Biden heads to the Illinois farm to promote food safety before jetting off to Chicago for the union meeting and mega fundraiser
- The President visits a family farm in Kankakee
- He will speak on food security issues related to the war in Ukraine
- Ukrainian grain shipments were prevented due to the war
- Biden plans to blow up “Putin’s price hike” again
- He speaks to electrical workers in Chicago and attends a major funder
- Plans to double funding for domestic fertilizer production
- Biden’s push for food security comes amidst infant formula shortages
President Joe Biden is on the road again Wednesday after spending part of the week racing “Ultra MAGA” Republicans — this time en route to a farm in Illinois before heading to Chicago, where he will address a large union crowd.
On Wednesday, Biden plans to go after Russian President Vladimir Putin as the main cause of a surge in inflation, with Americans increasingly frustrated by soaring food and gasoline prices.
Biden is back outside of Washington after a trip last week to visit a Javelin factory in Alabama, another war-related trip in Ukraine.
He plans to announce efforts to ensure adequate food supplies amid inflation that Democrats see as a major burden this year. Biden says it’s his “top” priority. He addressed the issue of grain trapped in Ukraine due to the war on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden will promote food security issues amid a spike in inflation
Ukraine is a global breadbasket at the top, with countries in Africa and around the world counting on their products. But Putin is trying to seize a “land bridge” that would cut off Ukraine’s port of Odessa.
Biden travels to the heartland as a new report showed inflation slowed slightly last month from a 40-year high – but still hit 8.3 percent.
His first stop is at a farm in Kankakee. According to the White House, he will visit a family farm “to discuss the impact of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on food supplies and prices at home and abroad,” as well as efforts to attract farmers’ resources “to… to stimulate domestic food production”.
Biden’s comments are also known as “Putin’s price hike” – as the White House references the Russian invasion to explain the increase in food and energy costs, even though inflation was already rising before Putin ordered the invasion.
Biden is also hosting a major fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee – as he uses his office’s leverage to try to avoid a takeover by the GOP Congress.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi meets with U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House campus May 10, 2022 in Washington, DC. The two leaders are expected to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Biden’s push for food security comes amidst infant formula shortages
Top donors paid up to $350,000 to be a “sponsor” of the event.
Biden later speaks at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
According to a White House fact sheet, the government will seek to double the number of countries available for double-crop insurance – where farmers plant a second crop in the same year. Other plans would increase technical assistance for “precision farming” to reduce fertilizer use. And the government wants to double funding for domestic fertilizer production to $500 million amid a doubling in fertilizer prices.