What They Are Reading in the States: Cabinet Members Criss-Cross the Country Touting Vaccinations, Infrastructure, and the Build Back Better Agenda

This week, members of President Biden's Cabinet – including HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Commerce Gina Raimondo, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, and Council of Economic Advisors Chair Cecilia Rouse – traveled coast-to-coast touting the progress we have made as a country against COVID-10 and the the President's agenda to build our country back better.

From North Carolina to Wisconsin to California, Americans are reading in their local news about everything from the whole-of-government response to the pandemic and the need for communities to get vaccinated to the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and President Biden's Build Back Better Agenda.

See below for a sampling of the local coverage Americans across the country are reading this week:

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte Observer: 'We're worried.' Gov. Cooper, US HHS Secretary share COVID Delta variant concerns in NC
[Hannah Smoot and Yiwen Lu, 7/7/21]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Vaccination rates and the need to get more people in Charlotte and the state vaccinated was front of mind on Wednesday for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who was in town to meet with U.S. Rep Alma Adams, Gov. Roy Cooper and community health leaders.

North Carolina is ready to do whatever it takes to get residents vaccinated against the coronavirus, Cooper said.

In their visit to a vaccination site at the Charlotte Transit Center in uptown, Cooper said the state has seen a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases recently — likely due to the Delta variant, which is more contagious than the original strain of the coronavirus.

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WCNC: 'It's going to happen visit by visit' | Gov. Cooper and NC officials continue push for increasing vaccine rate

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra made a stop in Charlotte Wednesday to visit a pop-up vaccine clinic at Uptown's Transit Center to promote and encourage vaccinations.

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"Of the Americans who are still dying today in America, 99% of them are unvaccinated. Get vaccinated. We want you to live, we want you to prosper but more than that we want you to be able to hug your child again and to be safe around your grandparents," Becerra said.

The delta variant is a real threat to people who aren't vaccinated, and the longer they put it off, the more opportunity the virus has to mutate again and again.

"We have to stay ahead of this because what we don't want is for all that good work, the masking, the social distancing, and especially the vaccinations to be for not because we let this thing evolve to a point where it out does any kind of vaccine that's out there," Becerra said.

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Vilsack, Sisolak, Lee tout school nutrition program
[Rory Appleton, 7/8/21]

HENDERSON, N.V. – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Gov. Steve Sisolak and Rep. Susie Lee toured a Henderson elementary school's summer lunch program on Thursday, where they spoke with administrators and students before hyping up President Joe Biden's ongoing legislative goals at a news conference.

"Kids who are not fed well and kids who are not fed at all have a very hard time being educated, and that compromises their future and our country's future," Vilsack said after the tour of Estes McDoniel Elementary.

"So if we're interested in being a competitive nation… that continues to grow, continues to provide world leadership, we've got to make sure these youngsters are well-educated. And for them to be well-educated, they have to be well-nourished."

The trio of Democratic politicians praised McDoniel and the Clark County School District for providing millions of meals to students during the pandemic, in part through U.S. Agriculture Department and federal programs.

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Lee and Vilsack attributed recent success in providing services to those in need to the American Rescue Plan, the Biden administration and Congress' latest stimulus package. Both also stressed the need for Biden's infrastructure and family plans, two mammoth bill proposals currently under discussion in Congress, to keep services flowing beyond the pandemic and fight against hunger, climate change, education cuts and various other national ills.

"(Biden's American Families Plan) will double down on our efforts to get nutrition into the hands of students, which they need to succeed in school," Lee said. "And a key piece of that will include $17 billion meals for children in the highest poverty school districts."

Lee has backed a more modest bipartisan infrastructure deal in recent weeks, and she said Thursday the Families Plan proposal would likely go through similar negotiations once the infrastructure deal is done. Nevada, she said, is poised to benefit more than any other state from both plans, as the state was hit hardest during the pandemic.

Vilsack further pushed the importance of the Families Plan, noting that it could one day provide free community college to the students of McDoniel and the school district, as well as child care tax credits for their parents and universal preschool for their siblings.

"It's necessary that we also recognize that investing in American families is the human infrastructure that's going to ensure a competitive future for our country," Vilsack said. "And that American Families Plan addresses a lot of the challenges, a lot of the stresses that American families feel today."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque Journal: NM rural water systems receive $5.1 million in funding
[Theresa Davis, 7/7/21]

OHKAY OWINGEH PUEBLO – The wastewater treatment plant at Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo has seen better days.

Corroded equipment and old pipes and tanks make up the small facility in Rio Arriba County.

"Everything is so old that it's hard to find parts," said plant manager Nelson Edmonds. "We're operating, but just barely."

The pueblo will receive a $1.5 million grant and $610,000 loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build a new wastewater treatment facility.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said clean water access and modern water infrastructure systems are as much an economic priority as a public health issue.

"If you don't have the capacity to handle more wastewater treatment, you simply can't grow as a community, and you can't ask for additional housing to be built," Vilsack said during a Wednesday visit to the pueblo.

"You can't ask for businesses to locate here, you can't create jobs. So this is a job creator. It's a business opportunity," he said.

USDA announced the project on Wednesday as part of a $307 million allocation for rural drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.

In New Mexico, another $1.9 million grant will help San Ildefonso Pueblo in Santa Fe County upgrade its sewer system.

The project will connect 34 homes that are currently on a septic system, and add five connections for tribal government buildings.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, whose district includes both pueblos, said the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a need for tribal water infrastructure upgrades.

"Many Indigenous communities did not have access to clean water, did not have access to sanitation," the New Mexico Democrat said. "And it had deadly consequences."

The U.S. Water Alliance estimates that Native households are 19 times more likely than white households to lack indoor plumbing.

Many Indigenous communities, some without consistent clean water access, have had disproportionately-high virus infection rates.

"I have spent decades working on water infrastructure," Leger Fernández said. "It's not sexy. It is pipes in the ground. But those pipes in the ground save lives."

The Ohkay Owingeh project is part of a regional water utility plan, said Benny Lujan, the pueblo's public works director.

A $1.3 million grant awarded in 2020 by the New Mexico Tribal Infrastructure Fund will also support the reconstruction.

"We'll start putting trunk lines in the next phases," Lujan said. "Then we're going to start reaching out north of us, and then across the river to our neighbors. It's going to take some working with Rio Arriba County and those communities, but we're hoping that they can all get on board."

The new facility will expand the pueblo's water treatment capacity from 235,000 gallons per day to 350,000 gallons.

A Belen facility is the third New Mexico project funded this year through the USDA program for water and waste disposal projects.

Belen will receive a $580,000 grant and $409,000 loan to build a facility that removes arsenic from one of the city's water wells.

The well currently exceeds U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and New Mexico Environment Department drinking water standards for arsenic.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in Riverside, California

KCAL-TV (CBS Los Angeles): VIDEO: U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh In Southern California To Promote Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Plan

U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is visiting Southern California to promote the Biden Administration's plan to invest in the nation's infrastructure and workforce. Katie Johnston reports.

California News Times: U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh visits Riverside County
[7/8/21]

U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh Promotes Federal Interests Coronavirus A relief package for working families on Thursday, July 8th, when members of the Biden Cabinet made their first official visit to Riverside County.

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Walsh's visit facilitated American rescue planA $ 1.9 trillion COVID bailout bill was passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in March without a Republican vote. The president and other Democrats have gone nationwide to promote their agenda and achievements as they pass the infrastructure bill in the 2022 midterm elections and fight to maintain control of parliament. is.

The legislation includes an increase in child tax credits from $ 2,000 to $ 3,600 for children under the age of 6 and $ 3,000 for children aged 6 to 17. Beginning July 15, families will receive a direct payment of $ 300 per month for children under the age of 6 and $ 250 per month for children between the ages of 6 and 17.

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"The pandemic has hit the childcare industry in a really difficult way," he said after the roundtable. "Before that, proper investment in the childcare industry … wasn't made by the federal government, and to be honest, by states across the country."

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Walsh said Americans want the type of investment offered by the American rescue program. "Democrats (and) Republicans alike," wait a minute. This is great, "he told reporters. "As time goes on, I think some people will have to answer questions from the members."

EPA Administrator Michael Regan in Detroit, Michigan

The Detroit News: EPA head touts infrastructure plan to help Metro Detroit recover from flooding, replace lead pipes
[By Mark Hicks and Ben Wilson, 7/8/21]

Detroit — The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said a proposed bipartisan infrastructure deal would upgrade water infrastructure to help Michigan communities in flood-prone areas and replace 10 million lead pipes nationally as well as in Michigan.

"President Biden and a bipartisan infrastructure framework will help us eliminate these lead pipes, improve the resiliency of our infrastructure, and most importantly, support communities for recovery from disaster," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

The EPA administrator toured Water Resource Recovery Facility on Detroit's southwest side before speaking at a press conference with local and elected officials about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework.

[…]

Regan pointed to the deal in helping Michigan communities affected by last month's flooding.

"We see the need to replace and upgrade water infrastructure to revitalize those communities — for the next century," he said.

Regan called the plan "transformational," including the use of money needed to replace the nation's lead pipes "and by putting dollars into our communities."

"It will create good paying union jobs and strengthen the future water workforce that our nation's so badly needs," he said.

Detroit Free Press: Top EPA official visits Ford privately: Why he was there
[By Phoebe Wall Howard, 7/9/21]

[…]

The Dearborn automaker has proven to be a company that will not pivot with the political winds but, instead, stay the course on a clearly defined mission to help save the planet, a top federal official told the Free Press.

As a result, Ford has inspired confidence it can be trusted at its word when it comes to being an industry advocate and committing to building products that pollute less.

Now the company is playing a key role in helping inform the nation's top regulatory official — Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — who is working with President Biden to shape public policy designed to reduce vehicle emissions and improve air quality.

Ford has essentially become an ambassador for the auto industry.

Ford earned the trust of policymakers in Washington today by choosing to stand with California in its consistent fight for tough air quality regulations rather than side with the Trump Administration in an attempt to weaken emissions requirements. Meanwhile, General Motors, then-Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Toyota and others chose to challenge California, then pivoted after Biden was elected.

Bill Ford, executive chairman of the company, has long advocated for sustainability and support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It is this record of commitment that influenced a decision by Regan to visit the Ford Dearborn Development Center on Thursday.

Regan spent hours in Dearborn talking with engineers and company officials about what's possible when it comes to making innovative new vehicles and what's needed to assist the American public in getting access to charging stations that may one day replace traditional gas station fuel pumps. They talked technology and workforce impact.

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EPA Administrator Michael Regan in Flint, Michigan

Flint Journal: New EPA Administrator on Flint visit: 'We are here to learn'
[Dylan Goetz, 7/7/21]

New EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the McKenzie Patrice Croom Flint Community Water Testing Lab in one of his first community visits after being appointed by President Joe Biden.

Regan met Mayor Sheldon Neeley, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, students that work at the water testing lab and other members of the community during his Wednesday, July 7 visit. He said he wanted to come to Flint to learn about how cities are taking control of their own futures.

Regan spoke to ensure the public that the upcoming infrastructure bill, currently still in the U.S. Senate, will help provide water infrastructure resources and other key infrastructure projects that can tackle water infrastructure in America.

Michigan Radio: EPA chief works to rebuild trust with Flint residents
[By Steve Carmody, 7/7/21]

The new administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency was in Flint Wednesday, in part to address the agency's battered image in the community.

Michael Regan toured a community lab where young people test the quality of water samples. The lab was set up after Flint residents grew mistrustful of claims of government agencies, including the EPA, that their lead tainted water was safe to drink.

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Regan has been visiting many cities to tout the Biden administration's ambitious infrastructure plans, while also trying to heal old wounds.

"We got to work hard to rebuild and earn the trust of the communities," Regan told reporters, "We can't do that sitting behind desks in Washington, D.C."

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Regan says President Biden is committed to removing the nation's lead service lines. Biden wants to spend tens of billions of dollars to replace lead pipes connecting millions of homes to city water mains nationwide.

The U.S. Senate will soon take up a scaled down version of the president's original infrastructure proposal.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: EPA chief visits Milwaukee, leaders say federal funding provides opportunity to replace lead lines
[By Hope Karnopp, 7/6/21]

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan visited Milwaukee Tuesday to discuss a bipartisan infrastructure framework that would support the city's efforts to replace lead service lines — an estimated $800 million project the city says could be accelerated with federal help.

Regan met with local leaders to tour a water infrastructure project and hear updates on the city's progress in replacing lead service lines.

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure framework that the Biden administration supports includes a goal to eliminate all lead service lines and pipes in the country. It also includes providing all homes with high-speed internet and repairing roads and bridges.

'We don't have to choose between jobs, resilient infrastructure and preparation for climate change. This is an opportunity to do all three,' Regan said of the proposal.

WDJT-TV (CBS Milwaukee): EPA tours Milwaukee's Pulaski Park highlighting infrastructure deal
[7/6/21]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan visited Milwaukee Tuesday, July 6. He wanted to highlight the infrastructure deal crafted by a partisan group of senators and backed by President Joe Biden.

Regan toured Pulaski Park with city and local leaders. They showcased Pulaski Park for how investing in water infrastructure can reduce flooding risk, improve safety, and restore habitat.

Regan spoke highly about Milwaukee's efforts to clean up its rivers and waterways.

'Milwaukee is doing exactly what we want to see the rest of the country doing, looking at ways to marry jobs, natural resources, protecting the planet, protecting communities,' said Regan.

WITI-TV (Fox Milwaukee): EPA tours Milwaukee water infrastructure, touts benefit of investment
[By Jason Calvi, 7/6/21]

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan touted a federal plan to replace all of Milwaukee's 70,000 lead service lines, visiting the city Tuesday, July 6.

The visit comes a week after President Joe Biden visited La Crosse to sell his infrastructure plan.

Since 2017, Milwaukee has removed a small fraction of it's 70,000 lead service lines -- replacing 3,881.

'There's absolutely no way we could move at the speed with which want to move, unless we had the federal involvement,' said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

'We know what lead pipes mean for public health, especially for children,' said Regan. 'It's important that we get it done.'

E&E News: Regan touts plan to replace 100% of lead pipelines
[By Hannah Northey, 7/6/21]

EPA Administrator Michael Regan today touted President Biden's infrastructure package and emphasized that the plan would replace all lead service lines in the U.S., even as questions arise about funding on Capitol Hill.

After touring Pulaski Park in Milwaukee, Regan told reporters that an agreed-upon infrastructure deal would remove the nation's lead pipelines (E&E Daily, June 15).

The White House has said lead service lines provide water for about 400,000 schools and day care centers and up to 10 million homes.

'The proposal for the infrastructure framework means exactly what the president said,' Regan said in an interview that was aired on a local Fox affiliate. 'It would replace 100% of the lead pipes in this country.'

Council of Economic Advisors Chair Cecilia Rouse in Boston, Massachusetts

Boston Globe: Congresswomen join Biden Economic Adviser to tout American Families Plan child care changes
[Stephanie Ebbert, 7/7/21]

CAMBRIDGE — Making the case that child care is critical infrastructure, President Biden's top economist joined three Massachusetts congresswomen Wednesday in advocating for an infusion of public funds through the president's $1.8 trillion American Families Plan.

The event was part of a national road show put on by the Biden administration and Democratic allies, that also featured Biden touting the plan in Illinois on Wednesday. In Cambridge, the Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Cecilia Rouse, joined Representatives Katherine Clark, Ayanna Pressley, and Lori Trahan at a local child care center that remains understaffed post-pandemic, and unable to meet its licensed capacity of children, despite a lengthy wait list.

"We could put more children in there if we could find staff," Laura Perille, CEO of Nurtury Early Education, told the delegation. Nine classrooms remain closed across Nurtury's five centers in Greater Boston, since staffing has dropped from 170 to 145. The top reason child care workers left during the pandemic, she said, was that they couldn't find care for their own children.
The centers also had to scale back their hours to accommodate fewer teachers, putting a crunch on working parents' abilities to rejoin the work force. "We have families that can't work their full shift," Perille said.

The event underscored Democrats' commitment to investing in the nation's "care infrastructure," after the pandemic exposed its fragility — and the extent to which the economy relies upon underpaid workers, often of color, to care for other workers' children and other family members. But Biden is still trying to secure a deal on a traditional infrastructure package and Republicans in Washington have been critical of additional steep spending on items like childcare.

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