By JOSH BOAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday is launching a website to map and track tens of thousands of infrastructure projects and private manufacturing investments, an effort by the administration to show the positive impact of its policies on the U.S. economy to a skeptical public.
The site, Invest.gov, documents roughly 32,000 infrastructure projects and more than $470 billion worth of investments in the production of electric vehicles, batteries, computer chips, biotech, clean energy and other sectors. President Joe Biden is seeking reelection in 2024 by trying to show how his policies are reshaping the U.S. economy to address climate change and compete with rivals such as China.
The president promoted the new website during a meeting Tuesday with his Cabinet, as part of a larger effort to keep public attention on a string of legislative wins during Biden’s first two years, when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate. Following $1.9 trillion in pandemic relief, Biden signed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill into law. He also secured more than $250 billion to invest in computer chip production and scientific research and created new tax incentives for renewable energy sources that are worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
“You can go down to every city, town, anywhere on the map and find out exactly how much we’ve invested so far, what the investment is for and how it’s going to affect your community,” Biden said of the new website during the meeting in the Cabinet Room at the White House.
Natalie Quillian, deputy White House chief of staff, said the site shows that Biden’s agenda is “underway and working.”
“We want people to be able to see what’s happening in their communities,” Quillian said.
U.S. adults have generally given Biden poor reviews on his economic leadership. Just 33% approve of how the president has handled the economy, according to a May survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. High inflation coming out of the pandemic has eroded confidence in Biden’s economic stewardship, overshadowing the 3.7% unemployment rate and more than 13 million jobs added during his presidency.
The rollout of the site comes shortly before the administration engages in additional public outreach with a second round of its “Investing in America” tour. It plans to send out Cabinet secretaries and other officials around the country as part of the two-week July 4 congressional recess. Biden and other top administration officials previously visited parts of the U.S. in March and April in hopes of putting more focus on their policies.
“ ‘Investing in America’ is more than just a slogan,” Biden said Tuesday. “For the first time, America is actually investing in itself, beginning to pay off.”
On the website, users on the site can look at a national map or scroll through projects by state. The site documents private investments of more than $100 million that the administration said its policies helped to spur. It also provides additional economic data and details at the state level, including on how administration policies have increased access to health care coverage and lowered prescription drug prices.
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
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