President Biden waves to the crowd at Dundalk Marine Terminal before his remarks. (Jack Bowman, CNS)BALTIMORE (October 29, 2024)—President Biden visited Baltimore's Dundalk Marine Terminal on Tuesday, just one week ahead of the 2024 presidential election, appearing alongside Gov. Wes Moore and other officials to reveal a $3 billion national investment in America's ports.
The visit comes on the tail of a labor strike by tens of thousands of port workers in early October. The now-ended strike impacted 36 ports across the country. Voters who are union members have historically been considered to be a core constituency of the Democratic Party.
The investment, coming from Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, includes $147 million directed to the Port of Baltimore with the goal of making the port more eco-friendly.
"Ports are the linchpin to America's supply chain," Biden said in his remarks. "But for too long, they've run on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure, putting workers at risk and exposing nearby communities to dangerous pollution."
Moore, speaking before Biden, expressed the same sentiment, saying that the project to clean up the Port of Baltimore will be "good for the environment" as well as for "the people who matter most, our workers."
Biden also took time in his remarks to reaffirm his commitment to rebuilding the collapsed Key Bridge, a pivotal part of his policy agenda in the waning days of his presidency.
"As I promised last spring, we won't stop until the new bridge is finished," Biden said. "And (we will) call on Congress to fully fund it, this year, before we go out."
The president also made sure to thank union workers, saying that organized labor "built the middle class."
Biden's remarks came just 40 miles away from and a few hours before Vice President Kamala Harris' scheduled speech at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., an address planned in the home stretch of her own bid for president.
While Biden's address in Baltimore was not a campaign event for Harris, it struck many of the same notes. Beyonce played over loudspeakers at the beginning of the event, where the president went on to call the Biden-Harris administration the "most pro-union" in the country's history. He also trumpeted their economic accomplishments.
"Remember how (people said) we're going to go into depression and all that stuff?" Biden asked. "Guess what? We've got the strongest economy in the world."
Biden also contrasted his administration's accomplishments with those of Donald Trump's, specifically on the issue of infrastructure and the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill he managed to pass.
"My predecessor promised infrastructure … for four years," Biden said. "They never built a damn thing."
Before Biden spoke, several state and local leaders took turns both thanking the president and expressing a commitment to Maryland's economy, the port, unions and the rebuilding of the Key Bridge.
Speakers included Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin of Maryland, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Maryland, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan.
"Thank you to President Biden for never taking his eye off the ball and keeping his commitment," Van Hollen said. "Not just with respect to opening the port and rebuilding the bridge but keeping his commitment to Maryland and the country."