Biden visits Blatnik Bridge, highlights $1 trillion infrastructure law in Twin Ports visit - Star Tribune
SUPERIOR — President Joe Biden and his motorcade made an impromptu stop at the Blatnik Bridge on Wednesday, a side-trip before speaking about his $1 trillion infrastructure law in front of an invitation-only group at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
The more than 60-year-old connector between Duluth and Superior, which is in need of some repair work, was a focal point in the president's speech about the law that will bring improvements to roads and bridges.
"Instead of an infrastructure week," Biden said. "We'll have an infrastructure decade."
The Blatnik Bridge, which already has load restrictions, will likely need significant repairs to its trusses in the next 10-15 years. It is one of the 979 bridges and 661 bridges in Minnesota described as being in poor condition.
The infrastructure law will give Minnesota an estimated $4.8 billion and Wisconsin an estimated $5.4 billion for roads and bridges over the next five years.
Biden landed in Duluth a little after noon on Wednesday and was greeted by two governors, two mayors, biting winds and 22-degree temperatures.
After a few minutes of hugs and handshakes with, among others, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson, Superior Mayor Jim Paine, as well as labor union officials, the motorcade of 25+ vehicles left the airport bound for the Blatnik Bridge.
Paine, speaking to reporters at the Duluth International Airport before the president arrived, called it an honor that Biden picked Superior for his first visit after the State of the Union. Calvin Coolidge was the last sitting president to visit Superior nearly a century ago. Coolidge turned Superior Central Middle School into a summer White House in 1928.
Republicans respond
In a zoom call with reporters ahead of Biden's visit, Minnesota GOP Rep. Pete Stauber and Wisconsin Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany were critical of the president on energy and mineral issues. Stauber continued to denounce the federal move in January canceling two federal minerals leases and said Biden's policies "have been very harsh on the middle class and the blue collar worker in Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District."
Biden has made stops around the country to tout the bipartisan infrastructure law as Democrats look to capitalize on the work ahead of this fall's midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake. While the package did gain support from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, none of Minnesota's GOP House members voted for the legislation.
That decision has meant lawmakers who opposed the bill have had to contend with questions about why they voted against bringing back money to their communities to mend ailing areas like bridges and roadways.
"Obviously I've been supportive of the infrastructure projects in our Eighth Congressional District," Stauber said, despite voting against the bipartisan infrastructure law last year. "And right now I am fighting to have those projects completed."
The Twin Ports visit follows Biden's first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, an hour-long speech that expressed support for the Ukraine and a promise to hold Vladimir Putin accountable for his actions.
"He thought he could roll into Ukraine, and the world would roll over," Biden said. "Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people."
Biden vowed to address inflation by getting prices under control and acknowledged the toll of COVID-19.
"And I know you're tired, frustrated and exhausted," he said. "That doesn't even count the close to a million people who sit at a dining room table or a kitchen table looking at an empty chair because they lost somebody. But I also know this. Because of the progress we've made, because of your resilience and the tools that we have been provided by this Congress, tonight I can say we are moving forward safely, back to more normal routines."
Biden's most recent trip to Minnesota was in November 2021 when he visited the heavy machine shop at Rosemount's Dakota County Technical College. He has visited Duluth and surrounding communities in recent years, but it has been a decade since he stopped in Superior.
Donald Trump campaigned in Superior in 2016 and John F. Kennedy was a senator in 1960 when he visited the Wisconsin city.
Biden was accompanied on Air Force One by First Lady Jill Biden both Minnesota senators — Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith — and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Wisconsin Democrat, as well as U.S. Reps. Ron Kind and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.
Staff writer Hunter Woodall contributed to this report.
source: https://www.startribune.com/biden-to-visit-twin-ports-today-on-the-heels-of-his-first-state-of-the-union/600152067/
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