Day: January 16, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2024
CONTACT: ldpcommunications@lademo.org

LOUISIANA DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT BIDEN’S FINAL OVAL OFFICE ADDRESS

Chair Gaines: “Biden has fought for working people and ushered in historic gains for Louisiana… Louisiana Democrats will build on this progress”

BATON ROUGE, LA — Last night, President Joe Biden addressed the American people from the Oval Office for the final time. You can view his full speech here. 

Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Randal Gaines released the following statement:

“For over 50 years, President Joe Biden has served the American people with courage, conviction, and clarity. Louisiana Democrats offer our thanks for his lifetime of service, and a recognition of the remarkable progress achieved for Louisiana under the Biden-Harris administration. 

“From championing historic legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to guiding our state and the nation out of the health and economic disaster of the coronavirus pandemic — the Biden-Harris administration has fought for working people and ushered in historic gains for Louisiana. Biden built the strongest economy in the world, restored American leadership on the world stage, and brought decency and honor back to the office of the President. 

“Biden’s accomplishments will continue to benefit Americans for years to come, but our work is not done. In 2025 and beyond, Louisiana Democrats will build on this progress on behalf of working Louisianans, while standing up against Donald Trump and his Cabinet of corporate interests.”

Under the Biden-Harris administration, Louisiana saw record investment and job growth. 

• During President Biden’s tenure, Louisiana saw the creation of 116,900 new jobs.

• Under the Biden-Harris administration, Louisianans submitted 324,900 new applications to start a small business. 

• $2.1 billion in student debt cancellation has been approved for 37,730 people in Louisiana under the Biden-Harris Administration. 

• Louisiana received $18.3 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments under the Biden-Harris administration, including:

• Koura plans to invest a total of $800 million in St. Gabriel in electric vehicle battery materials manufacturing, which will produce enough material to supply more than one million electric vehicles per year. This investment is supported by a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy.

• First Solar is investing $1.1 billion in a new plant to manufacture solar panels, which will create 700 jobs.

• Syrah Technologies has begun producing graphite at its plant in Vidalia, which is designed to supply batteries needed for electric vehicles. This project is supported by grants and loans from the Department of Energy. 

President Biden made health care more accessible for Louisiana and lowered the cost of health care and prescription drugs for the most vulnerable Louisianans. 

• President Biden and Democrats lowered prescription drug prices to $35 per month for more than 928,000 seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries in Louisiana.

• President Biden has overseen record enrollment in the Affordable Care Act marketplace. In December 2024, 212,000 Louisianans signed up during the Affordable Care Act’s Open Enrollment Period. 

• In a major step to secure Louisianns’ financial freedom, this month, the Biden-Harris administration finalized a rule to remove medical debt from the credit reports of millions of Americans. 

The Biden-Harris Administration has made historic investments to improve Louisiana’s

infrastructure and build a clean energy economy, including:

• Port of New Orleans Container Terminal: The Department of Transportation has awarded $300 million to construct a new container terminal on the Gulf Coast for the Port of New Orleans. The terminal will be an alternative to terminals farther inland and will be able to accommodate larger vessels.

• Flood Resiliency Improvements: The state was awarded $148 million to help homeowners and communities improve their resilience to flooding through FEMA’s Flood Mitigation Assistance program. This funding will help elevate 753 homes above floodwaters, buy-out homes in repeated flood zones, and support community-wide projects to decrease flood risk.

• North Baton Rouge Mobility Project: The City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge received $59.6 million for the North Baton Rouge Mobility Project. This includes the Airline Highway North Expansion, improvements to Florida Boulevard, and additional pedestrian and bicycle lanes for the Scotlandville Parkway Mobility Network.

• Louisiana International Terminal Project: The project will construct a new container terminal on the Gulf Coast for the Port of New Orleans that is not air-draft restricted. The project will include approximately 1,700- feet of wharf, two ramps to connect the wharf to the container yard, an automated stacking crane yard, utilities, storm drainage, all necessary buildings for operations, entry and exit gates, intermodal rail yard, realignment of the Norfolk Southern rail and realignment of St Bernard Highway.

• Hubs for Energy Resilient Operations (HERO): The state will receive up to over $249 million from the Department of Energy to launch a strategic initiative with 15 government entities, energy companies, and community and academic institutions to enhance statewide emergency response operations by deploying a network of Community Resilience Hubs powered by distributed energy resources microgrids. These microgrids can stand alone or integrate with utility-owned electric grid infrastructure and back-up generation assets. The project will help solve energy security challenges and protect the residents of Louisiana from climate-related threats.

• The Rural Louisiana Short Line Rail Modernization Initiative: The Department of Transportation has awarded $16.8 million to the Louisiana Southern Railroad LLC for rail infrastructure and safety improvements in the state. The proposed project involves final design and construction activities for various track-related improvements, repairs or replacement of certain bridges and culverts, and grade crossing upgrades. The project will improve the mainline by increasing safety standards on a rail corridor that transports hazmat loads, eliminating operating capacity inefficiencies (e.g., increasing load carrying capacity to 286,000 pounds), and increasing resiliency.

• Calcasieu I-10 River Bridge Replacement: Public-private partnership project includes the replacement of the Calcasieu River Bridge and reconstruction of I-10/I-210 mainline within the project area. The Department of Transportation awarded $150 million in Mega grant funding. The project will relieve a national freight bottleneck and improve regional mobility challenges in the areas surrounding the 70-year-old Calcasieu River Bridge.

• Solar Energy: Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources has been awarded $156 million in funding to launch a new resilient solar initiative, focused on low-income and disadvantaged communities, to deploy solar, energy storage, and enabling upgrades on single-family and multi-family homes.

• Greenhouse Gas Reduction: The City of New Orleans will receive $49 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across multiple sectors. Solutions include improving access to non-vehicle transportation, supporting adoption of energy efficiency measures in large buildings, installing rooftop solar panels, and implementing urban forestry programs.

President Biden strengthened our state and nation’s democratic institutions.

• President Biden oversaw the largest number of confirmations of federal judges in a single term since the Carter administration — including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. These highly qualified men and women — all committed to the rule of law and the Constitution — will serve the federal Judiciary for decades to come. 

• President Biden signed the Electoral Count Reform Act into law, which establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes for President and Vice President, to preserve the will of the people and to protect against the type of attempts to overturn our elections that led to the January 6 insurrection. 

Thank you, President Joe Biden.

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