WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will return to southwest Wisconsin on Thursday to fulfill his promise to make additional investments in rural electrification and other infrastructure projects.
Biden will be in Westby to announce $7.3 billion in funding for 16 cooperatives that will offer electricity to rural communities in 23 states. The goal is to reduce the cost of much-needed internet connections in difficult-to-access places.
The project’s funding comes from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law in August 2022 and approved in Congress along party lines. The measure invests over $13 billion in rural electrification across numerous initiatives, creating 4,500 permanent jobs and 16,000 construction jobs, according to the White House.
The administration claims it is the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal of the 1930s.
Democrats believe Wisconsin is a must-win state in the November presidential election between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden won Wisconsin by around 20,000 votes in 2020, reversing Trump’s close victory in 2016.
On Thursday, Biden will return to a state he visited early in his presidency. Then he promised to develop infrastructure in rural regions, including greater internet access.
“It isn’t a luxury; it’s now a necessity, just like water and electricity,” Biden stated at the La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility in June 2021. “And this deal would provide for it for everyone while bringing down the cost of internet service across the board.”
Natalie Quillian, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, told reporters on Wednesday that “when he returns tomorrow, he will have delivered on so many of those promises.”