Framed by shipping crates and cranes and a setting sun, Joe Biden took a long-awaited victory lap over the passage of his infrastructure bill during a visit to the Port of Baltimore.
“Infrastructure week has finally arrived,” he said with a chuckle. The audience included longshore workers, several members of the Maryland congressional delegation, the mayor of Baltimore and the state’s governor, Larry Hogan, a Republican who praised the bill’s passage.
During his remarks, Biden promised to fight inflation that is causing the price of “everything from a gall of gas to a loaf of bread” to rise.
Biden then offered a lengthy explanation of supply chains, something no one thinks about until they have to, he said. He said recent actions taken by the White House to ease bottlenecks in the supply chain will help bring prices down and ensure shelves are stocked in time for the holidays. In the long-term, he said the infrastructure bill will help build greater resilience for future supply chain disruption: pandemics, climate disaster or cyber attacks.
Biden again made the case for his Build Back Better agenda, which is facing new hurdles in the wake of a consumer index report that showed climbing prices. Senator Joe Manchin, already a holdout on the bill, said Washington can “no longer ignore the economic pain” caused by inflation.
Biden said tackling inflation was a “top priority” and made the point again in his remarks. He argued that his Build Back Better would help bring down inflation by easing the financial pressures on American families, especially parents and seniors.
“We’re going to build a better America – not a joke,” he said. “We’re going to mess the world again – not a joke.”
But in typical Biden fashion, he ended with a joke. acknowledging that he can be long-winded, he told a man in the crowd with “as little hair as mine” to put back on his hat.
“I’d put it back on – you’re gonna get cold,” he said.
