Biden promotes Baltimore spending as Republicans try to force cuts
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[January 31, 2023]
By Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday
celebrated the planned replacement of a 150-year-old tunnel in
Baltimore, burnishing his "builder-in-chief" credentials on friendly
political territory, a sharp contrast to Washington's partisan debt
battle.
Biden's administration will invest $4 billion to replace the Baltimore
and Potomac Tunnel, part of the $1 trillion infrastructure law that
passed Congress with bipartisan support and stands as one of the
president's biggest legislative victories.
"Having a 21st century rail system, that's been long overdue in this
country," Biden said.
The U.S. Civil War-era tunnel is a major chokepoint for commuter and
long-distance rail traffic on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which
connects Washington, New York and Boston. Biden noted that 2,200 trains
ride through it daily, making it the busiest tunnel in the United
States.
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"Folks talk about how badly the Baltimore tunnel needs an upgrade. You
don't need me to tell you, I have been there and you have been there
too," Biden said, citing his years of riding Amtrak as a senator.
Trains that travel through the tunnel now at 30 miles per hour will
travel at 110 mph when renovations are through, Biden said.
The new tunnel, named for Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass, is
expected to cost $5 billion and be completed by 2032. Amtrak will rely
on union labor, Biden noted.
"I know we can forge a path of building an economy where no one's left
behind," Biden said. "That's what this project is all about ... it is
about making things here in America again. It's about good jobs."
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![](../images/013123PIX/news_m89.jpg)
U.S. President Joe Biden walks along the
colonnade at the White House before departing for Camp David in
Washington, U.S., January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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CONTRAST WITH REPUBLICANS
Biden, who is contemplating a 2024 re-election campaign, is eager to
tout his bona fides as a bipartisan dealmaker who can ramp up
infrastructure projects to reduce traffic congestion, improve
safety, ease climate change, boost economic growth, halt inflation
and create high-paying union jobs for people without college
degrees.
In Washington, Biden faces a colder reality as Republicans, now in
control of the House of Representatives, threaten to block his
economic agenda, bog down his programs in investigations and prevent
the raising of the debt ceiling to force spending cuts.
Biden is set for a face-to-face meeting on Wednesday with House
Speaker Kevin McCarthy for talks in the debt standoff, which
threatens to hurtle the United States into an unprecedented default.
Biden plans a similar event on Tuesday in New York related to that
city's Hudson Tunnel project. On Friday, he will highlight the
infrastructure bill's provisions replacing toxic lead pipes at an
event in Philadelphia.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt;Writing by Nandita
BoseEditing by Gerry Doyle and Alistair Bell)
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