Biden to hail economic victories with McConnell as GOP takes control of House

President Joe Biden will open the new year with a show of bipartisan support to tout one of his key legislative victories, appearing with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky to announce a major infrastructure bill-funded project .

The appearance with McConnell, R-Ky., and other regional leaders from both parties on Wednesday signals a dual purpose for a White House aiming to stay above the political fray in 2023. The shutdown, and others like this this week with other administration officials across the country, will come a day after the new Republican-led House of Representatives takes power in Washington, kicking off a period of government divided as the 2024 presidential election campaign also begins to take shape.

After two years of tough legislation in a Congress entirely in the hands of Democrats, administration officials see 2023 as a year primarily devoted to implementing Biden’s signature economic initiatives, including measures to boost the manufacturing of semis. -drivers under CHIPS and new cost-cutting measures to reduce inflation. Law.

But the bipartisan infrastructure law will be front and center, as the White House says 20,000 new projects funded by the law will be underway in the coming year.

In 2021, the president launched a major public effort to build support for the infrastructure bill with a televised town hall in Cincinnati in which he pledged to “fix this fucking bridge that goes into Kentucky” — making reference to the Brent Spence Bridge, a key interstate crossing classified as “functionally obsolete” that has long been an example of the need for major new investments in roads, bridges and other public works projects.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, who are also expected to join Biden on Wednesday, announced last week that they had secured $1.6 billion from the infrastructure law to replace the bridge.

Vice President Kamala Harris will host an event in Chicago on Wednesday as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg does the same in Connecticut. White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu will travel to San Francisco on Thursday, a week after outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the city’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge would undergo a major renovation. $400 million funded by law.

While acknowledging that there is still work to be done and potential setbacks looming, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Senior Advisor Anita Dunn wrote in a year-end memo that there are ” clear evidence that President Biden’s economic strategy of growing the economy from the bottom up and the middle is working.

Beyond the focus on implementing the president’s past legislative agendas, top White House aides insist the president intends to move forward with additional legislative initiatives. who they believe could — or they believe should — win the support of a divided Congress. Bipartisanship is expected to be at the center of Biden’s State of the Union address, a major address that is expected to take place as he also clarifies his intentions for 2024.

“I’ve never been so optimistic about America in my entire career,” Biden said during an appearance on ABC’s New Year’s Eve special. “We’ve been through so, so much, the pandemic, the flu, a whole range of things. And look how the American people fought back, and they stood up, and they–there’s nothing can hold them back.

The appearance was one of the only public glimpses of the president since he and members of his family arrived in the US Virgin Islands last week. Although he said he would discuss a possible re-election bid at those holiday rallies, NBC News reported in October that first lady Jill Biden and the rest of the family were fully supportive of another campaign. When asked on Friday if the 2024 election was discussed this week, Biden joked, “Is there an election coming up?”