The backdrop for President Joe Biden's much-anticipated infrastructure speech on Wednesday will be the carpenters training facility in Collier, according to the White House.
Mr. Biden is expected to pitch trillions of dollars in fresh spending on infrastructure and social programs at the Pittsburgh facility that's used to train apprentices in carpentry, a trade that could benefit mightily from investments in rebuilding America's structural backbone.
The president will deliver remarks at around 4:20 p.m., the White House said in a release on Tuesday.
The training center, a popular local visitors spot for politicians who want to reaffirm their pro-union bona fides, houses a four-year apprenticeship program that turns aspiring carpenters into union journeymen under the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
The union endorsed Mr. Biden two months before last November's presidential election, citing the Democrat's desire to invest in infrastructure. Pushing for infrastructure funding has been a main point of advocacy for the union, which anticipates that federal investments in roads, bridges, transit systems and dams will create jobs in carpentry.
In 2018, Mr. Biden visited the facility to stump for Mt. Lebanon Democrat Conor Lamb, who was pursuing his first winning bid for Congress.
This will mark Mr. Biden’s first visit to Pittsburgh as president.
Julian Routh: jrouth@postgazette.com, 412-263-1952, Twitter @julianrouth.
First Published: March 30, 2021, 11:51 p.m.