President Joe Biden’s surrogates will crisscross the country this week talking up the hundreds of billions he’s pumping into projects such as roads, clean energy, drinking water and broadband — an effort designed to draw a sharp contrast with his predecessor’s series of ineffectual “infrastructure weeks.”
The White House hopes the message will help convince Americans that Biden’s programs are improving their lives, just months before they head to the voting booth.
But recent polls — including one published last week by POLITICO and Morning Consult — show the message has been slow to sink in with voters. And a POLITICO analysis of the implementation of Biden’s four landmark infrastructure, climate, technology and pandemic-relief laws found that only 17 percent of the $1.1 trillion in funding that Congress provided has been spent to date, thanks in part to the time it takes to vet, approve and move so much money through myriad federal agencies, state governments and private recipients.
Nonetheless, White House deputy chief of staff Natalie Quillian told reporters Friday, Biden’s programs have already made a tangible impact, including in rail service, clean drinking water and providing internet connectivity to communities that lacked it.
