President Joe Biden celebrated his 100th day in office Thursday, thanking Georgia voters for bringing Democrats under congressional control and promoting his plans to spend trillions of dollars on rebuilding the US economy.
At a drive-in rally in Duluth, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, Biden recognized the importance of Georgia democratic victories on his agenda.
“We’re especially grateful to the people of Georgia,” Biden told a crowd watching from cars outside a sports arena due to COVID-19. “They help us prove that democracy can still deliver for the people.”
Biden carried the Republican southern state in the November presidential election, the first Democrat in 28 years, and the January election victories of Georgia’s two Democratic Senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, put the Democrats in control of the Senate.
The president reminded the audience that the votes of Warnock and Ossoff were instrumental in passing his $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package in March.
Shortly before he began his remarks, Biden was briefly interrupted by demonstrators speaking out against privately run immigration detention centers.
Biden visited Georgia the day after his first address at a joint congressional session calling on Americans to support his plan to invest a total of $ 4 trillion in families and infrastructure to rebuild the middle class.
Biden told Congress his plans would add millions of well-paying jobs and trillions of dollars to economic output in the years to come, while also helping to reverse decades of systemic racism.
US President Joe Biden gives his first address to a socially distant joint session of the US Congress in the house chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, USA, on April 28, 2021. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst / Pool
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Republicans have harshly criticized the corporate tax hikes that Biden proposed to fund his plans.
“In the 21st century, infrastructure is not just steel and concrete, it’s people,” Biden said of the Duluth event hosted by the Democratic National Committee to celebrate his first 100 days in office.
“Guys, it’s only been 100 days,” said Biden. “We’re working again, we’re dreaming again.”
Georgia has also become a hot spot in a nationwide struggle for voting rights. Over 100 US corporations, as well as civil rights activists and sports leagues, have spoken out against voting restrictions passed by Georgia’s Republican legislature. Continue reading
Biden has spoken out strongly against the restrictions, calling them “sick” and “un-American”.
Similar measures are being considered in other Republican-controlled states, where supporters have used former President Donald Trump’s false claims about election fraud in the 2020 election to push for changes they believe are needed to improve electoral integrity.
Previously, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, at their home in the small town of Plains, about 150 miles south of Atlanta.
After spending limited time on the road due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden is stepping up his itinerary and plans to visit Pennsylvania and Virginia in the coming days.
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