OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Two of President Joe Biden’s signature laws that fund hundreds of billions in new infrastructure are pumping an inordinate amount of money into key battleground states that will be vital to his reelection.
“The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure package and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Biden’s massive climate bill, have routed more than $60 billion combined to Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, according to White House data,” The Daily Caller reported.
“These states are widely considered to be the seven key swing states that will dictate whether Biden will secure a second term or if former President Donald Trump will return to the White House,” the report continued.
According to Axios, the funds disbursed from the two bills thus far represent roughly half of the total amount allocated by the bills.
The report added:
So far, Michigan has seen $10.8 billion for infrastructure and green energy projects, while North Carolina has received $9.8 billion and Georgia has so far taken home a massive $10.5 billion, according to White House data. The administration has given Pennsylvania a whopping $16.2 billion for such projects, $6.8 billion to Wisconsin, $3.7 billion to Nevada and $8.6 billion to Arizona.
While taxpayer cash flows into these states to subsidize infrastructure and green energy projects, Biden administration officials have recently traveled to promote the administration’s massive spending as the election cycle heats up. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm ventured to her home state of Michigan last week to promote a $1.5 billion loan to a nuclear plant that could close again in a few years and a $13 million handout to Kraft-Heinz before making a Thursday appearance in Georgia to talk about green energy projects, according to Axios.
On Thursday, Labor Secretary Julie Su visited Michigan to promote the green jobs initiatives of the Biden administration in partnership with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris was in North Carolina to celebrate the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement of allocating billions of dollars from the IRA fund to green groups that have been criticized for their connections with Democratic establishment insiders.
The Biden administration effort seems patently political, given recent polling.
A CNN segment on Tuesday pointed out that Biden is behind former President Donald Trump in six of seven swing states—Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia—while Biden leads by three points in Wisconsin, according to a new Wall Street Journal survey.
What’s more, Trump is leading Biden on issues that are also the biggest concerns for voters this cycle.
“Look at the why: what is going on? Alright, trusted more, again, this is across all of these key seven swing states,” CNN political analyst Harry Enten said.
“Look, Donald Trump is trusted more than Joe Biden in basically all the important issues — the economy, inflation, 20-point lead, immigration, border, 20-point lead, the Israel-Hamas war, 14-point lead, the Russia-Ukraine war, nine-point lead, protecting democracy, well within the margin of error, which I think is something the that should worry that Biden camp, given that has been harping and Democrats been harping on this,” Enten continued. “Just a one-point advantage.
“On abortion, Democrats and Joe Biden have a 12-point advantage. They would love this campaign to be about abortion, but at this particular point, it‘s about this. And it‘s about this with perhaps a little bit of this,” Enten said, pointing out the main concerns of voters, “and all these issues favor Donald Trump.”
The host pointed out that Democrats and Biden have been “running on protecting democracy, and that’s a wash right now.”
“It is a Wash. And this is not the only poll that shows… was looking at a Quinnipiac University poll last month, last week, excuse me, that showed the same thing,” Enten said. “And it‘s something that RFK Jr. said to our colleague, Erin Burnett, saying, I‘m not quite sure — Joe Biden may be worse for protecting democracy. It turns out a lot of voters agree on that.”
