President Joe Biden has been working the campaign trail to drum up support from voters for his $4 trillion spending spree meant to redistribute funds and widely expand the government-funded social safety net.
The plan is for Biden to travel to the Virginia coast to rally for the two tax and spending proposals which are the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and the $1.9 trillion American Families Plan both of which make up his “Build Back Better” agenda.
The president will then travel to Lake Charles and New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday to pitch the spending plans that would create universal pre-kindergarten, 12 weeks of paid leave, and two years of free community college, as well as make massive investments in the nation’s ailing infrastructure. The dueling measures would be funded by dramatically raising the taxes paid by wealthy Americans and corporations.
The travel is part of the administration’s “Getting America Back on Track Tour” to sell the spending proposals as they move past Biden’s first 100 days in office.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other administration officials began the travel blitz last week, fanning out across the country to tout the packages. After delivering his first address to Congress, Biden flew to Atlanta; a day later, he visited Philadelphia to celebrate Amtrak’s 50th anniversary. Harris, meanwhile, visited Baltimore last Thursday and Cincinnati on Friday. She’s slated to go to Milwaukee on Tuesday.
“It’s only been 100 days but I tell you, I’ve never been more optimistic about the future in America,” Biden said on Thursday during a car rally in Atlanta. “America is on the move again. We’re choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, light over darkness. We’re working. We’re working again. We’re dreaming again. We’re discovering again. And we’re leading the world again.”
Biden is trying to rally support for his vision despite the White House saying it’s trying to work with Republican lawmakers, who have panned the two proposals: the American Jobs Plan, which includes billions in new funding for the nation’s roads and bridges, as well as transit systems, green energy, and care for the elderly, and the American Families Plan, which includes billions for child care, prekindergarten, paid family leave and tax credits for qualified families.
