President Joe Biden reminisced about his time driving a school bus during remarks to promote the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Municipal Transit Utility in La Crosse, Biden mentioned that he used to drive a bus when he was studying law at Syracuse University in New York. It's a story he has told several times.
The president was introduced by a bus driver named Laurie and addressed her as "one bus driver to another." He went on to tout the bipartisan infrastructure bill recently agreed between Democrats and some Senate Republicans.
"I told Laurie, when she was showing me the bus she's driving now: back when I was in law school, I drove a school bus during the summers to pick up spending money," the president said.
"And from one bus driver to another, Laurie, I want to thank you for all you do to make this city run, to help folks get where they need to go. And you do it in a way that sometimes is not always easy."
During the presidential election campaign, he addressed another driver as "from one bus driver to another" on a trip to Nashua, New Hampshire, in February 2020.
On the eve of the election last November, the United Federation of Teachers cited his time as a driver in a statement praising Biden.
"Imagine having a president who once drove a school bus and worked as a substitute teacher during law school. Joe Biden gets us. He understands the struggles of public school educators and working people," the union statement said.
Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968 and was admitted to the bar in Delaware the following year. There are few details about his time as a school bus driver, however.
The president also spoke about the job on April 20, during a virtual tour of the Proterra Electric Battery plant in Greenville, South Carolina.
"I want you all to know, I used to be a bus driver. You think I'm kidding, I'm not," Biden said at the time, according to School Transportation News. "I worked my way through law school driving a school bus, that's what I did for summer school and during the year. That's how I got money to get through law school at Syracuse. A lot of snow, though, a lot of snow."
Proterra is a manufacturer of electric transit buses. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework contains $7.5 billion for electric transit and school buses. Biden has said he originally wanted $15 billion for the proposals, which include building chargers for electric vehicles at highway stops in rural and lower-income communities.
Newsweek has asked the White House and the Syracuse City School District for comment.
