REMINDER: President Biden and Democrats Delivered for Arkansas
February 7, 2023
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has President Biden and Democrats to thank for delivering economic progress for hardworking Arkansas families. Despite congressional Republicans’ opposition, the Biden-Harris administration has delivered historic investments to help create thousands of jobs, lower costs, and make critical improvements in Arkansas’s infrastructure.
Here’s a refresher on how President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats have delivered for Arkansas:
Since President Biden took office, Arkansas has added nearly 35,000 jobs and has seen its unemployment rate hit record lows.
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Arkansas’s unemployment rate fell from 4.9% in January 2021 to 3.6% in December 2022.
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Arkansas had 1,352,115 employed workers in December 2022, up 34,792 from January 2021 when the state had 1,268,247 employed workers.
While the president and Democrats delivered historic investments through the American Rescue Plan to support Arkansas families, one of Huckabee Sanders’s first moves in office was to delay funding for broadband expansion.
KLTO: “On Thursday, Governor Sarah Hucakbee Sanders signed an executive order which delayed the use of federal American Rescue Plan funds for eight broadband projects and broadband administrative expenses in Arkansas.”
Arkansas received billions from the American Rescue Plan for state and local recovery, without a vote from a single Arkansas Republican in Congress.
ACHI: “Arkansas will receive nearly $2.6 billion in state and local recovery funds as part of the American Rescue Plan Act”
White House: “In Arkansas, [2021’s] historic Child Tax Credit is estimated to benefit 378,000 families with 639,000 children.”
No thanks to Arkansas Republicans in Congress, the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats secured billions in investments to repair Arkansas’s roads, bridges, and transportation; expand high-speed internet access; improve public transit; and update clean water infrastructure.
Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette: “Over the past year, officials have announced billions of dollars for projects in Arkansas. According to the White House, this includes $1.5 billion for road and highway improvements in Arkansas since November 2021. And the state is projected to receive around $3.9 billion in the law’s first five years.”
Arkansas Times: “All six members of the Arkansas congressional delegation voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021.”
White House: “Arkansas will receive approximately $2.3 billion for transportation to invest in roads, bridges, public transit, ports and airports and roughly $93 million for clean water.”
White House: “Additionally, experts estimate that as many as 581,000 households in Arkansas are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which cuts internet bills by up to $30 per month, or $75 for households on Tribal lands, and provides a one-time $100 discount off a connected device.”
White House: “Arkansas would expect to receive about $244 million over five years under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve public transit across the state.”
Despite Arkansas suffering from some of the highest diabetes mortality rates in the country, every single congressional Arkansas Republican voted against capping insulin costs for seniors at $35 a month.
Washington Post: “A number of Republican senators who voted for the proposal to be removed come from states with some of the highest mortality rates for diabetes, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee.”