WATERTOWN, Wis. — President Joe Biden visited a small town in western Wisconsin on Thursday, speaking at a local power supplier about infrastructure and energy spending in the battleground state.
The visit, Biden’s first to the Dairy State since dropping out of the presidential race, was an official visit by the president and was not associated with the Harris-Waltz campaign, but Biden referenced his “predecessor” Donald Trump multiple times throughout his 25-minute speech.
In addition to blasting the former president, the top Republican candidate, Biden also seemed to have a number of other presidents in mind on Thursday.
When he announced a $7.3 billion grant for Wisconsin’s rural electric cooperatives, he proclaimed it “the most significant investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.”
He then cast himself as another of America’s great presidents, telling the audience that he had done more to modernize transportation “since Eisenhower.”
A bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in 2021 allocated $3.1 billion for Wisconsin projects, distributed through grants and flat-rate payments to state and local governments, but the spending came with strings attached, and Wisconsinites have balked at the program’s so-called benefits.
“Seven in 10 construction workers in Wisconsin choose not to join a construction union,” John Schultz, who manages legal and government relations for one of the state’s largest construction and contractor trade associations, told The Washington Post.
Wisconsin is a right-to-work state, meaning union membership is optional, but Harris isn’t happy about that: On Labor Day, she pledged to make right-to-work illegal during a visit to Pittsburgh with Biden.
Industry officials point out that most Wisconsin contractors are meritocratic, meaning they pay workers based on experience and ability, not union-negotiated wages.
“Modernizing” these projects, as Biden calls it, would mean requiring contractors to pay the prevailing wage, or standard wage rate determined by the government based on labor market conditions and other factors.
Critics of prevailing wage systems argue that they unfairly raise project costs and shut out meritocratic shops, and perhaps better-qualified contractors, from competing for federal spending projects.
“There should be no conditions or mandates attached to the success of any infrastructure package,” Cheryl Sment, president and CEO of Interstate Sealant & Concrete, told the Post.
“There are only a limited number of contractors doing the work necessary to improve our aging infrastructure, so why not go with the best and get the best?” she asked.
“As a taxpayer, I hope so. The miles of improved roads are getting shorter because inflation is taking up a large part of the cost of construction.”
Schultz said the current wages don’t meet construction workers’ expectations.
“Union construction workers can’t accept the employer’s will and become an owner or advance to management or other positions in the company. Open shop construction workers can do both, and often do both,” Schultz said.
“It’s infuriating that President Biden would go against a core American dream of moving up in the construction industry and being your own boss,” he added, before adding one final sarcastic remark.
“Unions spent more than $240 million on Biden and other Democratic politicians in 2020 and understandably expected a return on their investment. Unions will do even more for Harris in 2024 and will expect even more if she is elected,” Schultz told The Post.
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, announced last week that the state had received $177 million of the $3.1 billion the Biden administration promised under bipartisan infrastructure legislation two years ago.
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