Democrats sell infrastructure bill, push for Biden backup
STILWELL, Kan. (AP) — Traffic whizzing behind her, Rep. Sharice Davids gathered reporters at a transportation facility along U.S. 69 in eastern Kansas this week to celebrate the surge of federal money headed in her state's direction.
The massive infrastructure package passed last week means $2.6 billion for Kansas roads — some of the largest investments in them since President Dwight D. Eisenhower, once a Kansan himself, supported the construction of the national highway system in the 1950s.
“I think that a lot of us recognize, just like President Eisenhower did, that infrastructure is a key to long-term economic growth," said Davids, who proudly declared herself a “born-again transportation enthusiast.”
Davids is hardly the only member of her party celebrating. With their narrow control of Congress at stake in 2022, Democrats across the country are donning hard hats and staging photo ops near bridges to highlight long-neglected public works projects set to spring to life thanks to the more than $1 trillion plan.
It’s an attempt to move past months of infighting between progressives and moderates, and unite around a shovel-ready approach to kicking the post-coronavirus pandemic economy into high gear.
For Democrats like Davids, facing tough reelection fights, the public works bonanza may be their ticket out of political peril — a potential boon with moderate and independent voters who turned against the party in last week’s elections in New Jersey and Virginia and who will decide races in most swing districts next year.
“Now is the time to turn the corner,” said New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, Democratic Congressional Committee chairman. “There’s enough blame to go around, but we have achieved a huge win for working and middle-class people.”
Among those Maloney...
