President Joe Biden touted his economic agenda Wednesday in Milwaukee, months before the city is slated to hold the 2024 Republican National Convention.
The Republican National Committee has undergone significant staffing turnover in recent weeks, culminating in the resignation of former Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and eventual replacement by new Chairman Michael Whatley and co-Chairwoman Lara Trump. Still, RNC officials claim that plans to hold the July convention in Milwaukee are “full-speed ahead,” providing the city with an estimated economic injection of more than $200 million over the summer.
“Working hand-in-glove with our partners in Wisconsin every step of the way, we are looking forward to hosting a historic convention where we will formally nominate President Donald J. Trump ahead of the November election,” Whatley said in a statement.
“Joe Biden just proposed $7.3 trillion in wasteful spending and $4.9 trillion in tax hikes on the backs of Wisconsin families, so his attempt to save face for Bidenomics’ failures is laughable,” he added. “President Trump built a strong economy that delivered relief for families across the country, and he’ll do it again.”
Biden beat former President Donald Trump by just 20,000 votes in the 2020 general election in Wisconsin, though Trump carried the state over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 by a similar margin. Polling aggregates show the president holding a greater than 6-point advantage over Trump in Wisconsin, the lone battleground state where Biden has consistently outpolled his general election foe.
The bulk of Biden’s remarks on Wednesday, delivered at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club, focused on selling his past legislative accomplishments and announcing a $3.3 billion infrastructure project aimed at advancing “environmental justice by reconnecting disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods” in more than 40 states. In Milwaukee specifically, Biden is directing $36 million toward the “6th Street Complete Streets Project.”
“These are life-changing improvements,” Biden stated, taking credit for authorizing the program with his bipartisan infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act. “They’re also going to make it easier for historic black communities in the north and Latino communities in the south to access jobs, school, and entertainment opportunities in the city and central hub, from watching the Milwaukee Bucks play to attending Milwaukee Area Technical College, and if I didn’t mention the technical college, I’d go home and sleep alone because my wife is a full-time teacher at a community college. And we’re going to ensure that good paying construction jobs created by this project go to members of the community benefiting the very same project.”
White House officials say improvements will “reconnect communities along more than 2 1/2 miles of the 6th Street corridor, providing wider sidewalks for children walking to school, safe bike lanes for residents and visitors, dedicated bus lanes for faster transit, new trees to provide shade, and green infrastructure to prevent sewage from flowing into the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan.”
Biden, as he has done in recent campaign stops, also spent a portion of his time on Wednesday going after Trump, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), and other Republican lawmakers for opposing his legislative agenda.
“[Johnson] voted against the infrastructure law that funds this project,” the president said. “They want to undo everything I just talked about. My predecessor talked about Infrastructure Week for four years and didn’t get a single thing done. Our plan is working, and America’s coming back. That’s America. That’s what this project is all about, the project’s for jobs and justice, prosperity, unlimited possibilities. That’s why — I swear to God — I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future. Now because I’m president, because we’re at one of those inflection points in history. We really are. Things are going to change, no matter who’s president in a big way. They’re going to change much for the better or much worse.”
Biden also stopped by his campaign’s Milwaukee headquarters on Wednesday and joined staff and volunteers in celebrating the launch of 44 satellite offices spread all across the state.
Campaign officials say the state offices are particularly focused on activating and mobilizing black and Latino voters ahead of November.
The Biden campaign launched an “I’m on Board” month of action following the president’s State of the Union last Thursday. Since then, he’s traveled to Pennsylvania, Georgia, and New Hampshire, and he will head to Michigan on Thursday.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has also escalated her campaign travel, choosing to rally in Madison, Wisconsin, just last week.
Biden’s remarks can be seen in full below.
