As a potential vote on Biden’s infrastructure and climate bills waver in the House of Representatives, New York City’s mayor-elect Eric Adams is making his appeal to have Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan passed.
The roadblocks along the way in passing both the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastucture bill and the roughly $2 trillion social programs legislation making up the Build Back Better plan have caused turmoil among Democrats in Congress, and the President is not the only one begging the representatives to get it done.
In a CNN op-ed, Adams urges against partisan fighting. “When our cities succeed, America prospers. That was once considered common sense in the halls of our Capitol before toxic partisanship began to take hold and urban communities were cynically pitted against rural families for political gain,” he wrote to open the piece.
Adams then goes over every section of the infrastructure bill and how he believes it will help cities recover from a tough year of economic loss. He supports Biden’s plans for universal pre-school and limits on the price of childcare. He also said that the bill would provide immediate relief for those affected by Hurricane Ida, which ravaged parts of New York City, and other coastal cities, in October.
“The bipartisan infrastructure bill would immediately address this short-term threat while providing investment for long-term solutions like renewable energy,” Adams wrote.
He then touches on transportation and gun violence. Biden’s plan would invest more in public transportation across the United States, including the MTA which would get about $10.5 billion if the bill is passed. And there are a few local plans to expand public transportation here in the city and make it more accessible that need a boost in funding.
As for public safety, ex-cop Adams wants to start a Joint Guns and Gangs Taskforce and wants the White House’s help with this as well. “We also need to support on-the-ground “violence interrupters” who do essential conflict meditation work by fully funding President Biden’s community violence intervention initiative,” he wrote.
Adams closed out his opinions by asking Washington to fully fund the Section 8 subsidized housing program for low-income families and residents, and push through the roadblocks that have stalled Biden’s infrastructure bill. It’s a piece that clearly outlines how his own policies for the city line up with the key parts of Biden’s plan.
