Solar panels are an increasing contributor to the U.S. power grid: USDA

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There was a time in a previous reality when creating tens of thousands of good paying jobs while rebuilding America would have been big news in newspapers and on television news channels. Not anymore.

Social media sensationalism and silly memes and videos have replaced the grocery store checkout line tabloids, and now everybody seems to be hooked on the adrenaline rush of the clickbait action. Even the national television news channels appear to be trying to compete with TikTok videos to capture and hold the attention of the public, to keep the money coming in from pharmaceutical company ads.

Even back in November of 2021, when President Joe Biden negotiated with the Senate and the House to pass the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the news was buried and ignored accept by those in the reality-based community of Democrats, college educated Republicans and independents who saw the long-term significance and progress of accomplishing something politicians had been talking about for decades: Rebuilding America’s “crumbling” infrastructure.

Related: Congressional Passage of the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is Huge

I’m not sure what people were expecting to happen after that, and it doesn’t appear that the public had an understanding of how the federal government spends money. It did nothing to stop the mad rush by the critics of the United States government, politicians who have been running for office by bashing Washington for four decades: The radical, Republican right.

With a full realization that this news will not go viral on social media, and will not turn us into millionaires overnight, the New American Journal is committed to covering how the Biden administration is spending this $1.2 trillion.

Critics of this president and this administration even on the left are blaming the “messaging” as the problem, even while even the best newspapers and television news shows left in this country are not covering the stories or attempting to explain to the American public how the money is being spent or all the jobs that are being created by the federal spending.

The news is coming out in drips and drabs by press release, like this one issued by the Department of Agriculture on Monday.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $808 million in new spending to help rural electric cooperatives build new and improve existing electric infrastructure to increase the reliability and security of the power grid, and especially connecting hundreds of thousands of people in rural areas, where the complaints about the “fedral gov’mt” seem to be the loudest.

Some of this new funding will also help provide clean drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems in rural areas.

According to the announcement, this spending alone will help about 480,000 people in 36 states and two U.S. territories, and create thousands of good-paying jobs.

While critics on the right started attacking this president’s federal spending plans as “Bidenomics,” this administration has adopted the slogan like Obama adopted “Obamacare.”

“The funding announced today advances President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, a key pillar of Bidenomics, to grow the American economy from the middle-out and bottom up,” the pitch reads, “from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving over $500 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating good-paying jobs and building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.”

“USDA invests in rural America because we know strong communities are rooted in their people,” Secretary Vilsack said in making the announcement, that was covered by not one news organization in the U.S. that we can find.

“Powering people with modern infrastructure creates good-paying jobs and supports opportunities for people to build brighter futures,” Vilsack said. “The investments we’re announcing today demonstrate the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to ensuring that people who live and work in rural areas have every opportunity to succeed – and that they can find those opportunities right at home.”

Unfortunately, many people in those areas are only paying attention to Fox News and other truth-challenged news sources and channels, like Trump’s own Truth Social and Elon Musk’s X, formerly known and still named Twitter.com.

The 139 investments will help people in 36 states and two territories, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the Marshall Islands.

If this was a list in a country song on TikTok and talk radio, maybe people would get the message.

In the announcement, a few examples were highlighted. Maybe these things will pickup some local news coverage at least.

In the West, 10,000 people in Safford, Arizona will get access to safe and reliable drinking water because of new federal spending.

In the South, more than 800 people in the town of Star, North Carolina will benefit from water improvements that will remove all lead-based paint from the elevated storage tank, reducing health hazards for the entire community.

In the Midwest, more than 300 people in Irwin, Iowa will get access to safe and dependable drinking water while money will be spent to replace steel, cast iron and lead service lines with copper lines in the water distribution system.

Households and businesses in northern Indiana will connect to 132 miles of new, reliable electric infrastructure lines.

In the Northeast, people in Waterloo, New York will gain access to safe and reliable drinking water.

People in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania will receive upgrades to their sewer monitoring system allowing the municipality to provide better service to the community.

The USDA is making the investments through the Electric Loan Program, Water and Waste Disposal Direct Loan and Grant Program, Water and Waste Disposal Loan Guarantees Program, Water and Waste Facility Loans and Grants to Alleviate Health Risks for Colonias Program, Solid Waste Management Grants Program, Community Facilities Program, Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program and Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program.

“Today’s announcement further advances the groundbreaking Biden-Harris Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan with $78 million in new awards for lead pipe remediation,” the department says. “With up to 10 million American households connecting to water through lead pipes and service lines, the administration is working aggressively to replace all lead service lines in America in the next decade.”

Under the Biden-Harris administration, Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, tribal and high-poverty areas.

But is anyone talking about it? What about the unions, where member workers are benefiting in a major way? Crickets.

If anyone cares, all of this information is available on the web on the USDA website. It’s probably buried somewhere on social media as well, if anyone cares to find it and share it.

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