President Joe Biden in Milwaukee announced an additional $43 million for drinking water upgrades and lead pipe replacements in Wisconsin while knocking Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson for opposing his infrastructure initiatives.
The money is part of $2.6 billion in national funding as part of Biden’s “Investing in America agenda,” which includes the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. He knocked Johnson, R-Oshkosh, for voting against the law and calling it a “radical agenda.”
“I don’t think there’s a damn thing radical about protecting kids from lead poisoning, protecting women from low birth rates, protecting them from brain damage and so much more,” Biden said, joining Gov. Tony Evers and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at the Milwaukee Department of Public Works yesterday.
He said former president Donald Trump’s administration rolled back clean water protections, slashed the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and eliminated important programs that guaranteed clean water.
“You may also remember that the last guy who was president promised ‘Infrastructure Week’ every week for four years,” Biden said. “He didn’t build a damn thing.”
Johnson did not immediately respond for comment.
Ahead of Biden’s visit, Team Trump Wisconsin Communications Director Jacob Fischer in a statement said Wisconsin families “suffocate under the weight of Kamala and Joe’s dangerously liberal agenda.”
“Wisconsinites continue to sour on Democrats, and Joe’s visit is another sickening reminder that a Kamala presidency would be another four years of historic inflation and high prices,” Fischer said.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin was not present for Biden’s stop because she was accepting a Friend of Farm Bureau Award from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau in Fall Creek. The Madison Dem has skipped most of Biden’s stops in Wisconsin in recent months.
Of the new funding announced yesterday, 49% must be provided to disadvantaged communities as grant funding or principal forgiveness that does not have to be repaid. Biden said these communities have “borne the brunt of lead poisoning for damn too long.”
“Studies show communities of color have been the hardest hit,” Biden said. “One study showed Black children are at least two times more likely to have elevated levels of lead in their blood than children of other racial groups. We have an obligation to make things right.”
He added: “Like all major investments we’re making in the environment, it’s also about creating good-paying jobs, many of them union jobs for laborers, plumbers and pipefitters.”
Biden also announced the EPA has finalized federal regulations requiring drinking water systems in the U.S. to replace lead service lines within 10 years.
Senior Administration White House officials at a press call said they are sure 99% of the cities will make the 10-year deadline, and the EPA will aggressively pursue a timeline that stays in line with the president’s vision for the 1% that don’t.
