Democratic US President Joe Biden will participate in a Kentucky event on Wednesday. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will also attend. A White House official announced this on Sunday. The event will emphasize the effects of the $1 trillion 2021 infrastructure package.
The two will attend a ceremony showcasing the $1.64 billion in financing awarded to the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project. The project connects the two states across the Ohio River. Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine will also attend.
The funding for the crossing comprises building a new bridge and repairing the 60-year-old, highly-used one.
A 60-year-old span that was severely congested was to be repaired. A second crossing was added with the construction of the new bridge.
While many House Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, opposed the infrastructure law, McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, was one of them. In November 2021, they enacted the law.
One of the bill’s “crowning achievements,” according to McConnell’s comments from last week, will be “building a new companion bridge on the Brent Spence Bridge route.”
McCarthy’s Republicans planned the occasion to occur the day after they seized control of the House, ending Democratic control of Congress and kicking in a period of split government.
Kentucky and Ohio had sought after the project’s money for years.
According to DeWine, “this project will ensure that the supply chain doesn’t stall on this nationally vital route, as well as reduce the traffic nightmare drivers have endured for years.”
Calling Netanyahu a “friend,” Biden pledges to promote the “two-state solution.”
President Barack Obama paid a visit to the crossing in 2011. He encouraged Congress to enact a jobs program that would cost billions of dollars. The program involved replacing the bridge, which was already functionally obsolete then.
Donald Trump supported funding for the project when he ran for president in 2016. However, he could not do it during his four years in government or pass the significant infrastructure bill he had often promised.
To repair and replace thousands of dilapidated US bridges over the course of five years, the infrastructure law of 2021 allocates $27 billion.
At other events this week, members of the administration, including Vice President Kamala Harris, will also highlight infrastructure prizes.
