威斯康星州拉克罗斯-总统乔·拜登宣布美国迫切需要对其基础设施进行“代际投资”，因为他希望周二向选民推销9730亿美元的两党一揽子计划的经济效益，该计划在国会仍面临不确定的未来。

拜登去了拉克罗斯，威斯康星州人口52，000，参观了其公共交通中心，重点介绍了将从基础设施法案中获得额外资金的项目，包括混合动力公交车和道路维修设备。他认为，该方案在很大程度上是由数百万个新就业机会的承诺结合在一起的，是美国维护民主原则和经济实力的一种方式，经济实力可以来自对国家未来的巨大投资。

“这笔交易不仅仅是各部分的总和。这是给我们自己，也是给世界的一个信号，美国的民主能够实现，并为我们所有的人带来利益，”拜登说。"美国一直被划时代的投资推向未来。"

他说，迫切需要改善摇摇欲坠的基础设施——从不堪重负的电网到灌满铅的水管，再到交通堵塞的道路——并强调，这一努力需要雄心勃勃，不仅要改善美国人的日常生活，还要应对日益严峻的气候变化挑战。

拜登说:“我们不只是修修补补。

他还以个人名义发表了自己的观点，回忆了在法学院时驾驶公共汽车的经历，并提到了1972年导致他第一任妻子和女儿死亡的交通事故，当时他呼吁进行改善，以使国家的道路更加安全。

对威斯康星州的访问是白宫宣布的一系列总统之行的开始，目的是推销两党法案，并安抚帮助起草该法案的紧张的共和党人。

总统说:“我将在那里为美国人民辩护，直到这项工作完成，直到我们把这项两党法案带回家。”尽管他承认“将会有更多的分歧需要解决，更多的妥协需要做出”。

上周晚些时候，这一进程短暂陷入混乱，拜登暗示，该协议将被搁置，直到他收到一个更大、更独立的基础设施、就业和教育一揽子计划，这些计划将完全由民主党通过国会的“预算和解”进程决定。

拜登周六表示，这不是否决威胁，到周日，该方案似乎回到了正轨。但过道两边仍有焦虑。

一些共和党人质疑，如果一项两党法案与一项包含大量民主党额外优先事项的党派和解法案相关联，签署这项法案是否明智。共和党参议院领袖米奇·麦康奈尔经常宣布坚决反对拜登的议程，他对这一进程提出了质疑。

与此同时，民主党人也在等待一个平衡的行动:该党一些更自由的成员敦促拜登推动一项只针对民主党人的法案，至少与他先前宣布的4万亿美元的目标一样大，而一些更温和的成员表示，他们想要一个小得多的数字。参议院以50票对50票僵持不下，副总统卡玛拉•哈里斯打破了双方的联系，白宫输不起一票。

当拜登在公开场合鼓吹两党第一版时，白宫在幕后疯狂地工作，以保持它的正轨。

包括高级顾问史蒂夫·里奇蒂在内的白宫高级助手周二在国会大厦会见了众议院民主党人。白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)在飞往威斯康星州的空军一号(Air Force One)上对记者说，本周，其他人接到了60多名民主党和共和党成员、参谋长和其他助手的电话。

明尼苏达州众议员伊尔汉·奥马尔(Ilhan Omar)说，她和国会进步核心小组(Congressional Progressional Cocuus)的其他领导人都得到保证，该战略将继续推动两党基础设施和只针对民主党的和解法案。

奥马尔说:“他们似乎对这一战略非常坚定，法案同时进行，并意识到这是我们能够通过它们的唯一途径。”。

Psaki表示，白宫将遵循参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)概述的时间表，舒默曾表示，他希望下个月就这两个方案进行辩论。

白宫的一份内部备忘录强调了政府如何主张近一个世纪以来对交通、水系统和服务的最大投资将促进增长。备忘录指出，一揽子计划的规模是12年前应对大衰退时基础设施投资的4倍，也是自20世纪30年代富兰克林·罗斯福新政以来最大的一次。

它还强调了一项分析，该分析表明，由支出产生的90%的就业机会可以流向没有大学学位的工人，这是一个关键的转变，因为在疫情爆发前，大部分净就业机会都流向了大学毕业生。

备忘录称:“这是蓝领工人重建美国的蓝图。”。

参观拉克罗斯确实是一场蓝领政治游戏，人造交通建设标志上写着“美国就业计划”。总统长期以来一直与工人阶级选民联系在一起，而威斯康星州是五大湖区三个州之一——以及密歇根州和宾夕法尼亚州——拜登在2016年被唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)抓获后，以微弱优势为民主党收回了这些州。

拜登在演讲后即兴停下来吃冰淇淋，他收到了一个建议，要订购岩石路风味，作为对基础设施法案的认可，但他打趣道，“这是一条岩石路，但我们会完成的”，而是点了饼干、奶油和草莓。

潜在的经济收益是上周同意该协议的民主党和共和党参议员的共同激励。麦康奈尔说，他还没有决定是否支持两党的一揽子计划，但他希望拜登向众议院议长南希·佩洛西和舒默施压，说他们将允许两党的安排通过，而不要求制定更大更广泛的后续法案。

“我很感激总统说他愿意单独处理基础设施问题，但他不能控制国会，”麦康奈尔本周说。

人们一直预计这两项法案将同步推进，随着拜登放弃否决威胁，但越过过道支持近1万亿美元的两党一揽子计划以及他自己的更广泛的一揽子计划，这种情况可能会继续下去。民主党领导人正在推进更广泛的法案，包括拜登的家庭和气候变化提案，以及他们自己在医疗保险方面的投资，总额已达到约6万亿美元。

民主党温和派之一、西弗吉尼亚州的参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)周二重申，他将服从党内预算法案，但没有解决其规模。

他告诉MSNBC，“我同意这是可以做到的。”

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雷米尔在华盛顿报道。美联社记者丽莎·马斯卡罗和凯文·弗雷金在华盛顿，布鲁斯·施雷纳在肯塔基州路易斯维尔。，促成了这篇报道。

Roads, bridges, jobs: Biden selling big infrastructure deal

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- PresidentJoe Bidendeclared America urgently needs a “generational investment” in its infrastructure, as he looked to sell voters Tuesday on the economic benefits of the $973 billion bipartisan package that still faces an uncertain future in Congress.

Biden traveled to La Crosse,Wisconsin, population 52,000, and toured its public transit center, highlighting projects — including hybrid buses and road repair equipment — that would receive additional funding from the infrastructure bill. He argued that the package, which is held together in large part by the promise of millions of new jobs, is a way for the United States to assert both the principles of democracy and the economic might that can come from dramatic investments in the country’s future.

“This deal isn’t just the sum of its parts. It’s a signal to ourselves, and to the world, that American democracy can come through and deliver for all our people," said Biden. “America has always been propelled into the future by landmark investments."

He said there is a critical need to improve crumbling infrastructure — from overwhelmed power grids to lead-filled water pipes to traffic-clogged roads — and stressed that the effort needs to be ambitious to not only improve Americans' daily lives now but also to combat the growing challenges of climate change.

"We’re not just tinkering around the edges,” Biden said.

He also made his pitch in personal terms, reminiscing about driving a bus during law school and noting the 1972 traffic accident that killed his first wife and daughter, as he called for improvements to make the nation's roads safer.

The visit to Wisconsin was the beginning of what the White House has declared will be a series of presidential trips to sell the bipartisan bill — and to reassure the nervous Republicans who helped craft it.

“I’m going to be out there making the case for the American people until this job is done, until we bring this bipartisan bill home,” said the president, though he allowed that “there will be more disagreements to be resolved, more compromises” to be made.

The process briefly fell into disarray late last week as Biden suggested the deal would be held up until he received a much larger, separate package for infrastructure, jobs and education that would be determined solely by Democrats through Congress' “budget reconciliation” process.

Biden said Saturday that this was not a veto threat, and by Sunday the package appeared back on track. But there were still anxieties on both sides of the aisle.

Some Republicans have questioned the wisdom of signing onto a bipartisan bill if it is linked to a party-line reconciliation bill that will contain a host of additional Democratic priorities. And GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, who has often declared his steadfast opposition to the Biden agenda, has questioned the process.

Meanwhile, a balancing act awaited among Democrats as well: Some more liberal members of the party have urged Biden to push for a Democrats-only bill at least as large as his previously stated $4 trillion goal, while some more moderate members have signaled they’d want a much smaller number. With the Senate deadlocked 50-50, with ties broken by Vice President Kamala Harris, the White House can’t afford to lose a single vote.

As Biden trumpeted the bipartisan first version in public, the White House furiously worked behind the scenes to keep it on track.

Senior West Wing aides, including top adviser Steve Ricchetti, met with House Democrats at the Capitol on Tuesday. Others have had calls this week with more than 60 Democratic and Republican members and chiefs of staff and other aides, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Wisconsin.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said she and other leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus were assured that the strategy remains moving the bipartisan infrastructure and Democrat-only reconciliation bills together.

“They seem to be very firm on that strategy, that the bills move simultaneously together and a realization that that’s the only way that we are able to pass” them, said Omar.

Psaki said the White House was going along with the timeline outlined by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has said he wants to have both packages on the floor for debate next month.

An internal White House memo highlights how the administration contends the largest investment in transportation, water systems and services in nearly a century would boost growth. The memo notes that the total package is four times the size of the infrastructure investment made a dozen years ago in response to the Great Recession and the biggest since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s.

It also emphasizes an analysis suggesting that 90% of the jobs generated by the spending could go to workers without college degrees, a key shift as a majority of net job gains before the pandemic went to college graduates.

“This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,” the memo says.

The visit to La Crosse was indeed a blue-collar political play, with faux traffic construction signs that said “American Jobs Plan” dotted across the venue. The president has long connected with working-class voters, while Wisconsin is one of the trio of Great Lakes states — along with Michigan and Pennsylvania — that Biden narrowly reclaimed for the Democrats after they were captured by Donald Trump in 2016.

Biden, making an impromptu stop for ice cream after his speech, received a suggestion to order the rocky road flavor as a nod to the infrastructure bill but he quipped “it's been a rocky road, but we're going to get it done” and instead ordered cookies and cream and strawberry.

Potential economic gains were a shared incentive for the group of Democratic and Republican senators who agreed to the deal last week. McConnell said he has not yet decided whether he will support the bipartisan package, but he wants Biden to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Schumer to say they will allow the bipartisan arrangement to pass without mandating that the much larger and broader follow-up bill be in place.

“I appreciate the president saying that he’s willing to deal with infrastructure separately, But he doesn’t control the Congress,” McConnell said this week.

The two bills had always been expected to move in tandem, and that is likely to continue as Biden drops his veto threat but reaches across the aisle for the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan package as well as his own broader package. The Democratic leaders are pressing ahead on the broader bill, which includes Biden’s families and climate change proposals, as well as their own investments in Medicare, swelling to some $6 trillion.

One of the Democratic moderates, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, reiterated Tuesday that he would be amenable to a party-line budget bill but did not address its size.

He told MSNBC that "I have agreed that that can be done.”

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Lemire reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking in Washington and Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.