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The
White House wants Biden to gain maximum credit for the projects
to help him in his fight for re-election, with a year to go
until Election Day.
THE TAKE
Landrieu spent more than an hour with reporters on Thursday to
talk up the benefits of the infrastructure law ahead of the Nov.
15 anniversary. A former mayor of New Orleans, Landrieu is
expected to step down soon after working a year beyond his
original pledge to spend one year leading the infrastructure
effort.
Landrieu, barred by the Hatch Act from saying much about
politics, summed up the choice he feels voters will be faced
with between Biden and a Republican opponent:
"Somebody's going to be blowing smoke. Somebody's going to
bringing receipts," he said.
Biden regularly travels to sites that will benefit from the law,
including a visit to his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, on
Monday to tout Amtrak funding, and a trip to the Brent Spence
Bridge spanning Ohio and Kentucky. The administration has put
signs at construction projects across the country boasting about
Biden's role in securing the funding.
Despite the information campaign, Biden's approval rating is
hovering around 40%, near the lowest level of his presidency,
according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. And he repeatedly
gets low grades for his handling of the economy, fueled in part
by frustration over high food and energy prices.
BY THE NUMBERS
Landrieu said thus more than $400 billion in projects has been
announced, covering 40,000 projects in more than 4,500
communities in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and
Native American tribal areas.
Landrieu said he personally has traveled to 130 cities, towns
and communities impacted by the law, logging more than 110,000
miles.
The project list is a long one, covering airports, bridges,
roads, constructing more recharging stations for electric
vehicles, getting high-speed internet to get more people on the
internet, and on and on.
How long will it take to finish all 40,000? Landrieu estimated
between three and five years.
"Some will get done really soon, some like the Hudson River
Tunnel (for New York and New Jersey) will take a long time. Our
task is to make sure they remain on budget."
(Reporting By Steve Holland)
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