President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda is routing millions of taxpayer dollars to some of the East Coast’s most exclusive locales for infrastructure projects like airport upgrades.
The Biden administration touts the president’s major bills — especially the bipartisan infrastructure package of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — as transformative, massive investments in American infrastructure that will uplift working- and middle-class people in particular. However, the administration’s domestic agenda is also showering some of the country’s ritziest enclaves with public funds to upgrade airports, ferry terminals, roadway improvements and more, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of Invest.gov, a website that tracks projects funded by the administration’s domestic agenda.
“It is striking how often this administration — whether it’s in press releases, press conferences, official announcements or regulations — uses the word ‘equity’ in its rhetoric in the way that the Left uses it to frame issues of income inequality, only to subsidize parts of the country that do not need it,” David Ditch, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The money should go where it’s needed. And there are parts of the country that are struggling, where hypothetically some additional ‘investment’ in the government might help make a difference.” (RELATED: Here’s Another Way The Biden Admin Is Routing EV Charger Subsidies Into America’s Wealthiest Neighborhoods)
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Many of the projects touted by the administration would probably happen anyways, but the administration’s “spending agenda” is contributing to the inflationary pressures that are bearing down on Americans, Ditch added.
When the bipartisan infrastructure package became law in 2021, the White House stated that the bill would “invest in communities that have too often been left behind” and “grow the economy sustainably and equitably so that everyone gets ahead for decades to come,” among other things. Similarly, the White House describes the IRA as “delivering for underserved communities and those that have been too often left behind.”
The administration is spending more than $180,000 to build ferry boats and terminal facilities on Fishers Island, New York, according to Invest.gov. Fishers Island is “an exclusive enclave where generations of old-money families gather to sail and golf,” according to the Wall Street Journal, and dynastic families like the Roosevelts and Rockefellers have frequented the island, per the New York Post.
The administration is also routing $113,000 to upgrade the island’s airport, according to Invest.gov.
Elsewhere on the East Coast, the administration’s domestic agenda is directing nearly $300,000 to pay for improvements for the East Hampton Airport, according to Invest.gov. East Hampton is a favored escape of the New York City metropolitan area’s well-to-do, and some of the wealthiest of its vacationers are known to fly there via private jet or chartered helicopter.
Meanwhile, the administration is also spending $460,000 to deliver “safe streets and roads for all” on Nantucket, Massachusetts, another island getaway frequented by New England’s upper crust, according to Invest.gov. The Nantucket airport is also receiving $1.3 million to cover infrastructure upgrades.
Numerous properties on the island are worth $10 million or more, and some waterfront homes are valued above $20 million, according to Zillow. John Kerry, who recently left the Biden administration, sold his estate on Nantucket for more than $17 million in 2018, according to Boston.com.
Just a few miles away, the airport on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, is receiving $1 million from the Biden administration’s landmark bills to pay for improvements, according to Invest.gov. The island is another choice destination for elite New Englanders, and also hosts a massive $11 million estate owned by former President Barack Obama.
Block Island, a popular summer destination off the Rhode Island coast, is also benefiting from the Biden administration’s domestic agenda, with more than $750,000 in public funds going to build ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities servicing the island, according to Invest.gov. In 2023, the average price of the 29 homes sold on the island was just under $2 million, making it the most expensive area in Rhode Island, according to Lamacchia Realty.
The Westchester County Airport, a small facility located right on the border of New York state and Greenwich, Connecticut, is receiving $4.5 million for various upgrades, according to Invest.gov. The airport is frequently utilized by residents of Greenwich — one of the wealthiest towns in the entire country — looking to catch flights without having to go through the trouble of departing from New York City or Newark, New Jersey.
Further down the East Coast, the administration is spending $7.7 million on flood control and coastal emergencies between Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach, Delaware, according to Invest.gov. Biden himself owns a $2.7 million home in Rehoboth Beach, which he has enjoyed frequently throughout his first term as president.
In South Carolina, the administration is directing a whopping $8.3 million to the Hilton Head airport, according to Invest.gov. Hilton Head is “one of South Carolina’s most luxurious beach destinations” that offers “world-class golf courses, renowned restaurants, superb shopping and white-sand beaches as far as the eye can see,” according to Discover South Carolina.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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