President Joe Biden is making his second trip to New Hampshire since he signed bipartisan infrastructure legislation in November
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will try to demonstrate that last year’s infrastructure law is alleviating the country’s supply chain debacles when he visits Portsmouth Harbor in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Biden’s destination is the state’s only deep water harbor, making it a critical way station for home heating oil, fiberoptic cables and rock gypsum, which is used to produce drywall.
Under the $1 trillion infrastructure law, $1.7 million will be used to dredge the harbor’s shipping channel and basin. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already spent $18.2 million to make it easier for larger ships to access the harbor, a project intended to reduce delays that cause higher prices for consumers.
Overall, the law includes $17 billion for upgrading port facilities at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc on international supply chains.
Biden’s trip is his second to New Hampshire as president. The state was his first stop after he signed the infrastructure legislation in November, and he spoke in front of an old bridge that’s overdue for repairs.
The president has repeatedly focused on these kinds of initiatives as his more ambitious agenda to boost education, social services and climate change initiatives remains stalled.
With the midterm elections approaching later this year, Biden is eager to convince voters that one of his administration’s top accomplishments is creating concrete progress after years of unfulfilled promises from his predecessor, President Donald Trump, who never cut a deal on infrastructure spending.