US President Joe Biden’s $2tn infra plan includes rebuilding roads, bridges

US Prez’s $2 trillion infra plan includes rebuilding roads, bridges

Dearborn, United States, May 19: Joe Biden, sporting aviator sunglasses, looked out from the driver’s seat of Ford’s new electric truck and delivered a presidential proclamation: “This sucker’s quick.” The battery-powered Ford F-150 Lightning is due to be unveiled on Wednesday as the auto giant’s new big bet on the emerging electric auto market. But avid car enthusiast Biden not only got a sneak preview Tuesday — he managed a test drive.

Streaking across the enormous tarmac expanse of Ford’s proving grounds in Dearborn, Michigan, with just a Secret Service agent in the passenger seat for company, Biden appeared to be living his dream. The pickup truck, almost silent, flashed across the hot, hazy surface before turning back to journalists accompanying the president.

At 78, Biden is the oldest person ever elected to the White House but at the wheel he acted more like a giddy teenage driver.

The Lightning can hit 060 mph in about 4.4 seconds, he marvelled, prompting a moment of consternation among Ford executives who had wanted to keep details like that secret until launch day.

When queried by a journalist whether she could ask him a question about ongoing fighting in Israel, Biden snapped in a mock rebuke: “No you can’t. Not unless you get in front of the car as I step on it.” How fast had he managed to go? Now that did interest him.

Biden said he’d show everyone.

“Ready?”Journalists, Ford executives and White House staffers hurriedly got out the way.

Biden floored the accelerator to disappear across the tarmac a second time.

Biden was racing around in a yet-to-be-sold Ford truck to promote his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. In addition to rebuilding standard stuff like roads and bridges, Biden’s package would pour $174 billion into electric vehicle development.

Getting to Michigan required a 10-minute flight in a helicopter, 90 minutes of aviation fuel in Air Force One and 15 minutes riding in a gas guzzling motorcade comprising dozens of non-electric cars.

But Biden had no doubt about what the future should look like.

“We're at a great inflection point in American history,” he said.