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Department of Transportation and Development Secretary, Dr. Shawn Wilson, talks about President Joe Biden's visit the state to pitch his infrastructure plan and what that plan would mean for Louisiana.

The President's plan, estimated to cost Americans between $1.9 and $2.3 trillion dollars, expands the definition of infrastructure beyond roads and bridges to include America's evolution to what  Wilson says is an inevitable green technology.

Biden made visits to New Orleans and Lake Charles Thursday, pitching his plan to rebuild everything from the nation's highways to its energy grid.

"I think this was really helping demonstrate the need for (the President's) plan," says Wilson, "And the fact that if you create jobs and you direct those jobs to build things like infrastructure, it's a win-win, both for the nation and for the state."

And what did the Secretary think of Biden visit? "The big takeaway for me is that (Biden) he has been talking about infrastructure for some time and he's looking beyond just an American jobs plan...so his efforts cover everything to clean drinking water and lead pipe removal to roads and bridges and airports and transit, just a number of things that are absolutely essential."

And what are Wilson's thoughts about further expanding the role of the federal government? "I think the strings, in this case, are thinking forward," he says, "I don't think there are any extraordinary strings, other than performance. Things, for example, around climate change. What are we going to be doing to address greenhouse gas emissions? Those are the kinds of policy issues that I think will be pushed by the dollars."

 

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