Joe Biden Heads to Iowa for the First Time Since 2020
President Joe Biden is set to visit Iowa on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, according to reports. It would mark the president's first visit to the Hawkeye state since October 2020, when he was in the home-stretch of his campaign to become president.
On Saturday, the White House said that Biden will be visiting Menlo, a small city in Guthrie County roughly 45 minutes west of Des Moines. Biden is expected to address his economic agenda as well as infrastructure law.
As of now, however, it is not clear where exactly Biden will speak.
Last year, Biden's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal was signed into law. The bill's goal was to funnel billions of dollars into projects in states across the country, including, but not limited to, repairing highways and bridges, improving public transportation, and more.
The bill gave Iowa quite a bit of funding as well: $3.4 billion to repair highways, $482 million to repair bridges, over $600 million to improve water infrastructure, $300 million for public transportation, and over $100 million to put towards airport upgrades.
Beyond looking at capital improvements across the Hawkeye state, the bill also gave $15 million to Iowa in effort to prevent cyberattacks.
The bill was passed 69-30 by the Senate in August 2021 and subsequently passed 228-206 by the House of Representatives. It was signed into law by Biden on November 15, 2021.
While it will take many years to see Biden's infrastructure vision come to fruition, Biden's Tuesday trip to Menlo will undoubtedly draw a sizable crowd to the town of merely a few hundred people.
If you're interested, here's the speech Biden gave in Des Moines back in October 2020.