Biden and Harris to go on the road to mark first 100 days and tout infrastructure plan
The Biden administration is launching a fresh cross-country blitz to mark their 100 days in office and to tout the president's proposed infrastructure spending.
The day after President Biden makes his first address to a joint session of Congress, he and first lady Jill Biden are set to visit Atlanta on Thursday to mark 100 days since his inauguration. The visit will include appearances by Democratic senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who won special elections in January cementing the Democratic Senate majority that made passage of Mr. Biden's American Rescue Plan possible, White House officials tell CBS News.
Officials conceded the visit to the Atlanta area is essentially a makeup for his first visit to the Peach State in March, which had to be rearranged as it came just days after a series of shootings that left eight people dead at Atlanta-area spas.
The Georgia visit is the official kickoff of "The Getting America Back on Track Tour," roughly 10 days of travel that will take top members of the Biden administration to roughly a dozen states, officials said.
On Friday, the president is set to visit Philadelphia to tout more details of the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, which combined would add about $4 trillion in federal spending, White House officials said. While in the city, the president is also set to mark the 50th anniversary of Amtrak, officials said. Mr. Biden is a longtime customer of the interstate rail service, having used trains to travel back and forth to Washington from Delaware during his 36 years in the Senate.
Officials said other stops are expected next week and will be announced soon. The president is also set to host bipartisan talks with lawmakers again next week at the White House, officials said.
Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to visit Baltimore on Thursday with a similar focus and is scheduled to visit Ohio on Friday. Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff is also scheduled to visit North Carolina on Friday as part of the administration's public push, the officials added.
The White House's travel plans come amid a wave of 100-day-related polls by national news outlets showing the president with positive approval ratings; a majority of Americans backing his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his decision to withdraw U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, but opposition to his response to the record wave of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
In Mr. Biden's address before the joint session of Congress, he is expected to acknowledge the events of January 6 and how they have transformed the U.S. Capitol, Congress and by extension, Washington. He is also expected to nod to a major first in American history: For the first time, a U.S. president will be flanked on the dais by two women, Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Drafts of the remarks began circulating late last week and copies of the latest draft, held together by black binder clips, were spotted in the West Wing on Monday.
Vinay Reddy, the president's lead speechwriter, and White House senior adviser Mike Donilon, who has collaborated with Mr. Biden on most major addresses and helped develop the "battle for the soul of the nation" focus of his 2020 campaign, are leading the speechwriting process.