President Joe Biden traveled to Las Vegas on Friday to unveil his administration’s latest investment in high-speed railways and train corridors, but the announcement was largely overshadowed by the president tripping over his words to articulate the exact cost.
During his speech, Biden hit out against his predecessor, former President Donald Trump for not doing enough while in office to address the country’s infrastructure needs. The president especially criticized Trump for the former president’s plans for an “Infrastructure Week,” which meant to feature a series of infrastructure projects to rebuild the country’s highways and bridges — plans that were not completed.
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“On my watch, instead of Infrastructure Week America’s having an Infrastructure Decade,” Biden said, touting his own infrastructure investments — but stumbling over the specifics. “Over a billion three hundred million trillion three hundred million dollars!”
The speech comes as Biden was announcing his latest $8.2 billion project that would bolster railway construction and invest in building what would be the country’s first true high-speed rail line. The project would focus on creating a high-speed system between California and Nevada as well as a rail line that would connect California’s Central Valley to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The project would also fund upgrades to frequently used rail corridors in Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Washington, D.C. The projects will be funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a key part of Biden’s agenda that he signed into law in November 2021.
The investment is a foreshadowing of what Biden will focus much of his reelection campaign on next year, with his infrastructure investments likely becoming a focal point. If Biden’s speech on Friday is any indication, it’s also likely the president will use his infrastructure accomplishments to criticize Trump on the trail next year, especially if the two face off in a rematch for the Oval Office.
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“Trump just talks the talk. We walk the walk,” Biden said, criticizing the former president for claiming the United States is becoming a “failed nation.”
“Frankly he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”
