Biden chooses Mitch Landrieu to coordinate infrastructure plan implementation

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has chosen former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to coordinate the implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure plan that the president will sign into law on Monday.

Biden plans to announce Landrieu’s appointment Monday afternoon, before he signs the $550 billion legislation aimed at rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges and transit, the White House said Sunday.

“In this role, Landrieu will oversee the most significant and comprehensive investments in American infrastructure in generations — work that independent experts verify will create millions of high-paying, union jobs while boosting our economic competitiveness in the world, strengthening our supply chains, and acting against inflation for the long term,” the White House said.

The White House noted that Landrieu became mayor of New Orleans in 2010, when the city was still trying to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and as the city dealt with the BP oil spill.

“He hit the ground running, fast-tracking over 100 projects and securing billions in federal funding for roads, schools, hospitals, parks and critical infrastructure, turning New Orleans into one of America’s great comeback stories,” the White House said.

Landrieu said in a statement that his work executing the plan will require “strong partnerships across the government and with state and local leaders, business and labor.”

During his career in elected office, Landrieu, a Democrat, also served as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Louisiana’s lieutenant governor and as a member of Louisiana’s state House.

Biden is set to sign the bipartisan infrastructure bill at the White House Monday afternoon. The House passed it this month, several months after the Senate approved it, because progressive Democrats insisted that a vote on the measure be tied to the legislation focused on Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. The House is planning to vote on that $1.75 trillion social safety net package this week.