Fox News: Popular Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Could “Give Political Bounce”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Will Be a “Major Selling Point” With Granite State Voters

In case you missed it, Fox News yesterday reported on how the popular Bipartisan Infrastructure Law could give a “political bounce” to New Hampshire Democrats and will be a “major selling point” with Granite State voters in the midterms. Senator Hassan, Congresswoman Kuster, and Congressman Pappas —who are all up for re-election next year— played critical roles in passing the law which will make investments to expand passenger rail, repair roads and bridges, increase access to high speed internet, and grow New Hampshire’s economy.

Key Excerpts:

• Transportation Secy. Pete Buttigieg’s travels across the country to showcase the benefits of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package President Biden signed into law last month took him on Monday to the crucial general election battleground state of New Hampshire.

• "The law represents a once in a generation investment in infrastructure and in jobs," Buttigieg touted at a news conference, as he stood in front of New Hampshire’s all Democratic congressional delegation with the picturesque rapids of the Merrimack River as a backdrop.

• The infrastructure measure, which includes more than $500 billion in new spending for "core" infrastructure projects such as transportation, broadband internet and electric utilities over the next eight years, grabbed bipartisan support in passing the Senate over the summer and the House early last month.

• While the transportation secretary’s New Hampshire visit was an official trip, it could give a political bounce to Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01), who both potentially face challenging reelections in the 2022 midterms, when their party aims to protect its razor-thin majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate amid a difficult political climate.

• Public opinion polls indicate that the infrastructure law is popular with most Americans. Two-thirds of those questioned in a Monmouth University national poll conducted Dec. 2-6 said they supported the law, with 31% opposed.

• Hassan, a former governor who’s running next year for a second term in the Senate, told Fox News that her "focus continues to be on listening to the people of New Hampshire and delivering on the priorities that they talk to me about."

• For Hassan, who’s a top target for Republicans as they try to regain the Senate majority, the infrastructure bill will likely be a major selling point on the campaign trail. The senator, who’s been touting her ability to cross the aisle to get things done as she runs for reelection, was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who worked on the bill.

• "We passed a bipartisan infrastructure deal that will finally fix our broken roads, clean up our drinking water, and tackle the existential threat of climate change, and ensure that every community in our state has high-speed internet," she stressed at a speech Saturday at a major New Hampshire Democratic Party fundraising gala. "After years of inaction from Washington, we are finally showing Americans that our democracy works."

• [Pappas] told Fox News that the infrastructure law is "clearly not about the next election or politics. This is about delivering on the promises that we’ve all made and the assurance that our communities need that we can come together and solve problems."

• The Transportation Department notes that the law "includes at least $1.1 billion for the state’s roads, $225 million for its bridges, $126 million for its public transportation, $100 million for high-speed internet, and $26 million for its airports."

• And some of the $10 billion the law will spend nationwide to clean up contaminated drinking water will be headed to the Granite State, where the issue is a top concern.