WASHINGTON (US) – US President Joe Biden will travel to Wisconsin on Tuesday to push his case for a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill in the political battleground state, which helped safeguard his victory in last year’s presidential election.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “That’s an opportunity to hear directly from people about how the dual crises – the pandemic and its economic fallout, are impacting them.”
Biden has visited his home state of Delaware and to the Camp David presidential retreat, however, the trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city, will make it his first on official business ever since becoming commander-in-chief.
The state, which has 10 Electoral College votes, supported the Democratic president over Donald Trump.
Biden wants Congress to give approval for his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill in the coming weeks in order to get $1,400 stimulus checks reach Americans, and to extend aid for unemployment payments.
The White House strategy to promote the package and other policy goals involves interacting with people to get voters. Biden, 78, is stepping up his travel in coming days, and has gotten vaccinated.
On Thursday he will visit a Pfizer manufacturing site in Michigan, another political swing state, and will talk to workers, who are part of the manufacture of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. Its 16 Electoral College votes also contributed to Biden’s election win.
There has been resistance from Republicans to the President over the stimulus bill’s high price tag. Biden and his allies have argued that going “big” will help the economy to gain the strength and bring the pandemic under control in a country.