WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will announce a “major clean energy manufacturing investment” as he touts his economic agenda in a speech in South Carolina on Thursday afternoon, according to White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt.
Biden plans to announce in his speech that companies have “committed over $500 billion in manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States” since the start of his term, the White House said in a release.
In South Carolina, Biden is expected to discuss jobs created by a partnership between Enphase Energy, a supplier of solar energy equipment, and Flex, a manufacturer. Enphase is announcing it is investing more than $60 million to open six manufacturing lines in the United State, which is expected to create up to 1,800 jobs; two of those new lines will be in South Carolina, with the potential to add up to 600 jobs between Enphase and Flex, the White House said.
The speech, which will take place at Flex’s facility in West Columbia, comes as administration officials traverse the country this week to highlight Biden’s investments in the country as part of his economic plan, which they’ve dubbed “Bidenomics.”
“You aren’t done hearing about Bidenomics,” LaBolt said in a statement. “Following his major address in Chicago, the President, Vice President, Cabinet members, and senior Administration officials will continue to make a full-court press on Bidenomics this week—highlighting how the President’s economic plan is investing in America and increasing competition to lower costs for hardworking families.”
The president has attributed recent job growth and reductions in inflation to legislation passed during his tenure, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which the White House says has mobilized companies like Enphase Energy to begin clean energy manufacturing operations in the U.S.
The White House has described Bidenomics as a three-pillar plan that centers around public investments, educating workers, and promoting competition as a way to lower costs. The Biden administration frequently characterizes the plan as building the economy “from the middle out and the bottom up,” rather than through trickle-down economics.
But the “Bidenomics” phrase has become a target for conservative politicians, some of whom have used it as a catchall for economic woes.
“Bidenomics is when you attempt to bankrupt small businesses, driving up inflation to a 40-year high while pushing up interest rates to make capital inaccessible to Main Street,” said a graphic tweeted by the GOP-controlled House Small Business Committee.
“Bidenomics brought record-breaking inflation and wiped out people’s savings,” GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley tweeted Thursday morning.
As part of the administration’s push to highlight Biden’s economic policies on Thursday, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland planned to be in New York to highlight clean energy efforts, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was going to Ohio to emphasize efforts to lower health care costs, and Small Business Administration head Isabella Guzman was traveling to California to talk about small business starts.
Biden touted his economic agenda in a speech in Chicago last week.
“Bidenomics is about the future,” he said. “Bidenomics is just another way of saying, ‘Restore the American Dream because it worked before.'”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
