In an interview this week on CNBC, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg rebutted the idea of a dismal economic record from the Biden administration, pointing to the extensive series of infrastructure projects spurred by work from the president’s team and Congress when both the House and Senate were under Democratic control earlier in Biden’s tenure.
Buttigieg was speaking ahead of the latest “State of the Union” address from the president, which is slated for later this week. Though economic metrics have indicated positive progressions for many Americans, with low unemployment, declining inflation, and generally high GDP, Biden’s opponents continue using economic arguments against him. That includes proclamations around inflation of doom and gloom from expected general election challenger Donald Trump… who tried taking credit for recent stock market success though he’s been out of office for years.
“You’ve got to go out there and take credit for those achievements, and I think you’ll see the president, in the ‘State of the Union,’ talking about what’s been achieved,” Buttigieg said on the air. “You’re definitely going to see Cabinet members like me continuing to go out across the country pointing to the projects that are getting done. The Blatnik Bridge being redone in Minnesota and Wisconsin is just one example out of 40,000 that we’re highlighting right now. […] People are generally frustrated with the negativity they see every time they see coverage of Washington.”
Buttigieg referenced the rejection in Congress by Republicans of a recently proposed bipartisan plan on the border that would have expanded personnel on border and immigration teams and given the federal government new powers to shut down the southern border in periods of particularly numerous crossings. “You would think they would be interested in addressing it,” Buttigieg said, referencing Republicans and the border. The Biden team has been pushing for another go-around in Congress for the expansive proposal.
