By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
NORTH WOODSTOCK — Flanked by New Hampshire’s all-Democratic delegation, President Joe Biden strode across the red-listed Green Bridge Tuesday to announce how the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be a turning point in the nation’s history.
This, Biden said, is about “investing in ourselves.
“We will build an economy for the 21st century that matters.”
After a three-and-a-half-hour conversation Monday night with China’s Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Biden said he was asked by the leader if he could define America.
“This is a God’s truth story. I looked at him and I said ‘yes,’ I can in one word. Possibilities. Think about it. Of all the nations in the world, we’re the only one, the only nation I can think of that has come out of crisis stronger than we went into it,” Biden said.
Americans have always believed anything is possible, he said. “Give Americans half a chance,” Biden said, and this new law “gives everybody a chance.”
Biden said in 50 years when historians write about this time, the passage of this act will be considered the turning point. It is the beginning of the time America reasserted itself, Biden said.
Biden came to the 82-year-old original steel arched bridge spanning the Pemigewasset River which has been red-listed as in need of repairs by the state since 2013.
He was introduced by Victoria Sheehan, New Hampshire’s commissioner of the Department of Transportation who said the funding provides for a 24 percent increase in funding for each of the four federal highway programs.
Over the next five years, it will include another $225 million for bridges. Airports and public transportation will also see a 30 percent increase from prior funding levels.
“So with the bill now signed into law, my team will work with the state’s Executive Council, Gov. Chris Sununu, and the legislature to make sure we put these funds to good use,” Sheehan said.
Woodstock Selectman Charyl Reardon said the visit was a big deal for her little town of 1,369 people in the foothills of the White Mountains where the bridge is used by loggers and locals and for the Woodstock Fire Department and emergency services to get to people in need quickly.
If the bridge were closed it would be a 10-mile drive to the other side of the bridge.
New Hampshire stands to receive more than $1.5 billion for widened culverts, improved internet, and other investments linking rural communities with the world, Biden said.
In addition to what locals call the Green Bridge the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes money for bridges and roads and for:
– federal rail investments including locally for Amtrak and to rebuild the Capitol Corridor Project
– to expand broadband coverage
– for water infrastructure
– for the Weatherization Assistance Program for low-income home energy use
– for dam safety and hydropower production
– for the electric grid
– for electric vehicle charging stations
– to reduce methane emissions by plugging old oil wells
– to advance direct air capture technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
On Aug. 4, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan measure with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen D-NH, a key member of the group of Senators who spent months negotiating the infrastructure package.
Biden originally sought $2.3 trillion, but it was pared down and passed by the House this month.
Shaheen said the landmark legislation would provide a $550 billion investment in our nation’s core infrastructure priorities – including roads and bridges, rail, transit, ports, airports, the electric grid, and broadband.
In a statement following the passage, Shaheen said “No parent should worry about the safety of their family’s water when they turn on the tap, but unfortunately, as most of us know, this is not the case for too many Americans because compromised water supplies, due in part to our run-down water infrastructure, is an issue across this country and in some places in New Hampshire.”
Nik Coates, Bristol’s Town Administrator, was invited to the event and said he has projects ready to go to advance infrastructure now that the money is available.
Wastewater, broadband, and downtown revitalization are in the works.
It began to lightly snow when Biden walked across the bridge to local and national media and a small cadre of guests, like Coates.
Biden said although this is a gigantic bill, it is really about making a difference for the ordinary people and issues that are faced at the kitchen table.
“More broadly, how do we emerge from this pandemic…with a real fighting chance to get ahead?” Biden asked.
About a quarter-mile away, protesters holding signs in support of former President Donald Trump could be heard.
“I’m here to stand up for the freedom to choose for our own healthcare,” said Carla Bates of Campton.
Across the street, a group of counter-protesters gathered.
Debbie Fletcher of Gilmanton Iron Works said: “I am here because I think we need to all talk to each other and stop the divisiveness, find a way to reach out to each other. And I know it may sound naive, but I support the President.”
Gov. Chris Sununu welcomed Biden at the airport in Manchester but did not attend the event in Woodstock. Prior to his arrival, Sununu sent Biden a letter noting critical concerns for New Hampshire related to the new act.
Sununu asked why the state is consistently dead last among states in federal spending on highways.
In the letter, Sununu addressed the President’s vaccination mandate for all employers with 100 or more workers. The state is now suing the administration on that mandate.
Sununu said the OSHA rule, which is stalled in the courts, could mean fewer construction workers. He said many will leave their jobs rather than be forced to be vaccinated, slowing the potential for progress.
Sununu also addressed the predicted increase in costs this winter for home heating and asked whether Biden would reconsider policies that limit the production of fuels to ease the costs.
“As President, you are in a unique position to provide real-time solutions on all of these,” Sununu wrote.
