White House adviser Mitch Landrieu on Biden’s economic message and vision

Geoff Bennett:

President Biden traveled to Chicago today to promote his economic agenda, laying out his vision for the future and explaining how he believes his economic policies have delivered so far.

It's just one stop on a nationwide tour, with administration officials also promoting the president's message on jobs, manufacturing, and infrastructure.

Mitch Landrieu is responsible for implementing the president's infrastructure plan, and he joins us now from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

Mitch Landrieu, Senior Adviser to President Biden: Yes, it's great to be with you.

Geoff Bennett:

So President Biden wants to own this economy. He's selling the American people on his economic vision, what the White House sees as a post-pandemic resurgence.

The challenge for this White House is that the American people, by and large, think that this economy is in bad shape. Poll after poll shows that, including this one from Pew Research. They give the president poor marks on his handling of the economy, and it's bringing down his overall approval rating.

How do you explain that disconnect?

Mitch Landrieu:

Well, I think the president did a very good job of explaining it today.

I mean, the last couple of years, as you know, has been very difficult for the people in the United States of America and worldwide, with the war in the Ukraine and the pandemic. And we're slowly coming out of it. I mean, the facts are the facts.

The president has been able to create 13.1 million jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs, the massive amount of investments that are made across America that are coming out of the ground as we speak. And, as the president said, trickle-down economics never worked. Top down to the bottom never work. So he's building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

I happened to be in an IBEW training facility right now, where there 100 folks that are getting trained for all of the jobs that are hitting the ground in Chattanooga, Tennessee, if you can believe that, in the Deep South, investments in roads and bridges and airports and ports, a clean energy economy.

Just this week, the president made a historic announcement of $40 billion to make sure that high-speed Internet gets to every community in the country, so that we can actually build the economy that's necessary. And there's lots of evidence it's working. We have the lowest unemployment rate that we have seen in 50 years.

And as you have seen, all of these projects, 35,000 of them, are coming out of the ground. And that can't happen without folks in America working on those projects, manufacturing those projects with American workers and using it with products that are made in America. That's what Bidenomics is about.

Everything takes a little time to take root, but the evidence out there right now, is that we're succeeding really, really, really well.

Geoff Bennett:

As President Biden ties his fate to the economy, he was telling donors this past week that he thinks the U.S. will avoid a potential recession, a recession that many forecasters think is on the way.

What accounts for the president's confidence? What are you all seeing that many banks and economists aren't seeing?

Mitch Landrieu:

Well, first of all, there's no empirical evidence right now that a recession is headed our way.

All of the economic indicators are very strong, as I said, 13.1 million jobs. The president has created more jobs in two years than every other president has created in four years, low unemployment rate. Wages are going up. Costs are going down.

People have been predicting that a recession is coming since the president has been in office. And I guess, one day, they're going to be correct about that. But, right now, I think most people think that it's being handled well.

We have a long way to go. It's a tough slog. Inflation is still higher than we want it to be, which is why the president is concentrating hard on lowering costs, like prescription drugs and health care costs, as well as for hearing aids, junk fees, things like that, that will help lower the costs for American citizens.

But, right now, the economic indicators are very strong.

Geoff Bennett:

We have a couple of minutes left. And I want to ask you about infrastructure, because you are President Biden's point man on infrastructure, that $1.2 trillion bill he signed into law.

It's a lot of money. A lot of state and local governments want access to it. How do you approach what I imagine is a really complex bidding process for projects big and small, so that the end result is as ambitious and era-defining as President Biden says he wants it to be?

Mitch Landrieu:

Well, first of all, again, this is the largest investment in infrastructure in the history of the country, even going back 50 years since the interstate system.

And then, yesterday, with the announcement of the high-speed Internet, that's the largest investment in America since the electrification of rural America in 1936. So it is a big deal, as the president likes to say. We have hit the ground running. We're getting the job done.

You saw just a week ago, when they had a crash at I-95, in partnership with the governor and the folks on the ground, we were able to kind of get that thing back up and moving within 12 days. So we can get big stuff done when we do it together.

Just in the last 18 months, we have pushed out $225 billion. We have 35,000 projects under way in the United States of America in all of the states and the territories and the District of Columbia. So we're hitting our marks. Ninety percent of this money is going to be spent by the governors and the mayors of America.

And my team is in regular contact with them to make sure this money gets down to the ground and actually is coming out. People are starting to see these projects as we speak.

Geoff Bennett:

Many of these payoffs are down the line. It takes time, as you well know, to implement many of these infrastructure projects.

Electoral politics is about the here and now. I'm sure you know that, as a former mayor, former lieutenant governor. Is messaging enough? Is it enough for President Biden to go around the country telling people what he's doing? He's been doing that for the last two years. But it doesn't seem to be resonating, at least according to the polling.

Mitch Landrieu:

Well, first of all, you have got to do the hard work of governing. And that requires you to build a team, get the money out the door, and then, of course, to tell the story.

Telling the story is an important part of it. And the story really is critical. As I said, today, I'm in an IBEW hall, and I am witnessing with my eyes 50 to 100 individuals in an apprenticeship program. They're getting paid right now to learn how to do the work.

We have to lay down 500,000 electrical vehicle charging stations. So we are actually in a space right now where we're proving that what we're doing is working, high-paying jobs for folks that are using products that are made in America to rebuild America, so that it's going to be stronger, more resilient, and give people a sense that there's a great future.

We used to send jobs overseas. And many of these communities, especially in the South and, quite frankly, all over the country got hallowed out. The president is turning that around. That's what Bidenomics is about. So, the failed theory of trickle-down economics is being replaced with the idea that, in America, when we do things together, we can do big things, especially if you build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out and you don't leave anybody behind.

And we believe that American citizens will benefit tremendously from that, because they're the ones that are actually making it happen.

Geoff Bennett:

Senior presidential adviser Mitch Landrieu, we appreciate you. Thanks for your time.

Mitch Landrieu:

Thanks. Thanks for having me.