WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — Standing on a bridge in disrepair in New Hampshire, President Joe Biden touted the impact his freshly signed infrastructure package will make on the country.
“Making sure New Hampshire water is safe to drink, upgrading pipes that are 100 years old, and helping eliminate PFAS chemicals from the waterways,” Biden said.
Over the next decade the package is expected to create more than 15 million new jobs.
“The jobs that are being created as a result of passage of the bipartisan infrastructure agreement cannot be outsourced,” New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said.
Democrats plan to fan out across the country promoting their leadership under the Biden administration. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York said that includes the pandemic relief package “which quite literally saved the American economy. Millions of small businesses and their employees are in business and working today because of that effort.”
Now is the time to keep the momentum going, Democrats say, and pass the Build Back Better Act.
“That will reduce taxes for working parents,” Rep. Pete Aguilar of California said. “Address, continue to address climate change, make investments in child care and care giving.”
But Republicans, like Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, say the record high prices at the grocery store and the gas pump are the result of too much government spending.
“When you do that and you have too much money chasing too few goods, you’re going to have inflation,” Kennedy said.
However, Democrats argue that by providing things like childcare and job training in the Build Back Better Plan, more people will get back to work — and that will improve supply chains and ease inflation.