Biden visits Plains, pitches his $4T program in Gwinnett

President Joe Biden is traveling to Georgia on Thursday to commemorate his first 100 days in office in a state that where U.S. Senate runoff victories put his expansive legislative agenda in reach.

The Democrat met with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn for about 45 minutes earlier Thursday before headlining a 6 p.m. drive-in rally outside the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth.

The visit comes on the heels of his first address to a joint session of Congress, which he used to outline a $1.8 trillion social spending plan to expand family leave, health care programs and preschool and college education through increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

It’s the third in a trio of ambitious proposals that amount to roughly $6 trillion in spending and vastly expand the scope of government – a package he couldn’t have pursued without the victories of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, which erased Republican control of the U.S. Senate.

7:45 p.m. Before heading back to Washington, Biden told reporters he enjoyed his visit with former President Jimmy Carter.

“It was great to see President Carter. And we sat and talked about the old days,” he said. “His health has gotten better.”

7 p.m. After appearing on stage with Warnock and Ossoff, Biden departs Gwinnett County to return to Dobbins Air Reserve Base.

6:40 p.m. Biden wrapped up his brief speech with a buoyant note.

“I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of America,” he said. “America is on the move again.”

Minutes earlier, he said Georgia’s new election rewrite was “wrong” -- and exhibit A of the need for a federal voting rights expansion.

6:30 p.m. The president nods to Georgia voters who flipped the state and control of the U.S. Senate:

“We owe a special thanks to the people of Georgia. Because of you, the rest of America was able to get help,” he said. “If you ever wonder if elections make a difference, just remember what you did here in Georgia ... You changed America.”

6:25 p.m.: The president gave a shout-out to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for helping to secure funding in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that aims to reduce violent crime.

6:20 p.m. Biden’s speech was briefly interrupted by a small group of demonstrators who unfurled an orange banner calling for him to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and end the use of private prisons.

Biden initially jokingly offered to give them the mic before urging the demonstrators to give him more time to tackle the challenge.

6:05 p.m. Dr. Jill Biden opens for her husband and warms up the crowd.

“I’m especially excited to be back in the state that sent Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate,” she said. “You know Georgia, we couldn’t have passed the American Rescue Plan without you.”

6 p.m. The Biden administration took a pass at weighing in on the debate over Stone Mountain’s future.

Asked about the fate of the state-owned Confederate monument, Biden aide Karine Jean-Pierre said: “I don’t believe that he will weigh in on the subject today. But his position stays the same when it comes to statues and Confederate flags.”

4:45 p.m. Stacey Abrams celebrated “100 days of greatness” in Biden’s administration in a fiery speech to a cacophony of honking car horns.

“We’ve got a 100 days behind us, but we’ve got a long way to go,” she said, calling for the passage of a federal voting rights expansion and an embrace of Biden’s overall legislative agenda.

4:30 p.m. President Joe Biden reconnected with Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in the southwest Georgia town of Plains on Thursday as they rekindled a fruitful political friendship that stretches back decades.

3:30 p.m. The president spent roughly 45 minutes at Jimmy Carter’s home in Plains before hopping in the presidential limo to return to the airport.

3 p.m. As Biden touched down in Georgia, Republicans blasted him for his sharp criticism of Georgia’s new election rewrite, and his support for Major League Baseball to pull the All-Star game from Truist Park.

“By backing the left’s woke mob, Biden inflicted real pain on hundreds of businesses and workers,” said Savannah Viar of the Republican National Committee.

The far-reaching GOP overhaul includes new ID requirements for absentee ballots, grants the Republican-controlled Legislature more oversight over local elections and tightens the window for mail-in votes, among other restrictions.

Republicans accuse Biden and other critics of the law of overstating its impact on Georgia elections, and point to a provision that requires some mostly rural counties to expand weekend voting before general elections.

2:30 p.m. Clusters of onlookers lined the motorcade route as Biden drove toward Plains, including one woman who waved a white Trump-Pence yard sign.

In downtown Plains, near a sign that welcomed visitors to the home of “our 39th President,” a more robust crowd cheered as the motorcade rumbled by toward Carter’s home on the outskirts of the town.

2 p.m. A crowd of hundreds arrived hours early to a festive atmosphere outside the Infinite Energy Center in Gwinnett, where dance music blared from towering speakers and food trucks sold seafood and icy slushies in the steamy weather.

State Sen. Michelle Au, a newly elected Democrat who represents the area in the Legislature, gave a rousing welcome to the crowd from a flag-festooned stage. A group of local dignitaries arrived early, including U.S. Reps. Sanford Bishop and Lucy McBath; and state Reps. Erick Allen, Kim Schofield and Calvin Smyre, mingling with Democrats near their cars.

Noon: The Biden administration issued a memo that outlined the impact of the coronavirus relief aid package in Georgia -- and touted what his next two proposals could bring to the state.

The White House pointed to roughly $8 billion in state and local aid that went to Georgia through the $1.9 trillion stimulus, along with more than $4 billion for school systems. About 88% of all adults and children in the state received $1,400 checks, and the families of about 2.3 million children were eligible of tax credits of up to $1,600 per child.

8:45 a.m. Biden and Carter have a long and fruitful relationship. A first-term senator from Delaware in 1976, Biden was one of the first elected officials to endorse Carter during his presidential bid. Once in office, the Georgia Democrat said Biden was his first and most effective supporter in the upper chamber.