The I-40 bridge fracture, the Colonial Pipeline attack, and the Iowa train derail have added pressure to the pending infrastructure package.
Negotiations between leading Republicans and President Biden will resume this week after a round of talks last week, which both sides called “productive.” Critics have said that Biden’s proposal is too broad, but he rejected Republican’s first counter offer.
They are expected to present a revised plan tomorrow.
Former Senator Heidi Heitkamp says that there is still a lot of speculation surrounding that infrastructure package. Her One Country Project has examined the President’s first 100 days in office and polled the sentiment in rural America. The report shows that rural America does not see strong job creation happening with any green energy plan and some producers are worried about what it means for their commodities.
A soybean grower shared his thoughts directly with Heitkamp.
“One thing that he said that I thought was so sophisticated is, he said, ‘Look, we aren’t just concerned about cash flow here, we are concerned about whether our products are going to get, basically, labelled out of the international market because they don’t meet certain environmental kind of green carbon standards,’” she explains.
With the first 100 days behind them, One Country now hopes to work with the administration to institutionalize information from the reports to build a policy for rural America.
Related:
What the path forward looks like for Biden’s infrastructure plan
Soy Transportation Coalition on the impact of the I-40 bridge closure
Biofuel groups say that Biden’s infrastructure plan misses the mark