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The White House will announce more than $5 billion in funding Wednesday for agriculture, broadband and clean energy needs in sparsely populated areas of the country, as President Biden travels to Minnesota to begin an administration-wide tour of the communities. rural.
The president’s efforts to focus attention on the domestic economy ahead of next year’s campaign come after three weeks in which his administration has been roiled by events abroad following the terrorist attacks in Israel and subsequent military action. of the State in Gaza.
The trip will take place as Biden urges Congress to quickly approve a $105 billion funding package that includes emergency aid to Israel and Ukraine, two conflicts he has described as threats to democracy around the world.
But the president and his advisers are well aware that his hopes for a second term will likely be determined closer to home. Rural voters like those he will target on a corn, soybean and hog farm south of Minneapolis are increasingly voting Republican. TO recent survey showed that most voters had heard little or nothing about a health care and clean energy law that is the cornerstone of Biden’s economic agenda. And the president even faces a challenger from within his own party, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who announced his long-shot presidential bid last week.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday declined to discuss campaign issues, citing the Hatch Act, which limits the political activity of federal officials, but said Biden “loves Minnesota.” Administration officials have said Biden’s trip was planned before Phillips announced his candidacy.
The White House has dubbed the next two weeks of events the “Investing in Rural America Event Series.” It includes more than a dozen trips by Biden, as well as Cabinet secretaries and other senior administration officials. The White House said in a statement that the tour would highlight federal investments that “are generating new revenue for farms, greater economic development in rural towns and communities, and more opportunity across the country.”
Biden will be joined on Wednesday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. In the context of a family farm using techniques to make crops more resilient to climate change, they will announce $1.7 billion for farmers across the country to adopt so-called climate-smart agricultural practices.
Other funding announcements include $1.1 billion in loans and grants to improve infrastructure in rural communities; $2 billion in investments as part of a program that helps rural governments work more closely with federal agencies on economic development projects; $274 million to expand high-speed Internet infrastructure; and $145 million to expand access to wind, solar and other renewable energy, according to a White House fact sheet.
“Young people in rural communities should not have to leave home to find opportunities,” Neera Tanden, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said in a call with reporters on Tuesday.
He said federal investments were creating “a path for the next generation to maintain their roots in rural America.”
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, a Democrat, said he expected Biden to face serious headwinds in rural communities, largely due to inflation levels.
“It’s a little challenging, there’s no denying it, when prices go up,” Mr. Walz said. “Politics has gotten a little more angry. “I think people feel a little behind.”
But Walz also praised Biden for spending time in rural communities. “Democrats need to show up,” he said.
Kenan Fikri, research director at the Economic Innovation Group, a Washington think tank, said the Biden administration had made considerable investments over the past two and a half years in agriculture, broadband and other rural priorities.
“The administration has a lot to show for its economic development efforts in rural communities,” he said, but “whether voters will give Biden credit for a strong economic performance is another question.”
Later in the week, Mr. Vilsack will travel to Indiana, Wyoming and Colorado to speak with agricultural leaders and discuss land conservation. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will travel to her home state of New Mexico to highlight investments in water infrastructure.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm will be in Arizona to discuss the electric grid and investing in renewable energy in the rural southwest.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough plans to visit Iowa to discuss improving access to health care for veterans in rural areas. Isabel Guzmán, who heads the Small Business Administration, will travel to Georgia to talk about loans for rural small businesses.
Miguel A. Cardona, the Secretary of Education, will go to New Hampshire to promote how community colleges help rural students. Xavier Becerra, secretary of health and human services, will be in North Carolina to talk about access to health care in rural areas.