Buttigieg, Clyburn team up to announce $23M infrastructure grant to South Carolina

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) will announce a nearly $23 million grant Wednesday to build infrastructure in Orangeburg, S.C., as part of the Biden administration’s investments in infrastructure across the United States.

The grant will build a pedestrian bridge and a transit hub to better connect neighborhoods and college campuses to downtown Orangeburg, according to the White House. 

“This is a project that is connecting residential neighborhoods and HBCU campuses to downtown businesses,” Buttigieg told reporters, using an abbreviation for historically Black colleges and universities. “We believe it will lead to new business and industry, as well as tourism, flourishing in the area.”

Other grants announced Wednesday will go to Chula Vista, Calif., for a $21.5 million project to eliminate a rail crossing; Iowa for a $24.7 million project to replace nine bridges; North Bergen, N.J., for a $25 million project to construct a new bridge; and New Orleans for a $24.8 million project to construct a transit system for the city’s buses and streetcar network, among others.

The secretary and congressman will also announce the Biden administration has awarded more than $2.2 billion from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program to 162 infrastructure projects in the U.S. 

The RAISE grant program’s fiscal 2023 funding is set to go half to rural areas and half to urban areas. The program was expanded due to funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, one of President Biden’s top legislative accomplishments.

“We don’t design the projects at headquarters. We are proceeding very much on the idea that the answers don’t come from Washington but more the funding should,” Buttigieg said.  

He noted that 70 percent of the projects the administration is funding are located in low-income and underserved communities. 

The joint announcement will be in South Carolina as part of the administration’s “Investing in America” tour. Meanwhile, Biden will be in Chicago on Wednesday to tout the success of his overall economic agenda, which the White House has deemed “Bidenomics.” 

Clyburn, the assistant House Democratic leader, provided a critical endorsement for Biden in 2020, marking a turning point in his campaign and helping Biden gain momentum among Black voters, a bloc that played a critical role in his ultimate victory. The Democratic National Committee has since named South Carolina the first primary state in 2024.