The bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed into law Monday marks a milestone in his effort to reorient Democratic economic policy away from the strategy of his party’s past two presidents.
The sweeping infrastructure plan — which funds some $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, ports, water systems, mass transit and electric vehicle charging stations — encapsulates Biden’s focus on creating and enhancing jobs that do not require a college education. …
Over the long run, many economists believe, the infrastructure and broader Build Back Better plans could improve earnings and conditions for workers without advanced education — not only by tightening the labor markets in which they operate, but also through direct government wage mandates embedded in the bills that have received almost no attention so far in the national media. Politically the question for Biden is whether these benefits will kick in quickly enough to prevent a stampede toward the GOP in 2022 among working-class White voters, and maybe also more working-class Hispanics, drawn to conservative cultural messages and distressed over the ongoing spike in the cost of living. CONTINUED
Ronald Brownstein, CNN
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