President Joe Biden traveled to Milwaukee on Wednesday to detail his record on improving the economy for Black Americans and highlight his administration’s progress on removing lead pipes across the country.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden traveled to Milwaukee on Wednesday to detail his record on improving the economy for Black Americans and highlight his administration’s progress on removing lead pipes across the country

  • It’s part of Biden’s strategy to shore up his base and try to convince voters his economic policies, dubbed “Bidenomics,” are improving their lives as his poll numbers remain near all-time lows, particularly when it comes to his handling of the economy

  • Rashwan Spivey, a Black plumbing business owner, introduced Biden at the event and said that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funded the removal of 600 lead pipes in Milwaukee, “mostly at childcare centers”
  • Biden contrasted his agenda with the Republicans who opposed major economic legislation as he seeks to return to Washington in a second term with a Democrat-controlled Congress

“New applications to start new businesses is at 15 million. It’s lead to the fastest growth in Black business ownership in over 30 years. Across the country wages for workers are, Black wealth is [up a record] 60% since the pandemic,” Biden said in a speech at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce. “We’re just getting started.”

Rashwan Spivey, a Black plumbing business owner, introduced Biden at the event and said that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funded the removal of 600 lead pipes in Milwaukee, “mostly at childcare centers.”

“Among plumbers, if a job takes two days to do, and you get it done in a half of a day, we call you a hero. As we say, heroes get too much done,” Spivey said. “President Biden's support of Black owned businesses has helped us live up to the hero name.”

Biden visited Spivey’s business earlier on Wednesday and declared “we’re gonna replace every lead pipe in America.” Through the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, his administration’s goal is set the country on course to completely replace lead pipes by the end of the 2020s.

“We all know exposure to lead water pipes is hazardous to our health, especially to children's health, and damage the veins and in kidneys. Lead exposure disproportionately affects low income communities and disproportionately affects people of color,” said Biden in his speech. “This is United States of America for God's sake. Everyone should be able to turn on a faucet and know whatever their drink was clean and pure and not have to worry about.”

The Enviornmental Protection Agency estimates there are still 9.2 million lead pipes in the U.S., nine years after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis that garnered national outrage after thousands of children were exposed to lead and at least 12 people died.

Black voters are a key voting block in swing states like Wisconsin and Biden is hoping to convince them his economic policies are “driving a Black small business boom” and driving more wealth into Black Americans’ bank accounts, White House officials said on Tuesday.

“We know that Milwaukee bore the brunt of deindustrialization and now under the president's economic agenda, it’s making a comeback,” said Joelle Gamble, the deputy director of the National Economic Council, on a press call. “For example, the share of the Black population in Milwaukee who are employed is at more than a decade-high under President Biden, and new small business applications are up nearly 70% in the state of Wisconsin.”

It’s part of Biden’s strategy to shore up his base and try to convince voters his economic policies, dubbed “Bidenomics,” are improving their lives as his poll numbers remain near all-time lows, particularly when it comes to his handling of the economy.

“The bottom line here is Wisconsin's a swing state and Biden must keep it in his camp,” Charles Franklin, a Marquette Law School professor, told Spectrum News. “In other swing states, Trump has leads of two to four points or so. That means Wisconsin is completely vital for Biden to maintain his slightly better performance here.” 

Polls of Wisconsinites in recent months that pit Biden against former President Donald Trump, who holds a large polling lead in the GOP primary, had the two men running roughly even, though a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released last week had Trump up four percentage points.

In Milwaukee, Biden contrasted his agenda with the Republicans who opposed major economic legislation as he seeks to return to Washington in a second term with a Democrat-controlled Congress.

“Republicans were against so many critical actions that help working middle class people, especially Black Americans,” the president said. “When I came to office, we cut black child poverty in half because of the child tax credit. And I tried to extend it, but every single Republican in Congress voted against continuing the program, but I'm not giving up till we get it back.”

White House officials said on Tuesday that Republicans are making “an intentional effort to erode ladders to Black economic development.”

“Every single Republican opposed the American Rescue Plan, which helped small businesses stay afloat during the pandemic and spurred that record small business boom. Many Republicans in Congress, including Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, opposed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and its provisions to rebuild crumbling infrastructure and remove lead pipes across the country,” Gamble said. “Republican members of Congress want to return to the failed trickle-down economics that’s left too many communities behind.”

Biden also announced 22 grant finalists for $190 million in funding for economic development plans across 19 states and Puerto Rico, eight of which are focused on entrepreneurship and investment in majority-Black communities.

Among the new investments is a grant for Milwaukee’s 30th Street Industrial Corridor, where the city has spent years working toward building “a major modern employment center and economic hub.” The White House said the corridor is home to a “historically segregated Black community.”

“This area became the backbone of Milwaukee's industrial might. Ten thousand Black people who migrated, tens of 1000s migrated from the South in the middle of the country to Milwaukke, to good paying manufacturing jobs,” Biden said. “Then decades of discrimination and trickle down economics left communities like this one behind.”

Vice President Kamala Harris will also visit Wisconsin as part of a campaign swing to highlight the fight over abortion rights on Jan. 22, the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that was overturned last year. 

“Abortion played an important role in the gubernatorial election last year, and played an important role in this state Supreme Court election in April,” Franklin said. “Polling here, including mine, consistently shows a 60-65% majority that says abortion should be legal in either all or most cases.” 

Republicans are making their play to retake the state after losing it narrowly to Biden in 2020, failing to beat Democratic Gov. Tony Evers last year and losing a state Supreme Court seat in April in an election widely seen as a referendum on legal access to abortion care. The first Republican presidential debate was held in Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention next summer will take over the city for three days.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris know they have lost the trust of Wisconsin voters. No publicity tour will mend the fences broken by the higher prices, lower wages, and declining Wisconsin GDP courtesy of Bidenomics,” Wisconsin Republican Party spokesperson Matt Fisher said.