Biden unveiled $500 million for Philly water upgrades as he aims to show how his infrastructure bill has worked

Standing in a green-tiled building that has treated Philadelphia’s water for more than a century, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday unveiled $500 million in funding for lead pipe replacements and other water service upgrades in the city as the pair aimed to show that their bipartisan infrastructure bill is delivering results.

At the Belmont Water Treatment Plant, Biden held what Democrats expect to be one of many events leading up to the 2024 elections in which the president and his allies demonstrate that his first two years in office have delivered tangible public benefits, even as gridlock takes hold in Washington.

“Every American deserves to be able to turn on their water tap or faucet and be able to drink clean water,” Biden said. But despite America’s wealth, “unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

Standing between filter tanks in a facility that has treated water since 1902, Biden noted that lead pipes are most prominent in older cities with aging infrastructure, and have the worst effects on the lowest-income residents. Some 160,000 lead service lines affect 10 million families in Pennsylvania, he said.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia could start using federal funds to replace lead pipes as soon as this spring, city officials said

Harris spoke about meeting the mother of a Milwaukee 9-year-old who was hospitalized twice for lead poisoning.

“We have made access to clean water a priority for our administration’s national agenda,” Harris said, touting “the largest investment in America’s water infrastructure in history.”

Biden arrived in Philadelphia on the back of a robust jobs report that showed employers added 517,000 jobs in January. The unemployment rate of 3.4% is the lowest in more than 50 years.

He pointed to the 12 million jobs added since he took office, saying that’s more in two years than any other president had seen in a full term.

“That’s the strongest two-year growth in history, and by a long shot,” Biden said in Philadelphia.

His stop in Philly, just days before his State of the Union speech Tuesday, signals how Biden and fellow Democrats plan to approach the run-up to next year’s election. Knowing they’re unlikely to secure major legislative victories with the newly divided government in Washington, Democrats plan to unspool a steady stream of infrastructure projects and other benefits they say will flow from the bills they passed in the first two years of Biden’s tenure.

They envision events showcasing bridge repairs, broadband internet expansion, and airport upgrades.

“And by the way, all this money we’re spending, it’s going to be hiring union workers,” Biden said.

» READ MORE: Biden comes to Philly to cast past accomplishments as a case for 2024 success

Those arguments will be especially critical in Pennsylvania, which will once again be a premier presidential battleground and host a critical U.S. Senate race.

The money for the water projects includes $160 million in loans from the infrastructure law and a $340 million loan from the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s part of $8.1 billion that the infrastructure law has already steered to Pennsylvania, according to the White House, aiding more than 168 projects, with more expected in the coming years. While the Biden administration described the infrastructure law funding as a grant, the city later clarified that the funding is from below-market rate loans.

The first part of the funding is expected to help replace 19 miles of water mains, and the service lines connected to them, while the EPA loan is projected to help replace about 160 lead service lines and 13 miles of water mains. The White House originally described the 19 miles of pipes as lead pipe service lines. The EPA loan will save Philadelphia about $4 million, Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, both Pennsylvania Democrats, said in a news release.

“Children and families in Philadelphia get their drinking water through lead pipes — not because they choose to, but because the City of Philadelphia has not been able to replace these outdated and dangerous pipes,” Casey said in a statement. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration, that will no longer be the case.”

Fetterman, who flew to Philadelphia with the president on Air Force One, called it “a huge, game-changing investment.”

He added, “This is just another example of the president and Democrats in the Senate getting things done for the people of Pennsylvania, and we’re going to keep making these kinds of investments in communities that have been left behind.”

While lead poisoning has declined in Philadelphia, about 11% of the city’s 3-year-olds, roughly 2,200 children, had blood lead levels considered concerning by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021. Children in a cluster of the poorest, majority-Black areas of the city were most at risk.

Some 20,000 homes in Philadelphia “are at risk because they have lead pipes carrying water to their faucets,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said at the event.

“People just want to be able to turn on the tap and trust what comes out,” the Democratic governor said.

Biden was introduced by Jana Curtis, a mom who founded Get The Lead Out Riverwards to advocate for treatment of lead service lines in Philadelphia. Curtis talked about the terror of finding out her baby daughter had lead levels four times what is considered normal.

As he took the stage, Biden brought her daughter, Nolyn, on stage.

“You did so much for so many kids,” he said as the 7-year-old smiled shyly. “What you went through, you changed the lives of hundreds, millions of kids in America, so we owe you a big round of applause.”

» READ MORE: Here’s what Pa.’s and N.J.’s chunk of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill might buy

Republicans have continued to blast Biden’s agenda, saying his spending has contributed to inflation. That’s why, they argue, voters gave the GOP control of the U.S. House: to check the Democratic president.

“The Biden-Harris economic agenda has caused nothing but pain and misery for American families,” Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement ahead of Biden’s event. “Their failed policies have robbed workers of their hard-earned money and forced Americans to take a pay cut.”

After the public event, Biden and Harris headlined a fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee, and then spoke at a national DNC meeting in Center City, where

Democrats packed the Sheraton ballroom and chanted for them in a pep rally-like atmosphere.

Harris said her mantra for the year ahead is “momentum.”

“Democrats, we are delivering — actually we are delivering big time,” she said on a stage flanked by DNC members waving “Go Joe” and “Kamala” signs. “We have momentum and now let’s let the people know. This is what they voted for and this is what is happening.”

With Biden’s backing, DNC members were expected to vote on upending the party’s presidential primary schedule, elevating South Carolina to hosting the first Democratic primary contest, and demoting Iowa and New Hampshire.

Many Democrats argue that a state with a large Black voter base should have more prominence given the demographics of the party’s supporters, and that Iowa and New Hampshire don’t reflect the Democratic coalition. South Carolina is also the state that revived Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign after he had flopped in the first two primary contests that year.

The president’s appearance seemed to preview a likely Biden reelection campaign announcement.

Biden, who took the stage to a “four more years!” chant, followed by a weak “E-A-G-L-E-S” chant, told the party faithful he would build on the successes of the last two years.

“America is back and we’re leading the world again,” Biden said.

He ended by telling the crowd, “We carry a heavy responsibility and an extraordinary opportunity to build the future we want for our children and our grandchildren and an extraordinary opportunity to build an America that’s more fair and more just and more free.”

This story has been corrected to clarify the miles of water mains that will be replaced with the $160 million in funding, and later corrected to note that the financing will be in loans. The headline has also been updated to clarify that the $500 million is for water upgrades and other water projects.