridges, replace lead pipes, help provide high-speed internet to every family in America, and produce concrete results that change people’s lives for the better. By reaching all communities all across the country – including rural communities and historically underserved populations – these investments will position the United States to win the 21st century.

Upon signing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, President Biden signed an Executive Order establishing an Infrastructure Implementation Task Force that has now met nine times to ensure that the Administration is delivering results to the American people.
The Administration has demonstrated early and often how we will work as one team with one mission: to build a better America while creating good-paying job opportunities for American workers, ensuring products are Made in America and strengthening supply chains, advancing racial equity, and strengthening the nation’s resilience to climate change.

Since the bill signing, implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been the focus of more than 60 presidential and cabinet visits to communities across America. The President, Vice President, and Cabinet have traveled the country to showcase how the Administration is building a better America and how the law benefits communities in every corner of the country.

White House.gov. 02/23/2022.

Resources for States, Territories, Tribes, & Local Governments

In January, the White House released the first edition of its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law guidebook to help state, local, Tribal and territorial governments unlock the benefits from the historic investments in our nation’s infrastructure. The guidebook is a central repository on the law and contains the most comprehensive information to date on the more than 375 programs included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Along with its accompanying information online, states, territories, Tribes and local governments now have information on funding opportunities, who to contact, and how to get ready to rebuild. Future phases of the guidebook will update dates, key timelines for program implementation, best practices, case studies, and links to key resources developed by the White House and partners. In recent weeks, the Administration has launched an “Infrastructure School” webinar series to go more in depth into each of the guidebook’s 12 chapters and allow communities the opportunity to ask questions to the agency experts, overseeing implementation of key programs.

Given that over 90 percent of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding will be implemented by non-federal partners, the White House has requested Governors and local leaders take a series of preparatory actions, including appointing infrastructure coordinators to manage the flow of funds to their states. The Administration has also released a fact sheet on some of the largest sources of competitive funding, particularly for local governments. Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu has shared these resources during meetings with the National Governors Association, U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, and hundreds of tribes through Tribal Consultations. 

While many funding streams in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law specifically set aside funds for underserved communities, the White House Infrastructure Implementation Team has also been engaging states, local governments, Tribal governments, territories, federal agencies, philanthropy, and others to leverage all available resources to quickly deliver the necessary technical assistance and capacity to underserved communities.

Good Stewards of Taxpayer Dollars
As outlined in the President’s executive order, agencies must prioritize “investing public dollars efficiently and equitably, working to avoid waste, and focusing on measurable outcomes for the American people.” To support effective agency implementation, transparency, and appropriate oversight, key Biden-Harris Administration officials have met with the Inspectors General for agencies with major Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding and leaders of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Going forward, the Administration will work with agency IGs and GAO to share data and effective practices so that program planning, design, execution, and financial management, as well as data, tracking, and reporting, support transparency and help ensure taxpayer dollars are spent well.

Delivering On Time, On Task, On Budget
Nearly $100 billion has been announced to states, territories, Tribes and local governments from formula and competitive programs for roads and highways, bridges, ports, airports, and water systems. Another nearly $50 billion in RFIs and notices of funding availability have been released. The Administration has also unveiled new offices and action plans that will ensure these investments are implemented wisely and well.

Transportation

  • The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced $52.5 billion in Federal Highway Apportionment for fiscal year 2022 the largest in decades for all 50 states and DC. The law invests $350 billion in highway programs over the next 5 years.
  • USDOT and FHWA announced over $27 billion in funding to replace, repair, and rehabilitate bridges across the country to all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Tribal governments over the next five years.
  • USDOT and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced nearly $5 billion that will be made available over the next 5 years under the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program and released guidance to states, available on driveleectric.gov on how to strategically deploy EV charging infrastructure to create an interconnected national electric vehicle charging network.
  • The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at USDOT announced $3 billion for 3,075 airports across the country that can use investments to upgrade critical infrastructure.
  •  FAA announced a $1 billion notice of funding opportunity to modernize airport terminals across the country. The law invests $25 billion dollars in three FAA programs over the next 5 years.
  • The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) at USDOT announced $4.7 billion in partial year funding to transit agencies, states, and Tribal governments to support public transportation – and public transportation jobs – throughout the country. 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.
  • USDOT released a $1.5 billion notice of funding opportunity for its Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant programs, building off a $1 billion series of awards made to 90 major projects across 47 states in December 2021. Funding under the law allows USDOT to invest $7.5 billion dollars over the next 4 years in this program.
  • The Maritime Administration (MARAD) at USDOT announced a $450 million notice of funding opportunity for the Port Infrastructure Development Program grants to improve ports and strengthen the nation’s supply chains, building off of $230 million of awards in December 2021. The Ports Infrastructure Development Program will invest $2.25 billion over the next 10 years in our nation’s critical port infrastructure.
  • The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at USDOT announced $260 million in highway safety grants to reduce traffic crashes. The law provides NHTSA with over 4 billion dollars over the next 4 years to improve the safety of our roadways.
  • Vice President Harris announced an EV Charging Action Plan to achieve the President’s goal of building a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers. USDOT and DOE also formed a Joint Office of Energy & Transportation focused on building out the national network of EV chargers.
  • USDOT announced $1.2 billion for highways in rural Appalachia for the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) toward the timely completion of designated corridors in 11 states in the Appalachian region. The total amount that will be available to the states in Fiscal Year 2022 is $246 million.

Climate, Energy & the Environment

  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced  $14 Billion to strengthen supply chains, improve waterways, and bolster climate resilience in fiscal year 2022 for over 500 projects across 52 states and territories using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds and other appropriations.
  • Vice President Harris announced a Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan to accelerate Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments to replace all of the nation’s lead pipes in the next decade and expand access to clean drinking water.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $7.4 billion in funding for states to upgrade America’s aging water infrastructure, sewerage systems, pipes and service lines, and more through their State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs. This is the first of five years of supplemental funding to the SRFs. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan The Department also issued a letter to Governors outlining the key priorities for water investments, including targeting resources to disadvantaged communities, making rapid progress on lead-free water for all, and tackling dangerous chemicals such as PFAS. The law provides nearly $44 billion to EPA’s State Revolving Funds programs.
  • The Department of the Interior (DOI) launched a new $4.7 billion program to cap and plug orphaned oil and gas wells in order to reduce methane emissions and create jobs over the next decade. The first $1.15 billion in funding is now available to 26 states to create jobs cleaning up orphaned oil and gas wells across the country.
  • DOI announced nearly $725 million in Fiscal Year 22 funding for 22 states and the Navajo Nation to create good-paying union jobs and catalyze economic opportunity by reclaiming abandoned mine lands (AML). The program will help communities eliminate dangerous environmental conditions and pollution caused by past coal mining. The law reauthorized the existing program and provided nearly $11.3 billion to be allocated evenly over the next 15 years.
  • EPA announced $1 billion to initiate cleanup and clear the backlog of 49 previously unfunded Superfund sites and accelerate cleanup at dozens of other sites across the country. Until this historic investment, many of these were part of a backlog of hazardous waste sites awaiting funding. These funds will help communities living near many of the most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination finally get the protections they deserve.
  • DOI announced $1.7 billion to fulfill Indian Waters Rights Settlements, which will help deliver long-promised water resources to Tribes, certainty to all their non-Indian neighbors, and a solid foundation for future economic development for entire communities dependent on common water resources.
  • EPA announced $1 billion for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, including $200 million in FY2022, to accelerate progress in the clean-up and restoration of the Great Lakes’ most environmentally degraded sites, securing clean water and a better environment for millions of Americans in the Great Lakes region.
  • EPA announced $106 million over a five-year period going to the Long Island Sound Study Program to significantly improve Long Island Sound’s environmental health, climate resilience, and economic vitality.
  • DOE established $9.5 billion in Clean Hydrogen Initiatives to help decarbonize industry and the transportation sectors. The Department announced two Requests for Information (RFI) to collect feedback from stakeholders to inform the implementation and design of the Regional Hydrogen Hub and the Electrolysis and Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling Programs.
  • DOE released a Request for Information (RFI) on the design, construction, and operation of a new $140 million facility to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of a full-scale rare earth element (REE) and critical minerals (CM) extraction and separation refinery using unconventional resources.
  • DOI announced over $167 million will go towards a new facility for the U.S. Geological Survey, which is working on critical energy and mineral programs.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services announced the release of $100 million to help families pay their outstanding heating and cooling bills. This funding comes on top of investment in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through the American Rescue Plan and the Continuing Resolution most recently passed by Congress, and is the first installment of the five-year, $500 million investment in the program provided from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
  • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a record $1.5 billion in annual funding from excise taxes on guns, ammunition, and archery sales through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) Program to support state and local outdoor recreational opportunities, and wildlife and habitat conservation efforts. The WSFR Program contains two funding sources: the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, which was reauthorized as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Wildlife Restoration Program. 
  • DOE released a Notice of Intent (NOI) and Request for Information (RFI) on the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program. The nuclear credit program supports the continued operation of U.S. nuclear reactors, the nation’s largest source of clean power.
  • DOE issued two notices of intent to provide $3 billion to boost production of the advanced batteries that are critical to rapidly growing clean energy industries of the future, including electric vehicles and energy storage.
  • DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation announced application periods for hundreds of millions of BIL funding opportunities for water infrastructure, some of which are still open. Funding for the maintenance of aging infrastructure, and water recycling and desalination projects have been advertised, with more on the way during the rest of 2022.
  • DOE announced an organizational realignment to ensure is has the structure needed to effectively implement the clean energy investments in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Energy Act of 2020. A newly created Under Secretary for Infrastructure will focus on deploying clean infrastructure—supporting DOE’s ongoing work to achieve carbon-free electricity in the U.S. by 2035 and a net zero economy by 2050.
  • DOE  established the new Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which will oversee $20 billion of infrastructure funding to scale up clean energy, create new, good-paying jobs for American families and workers, and reduce pollution while benefiting underserved communities.
  • DOE launched a new Building a Better Grid initiative to accelerate the deployment of new transition lines, enabled by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As part of this initiative, Office of Electricity at DOE released a notice of intent to inform the design and implementation of this historic investment. 

High-Speed Internet

  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began accepting applications for the $1.15 billion ReConnect rural broadband program for loans and grants to state, local or territory governments, corporations, Native American Tribes and limited liability companies and cooperative organizations to help people in rural areas get access to high-speed internet, which will be boosted by the infrastructure law.
  • The  Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the three sets of grants for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, totaling $3.85 million, which is receiving additional funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
  • The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched the Affordable Connectivity Program providing broadband subsidies of up to $30/month for low-income households (up to $75/month for households on Tribal Lands) and up to $100 towards the purchase of a desktop, laptop or tablet computer. Vice President Harris announced earlier this month the program has enrolled more than 10 million households in affordable, high speed internet plans.
  • The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the DOC hosted a series of  broadband listening sessions  to inform how the Administration implements several of the historic broadband program funded by the infrastructure law.
  • The NTIA also published a request for comment seeking public input on the design and implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, the Middle-Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, and the Digital Equity Planning Grant Program which together will distribute more than $45 billion in broadband funding.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act PDF can be found here.

Tuesday President Biden announced that his admin would be implementing full “full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions: V.E.B. and their military bank.” He also said; We’re implementing comprehensive sanctions on Russian sovereign debt.  That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing.  It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either.

Early Wednesday President Biden offered a statement on Nord Stream 2:

Since Russia began deploying troops to the Ukrainian border, the United States has worked closely with our Allies and partners to deliver a strong, unified response. As I said when I met with Chancellor Scholz earlier this month, Germany has been a leader in that effort, and we have closely coordinated our efforts to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia further invaded Ukraine.

Yesterday, after further close consultations between our two governments, Germany announced that it would halt certification of the pipeline. Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers. These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. As I have made clear, we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate.

Through his actions, President Putin has provided the world with an overwhelming incentive to move away from Russian gas and to other forms of energy. I want to thank Chancellor Scholz for his close partnership and continued dedication to holding Russia accountable for its actions.

White House.gov. 02/23/2022.

Everything that’s above this sentence was written prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Everything below this sentence has happened since the invasion started.

For early information on the Russian invasion of Ukraine you can find it here @theNewsBlender.

Even though I included the statement by President Biden in the above linked article. I’m going to repost it here so all his tweets stay together.

His full statement:

The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.

I will be monitoring the situation from the White House this evening and will continue to get regular updates from my national security team. Tomorrow, I will meet with my G7 counterparts in the morning and then speak to the American people to announce the further consequences the United States and our Allies and partners will impose on Russia for this needless act of aggression against Ukraine and global peace and security. We will also coordinate with our NATO Allies to ensure a strong, united response that deters any aggression against the Alliance. Tonight, Jill and I are praying for the brave and proud people of Ukraine.

White House.gov. 02/23/2022.

As he announced this morning he will be holding a meeting with G7 leaders.

At 12:19 a.m. D.C., time, President Biden tweeted 3 times…

The White House released a readout of the call:

President Zelenskyy reached out to me tonight and we just finished speaking. I condemned this unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. I briefed him on the steps we are taking to rally international condemnation, including tonight at the United Nations Security Council. He asked me to call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against President Putin’s flagrant aggression, and to stand with the people of Ukraine. Tomorrow, I will be meeting with the Leaders of the G7, and the United States and our Allies and partners will be imposing severe sanctions on Russia. We will continue to provide support and assistance to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

White House.gov. 02/24/2022.

The White House posted this morning:

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine tweeted this this morning (our morning it’s *4:10 p.m., in Ukraine).

*it was just after six a.m., my time when I checked Ukraine’s time*

CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins said that President Biden is expected to announce more sanctions on Russia early this afternoon.

The situation is very fluid; I’m likely to skip over things or repeat things. Because the situation is fluid so a gentle reminder that…

Tweets, articles (mostly), and YouTube have date and timestamps. Check them, don’t just assume it’s current information because things can turn very quickly.

Also note that for tweets the time zone is based on your time zone, not the person who is posting the tweet. YouTube is similar, but I’m not sure if that applies to only live feeds or all videos.

I shared this yesterday, but I’m sharing it again…

When you click the link, you get the list of reporters he shared…

Daniel Dale list of Ukraine Reporters.

The White House has finally posted President Biden’s revised schedule for today.

The daily press briefing is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. D.C., time.

This is an Open Thread.

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About Tiff 2550 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.