Aug 8, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Biden: Infrastructure, reconciliation bills can help Kentucky rebuild

Julia Shapero

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at a briefing on the ongoing response efforts to the recent flooding in Lost Creek, Kentucky on August 8, 2022. Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Monday touted recent bipartisan legislation as a tool to help eastern Kentucky rebuild from the devastating floods that killed 38 people.

The big picture: Senate Democrats finally passed a $740 billion tax, climate and health care reconciliation package on Sunday after more than a year of negotiations. The bill follows the massive $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that Congress passed last November.

What he's saying: "We’re all Americans," Biden said, while standing before wrecked homes in Lost Creek, Kentucky on Monday. "Everyone has an obligation to help. And we have the capacity to do this. It’s not like it’s beyond our control."

"It’s going to be different," Biden said. "We’re going to come back better than before ... We can get this done because we’re the only country in the world that has come out of every of disaster stronger than we went into it."
"We have the wherewithal to do it now with the legislation that’s been bipartisan-ly passed," he added. "So, I don’t want any Kentuckian telling me you don’t have to do this for me. Oh yeah we do. You’re an American citizen. We never give up; we never stop; we never bow; we never bend. We just go forward. And that's what we're going to do here."

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Biden: Infrastructure, reconciliation bills can help Kentucky rebuild

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