It’s Thursday.
Halloween is in 11 days.
There are 18 days left until the mid-term elections.
President Biden’s Public Schedule for Thursday, October 20th 2022:
| 9:50 AM | Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Joint Base Andrews Overhang Out-of-Town Pool |
| 10:30 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time In-Town Pool |
| 11:00 AM | The President departs the White House en route Joint Base Andrews South Lawn Open Press |
| 11:20 AM | The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Joint Base Andrews Out-of-Town Pool |
| 12:15 PM | The President arrives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Open Press |
| 2:15 PM | The President delivers remarks on rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure Open Press |
| 4:35 PM | The President departs Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania en route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Out-of-Town Pool |
| 5:40 PM | The President arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Open Press |
| 7:00 PM | The President participates in a reception for Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman Restricted Out-of-Town Pool |
| 8:10 PM | The President departs Philadelphia, Pennsylvania en route Joint Base Andrews Open Press |
| 9:05 PM | The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route the White House Joint Base Andrews Out-of-Town Pool |
| 9:15 PM | The President arrives at the White House South Lawn Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
The audio only press gaggle is schedule for 11:50 a.m. D.C., time. It will either be in progress when the post is posted or it will not have started at all. *shrug*.
The White House posted the following fact-sheet: Building Bridges to a Better America
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Is Repairing Thousands of Bridges Across the Country
Today, President Biden is traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to visit the Fern Hollow Bridge, which collapsed on the day the President was visiting Pittsburgh eight months ago. In less than a year, the State of Pennsylvania and City of Pittsburgh have made significant progress in rebuilding the bridge – made possible by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Thanks to strong federal, state, and local government partnership, the Fern Hollow bridge is on an accelerated track to be rebuilt in a single year, compared to a 2- to 5- year timeline common for a similar bridge project.
The Fern Hollow bridge is one of the nearly 45,000 bridges in poor condition across the United States that need to be repaired or replaced. For decades, American presidents have promised to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure but did not deliver. President Biden brought together Democrats, Independents, and Republicans to pass the most transformative investment in infrastructure since passage of the Eisenhower-era Interstate Highway Act of 1956. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes a historic $40 billion investment to repair or replace bridges across the country. In less than a year, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds are being put to work to begin to repair, rehabilitate and replace over 2,400 bridge projects across the United States, exceeding President Biden’s goal for the first year. Like the Fern Hollow Bridge, these bridges can be life lines for communities, connecting families to their loved ones, students to school, workers to their jobs, and providing critical access and evacuation routes in case of an emergency. That is why the Biden-Harris Administration has hit the ground running to rebuild bridges across the country.
In January, the Department of Transportation (DOT) launched the new Bridge Formula Program, which provides funding for states, tribes, and territories to repair bridges over five years, including $5.5 billion in 2022. Over the past year, states, tribes, and territories have used this funding to begin to repair, rehabilitate, or replace 2,400 bridge projects across the country. This includes some critical bridges for communities such as:
White House.gov. 10/20/2022.
- The I-270 Bridge over the Mississippi River which connects St. Louis, Missouri and Madison, County Illinois. This bridge was built in 1966 and carries over 50,000 vehicles per day and is an important route for trucks transporting goods across the Midwest.
- The Dare Country Bridge in North Carolina which connects Roanoke Island to the mainland of North Carolina and is one of the longest bridges in the state.
- The I-65 Bridge over the Sepulga River in Alabama which was built in 1960 and is an important transportation route for this rural community.
Last week, DOT announced another $5.53 billion in funding in fiscal year 2023 funding through the Bridge Formula Program for states, Tribes, and territories to continue the important work of rebuilding our nations bridges.
In September, DOT announced $1.6 billion in awards to improve transportation systems and strengthen our supply chains through the INFRA program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As part of this announcement, DOT awarded funds to several important bridges in need of repair, including funds to:
White House.gov. 10/20/2022.
- Replace the existing I-39/90/94 Wisconsin River Bridge with two new bridge spans. The project will help to support a critical route for economic hubs in Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago and keep an important link in the supply chain operational.
- Rehabilitate the 100-year-old Rockport Railroad Bridge in Kentucky that serves as a vital link for the transportation of commodities such as grain, lumber, steel, coal, and petroleum along the railway.
- Rehabilitate the Newport Pell Bridge, a 4-lane suspension bridge that carries Route 138 over the Narragansett Bay and connects mainland Rhode Island to Newport.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also provides $12.5 billion for a new Bridge Investment Program to help repair some of the nation’s most economically significant bridges. In June, DOT opened applications for the first round of funding available for this program in 2022. Last week, DOT announced funding to support planning for 23 bridge projects to create a pipeline of construction-ready projects. Some notable bridge planning projects include:
White House.gov. 10/20/2022.
- The I-5 Columbia River Bridge which connects Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Replacing this bridge has been an ongoing issue in the region for decades, and this project would greatly reduce congestion and improve freight movement in one of the West Coast’s most significant economic corridor.
- The Iowa River Bridge Improvement Project to replace two existing bridges on Burlington Street and State Highway 1 with a single structure.
- The Kodiak Sargent Creek and Russian River Bridges in Kodiak Island, Alaska to replace two bridges in this rural area.
- The Flathead County Bridge Improvement Project in Montana to help preserve four important bridges in the county: The Dry Creek Bridge, the Swift Creek Bridge, the Baker Avenue Bridge, and the Whitefish Stage Bridge.
- East River Bridges Capital Program in New York City to support the planning of a 30-year capital construction program to repair the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Ed Koch Queensboro bridge.
DOT plans to announce the awards for large bridge projects through the Bridge Investment Program later this year.
White House.gov. 10/20/2022.
President Biden’s remarks from PA., are scheduled for 2:15 p.m. D.C., time.
When the post was posted for Wednesday, President Biden had tweeted 2 times. He made up for that by adding 11 tweets giving him a Wednesday Tweeting Total of 13 tweets and 0 retweets.
I got a late start on the post, so I’m gonna ignore the chart for now; I’ve added it to my list of things to look up…
Anyhoo, here’s some Gas Buddy tweets…
Yesterday…
Today…
The YouTube is 13 minutes long. His full remarks can be found here.
The first tweet in the thread is not from his remarks.
President Biden: Today I’m announcing three critical steps that my administration will take to reduce gas prices at the pump. First, the Department of Energy will release another 15 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, extending our previously announced release through the month of December.
President Biden: Secondly, we need to responsibly increase American oil production without delaying or deferring our transition to clean energy. Let me — let’s debunk some myths here. My administration has not stopped or slowed U.S. oil production; quite the opposite. We’re producing 12 million barrels of oil per day. And by the end of this year, we will be producing 1 million barrels a day, more than the day in which I took office. In fact, we’re on track for record oil production in 2023.
President Biden: Well, we have a solution for that. Today, I’m announcing a plan to refill the Strato- — the Strategic Petroleum Res- — Oil Reserve in the years ahead at a profit for taxpayers. The United States government is going to purchase oil to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when prices fall to $70 a barrel. And that means oil companies can invest to ramp up production now, with confidence they’ll be able to sell their oil to us at that price in the future: $70.
President Biden: The third thing I’m doing is I’m calling on oil companies to pass the savings on to consumers.
President Biden: In fact, if retailers and refiners were earning the average profit they’ve made over the last 17 years, Americans would be paying at least 60 cents less per gallon for every gallon they buy. Say it again: 60 cents less for every gallon they buy. That makes a big difference in a family.
The YouTube is 33 minutes and 1 second long. The virtual event featured several speakers. Their full remarks can be found here.
Semi-remark quote to tweet text:
President Biden: We’re also confronting it head on with American ingenuity and American jobs. That’s why my Infrastructure Law invested over $7 billion in battery supply chains that are going to bolster U.S. capacity for processing, manufacturing, and recycling critical minerals like lithium, nickel, and graphite.
President Biden: Let me close with a question I ask many business leaders: When the United States decides to invest considerable resources in the new industry and we need to build up, does that encourage or discourage businesses from getting in the game? And the answer is: It encourages them to get in the game in a significant way. Federal investments attract private investments, and it creates jobs and industries. It demonstrates we’re all in this together, and that’s what today is about.
The 54 second video was snipped from the first remarks he gave on Wednesday. It comes from exchange with a reporters.
Q What is your response to Republicans who say you are only doing this SPR release becau- — to help Democrats in the midterms?
THE PRESIDENT: “Where have they been the last four months?” That’s my response.
Q Is it politically motivated, sir, this move —
THE PRESIDENT: No, it’s not.
Q — three weeks before the midterms?
THE PRESIDENT: Look, it’s makes sense. I’ve been doing this for how long now? It’s not politically motivated at all. It’s motivated to make sure that I continue to push on what I’ve been pushing on. And that is making sure there’s enough oil that’s being pumped by the companies so that we have the ability to be able to produce enough gas that we need here at home, oil we need here at home, and, at the same time, keep moving in the direction of providing for alternative energy. That’s what I’ve been doing.
Now, the problem is: These guys were asleep. I don’t know where they’ve been. And they seem — you know.
The price at the pump should reflect what the price of a barrel of oil costs, and it’s not going down consistently.
White House.gov. 10/19/2022.
From his second remarks on Wednesday:
President Biden: This is critically important, because the future of vehicles is electric, but the battery is a key part of that electric vehicle. And right now, 75 percent — as the folks on the screen can tell you — 75 percent of that battery manufacturing is done in China.
And for some battery components, critical materials, China controls nearly half the global production. But China’s battery technology is not more innovative than anyone else’s.
President Biden: And that’s why today I’m proud to announce $2.8 billion in awards to 20 companies represented on the screen across 12 states, funded by the Infrastructure Law, to build electric vehicles and a battery future here in America.
President Biden has tweeted…
He has tweeted 4 times already for Thursday…
From his first remarks on Wednesday; semi-related.
President Biden: My message to the American energy companies is this: You should not be using your profits to buy back stock or for dividends. Not now. Not while a war is raging. You should use those record-breaking profits to increase production and refining. Invest in America for the American people. Bring down the price you charge at the pump to reflect what you pay for the product. You still make a significant profit. Your shareholders will still do very well. And the American people will catch the break they deserve and get a fair price at the pump as well.
The fact-sheet on the over the counter hearing aids can be found here.
From his second remarks on Wednesday:
President Biden: And — and some people gave up on American manufacturing, but not me, not the Secretary, not the American people. Because where in the heck is it written that we can’t be the manufacturing hub of the world? Well, we are now, and that’s what we’re going to be announcing — talking about today. It’s about my industrial strategy to bring America back manufacturing and industries of the future: semiconductors and clean energy.
His full statement:
The United States and the United Kingdom are strong Allies and enduring friends — and that fact will never change. I thank Prime Minister Liz Truss for her partnership on a range of issues including holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine. We will continue our close cooperation with the U.K. government as we work together to meet the global challenges our nations face.
White House.gov. 10/20/2022.
Her resignation announcement:
PM Truss was in office 44 days…
This is an Open Thread.
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