U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks as part of his Investing in America agenda, during a visit to Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, U.S., May 8, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The Biden administration has announced $537 billion in infrastructure investments since the passage of landmark government funding bills like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
New state-by-state White House data released Monday offers a holistic portrait of how President Joe Biden has so far doled out that funding across the country.
“We are breaking ground and completing projects across every single state and territory,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said Friday.
The 10 biggest investments were scattered geographically and tended to go to the states with the largest economies measured by gross domestic product. Several of the biggest awards went to battleground states that will be pivotal to the 2024 presidential election.
These states have received the most infrastructure dollars so far:
Pennsylvania, Arizona and Michigan are among the seven key swing states that experts say could decide whether Biden or former President Donald Trump will win a second term in November. Georgia, another of the seven crucial purple states, received the twelfth-largest public investment at $10.8 billion. Biden won those four states in 2020 by razor-thin margins after Trump won them in 2016.
Florida is also on the Biden campaign’s wish list. Despite Trump’s polling lead in the state, the Biden campaign is looking to capitalize on the state’s hardline abortion access restrictions to make a case against the former president.
The selection process for the public investments involved vetting project proposals, identifying suitable areas for new developments and engaging with the private sector for partnerships.
The ongoing effort involves agencies like the Commerce Department, the Treasury Department and the Federal Communications Commission, which all have systems and standards for allocating the money.
Roughly half of the funding is distributed “through formulas,” as a senior administration official said on a call with reporters Friday.
“Some are based on criteria like population. There are some that are more need-based,” the official added.
The remaining money is allocated via discretionary grants that states compete for and agencies award based on factors like “safety, economic impact, equity, climate resilience,” the official said.
The new data comes as the White House kicks off its “infrastructure week” with a slate of cabinet members like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland traveling across the country to highlight Biden’s infrastructure victories.
The weeklong event is a subtle knock at the Trump-era “infrastructure weeks,” which often announced infrastructure development plans that were later put on ice.
“While infrastructure week became an empty punch line during the prior administration, the Biden administration has committed to delivering infrastructure that will benefit communities for generations to come,” Quillian said Friday.