President Joe Biden, who has been making trips around the country to highlight his economic policies, said he will soon visit controversial Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district.
In comments delivered Thursday afternoon at a manufacturing plant in South Carolina, Biden said during his first two years in office his administration has launched programs that helped businesses grow and create jobs despite opposition from most Republicans.
“Since I took office, we’ve seen over 60 domestic manufacturing announcements all across the solar supply chain,” the president said. “One of the biggest is in Dalton, Ga. You may find it hard to believe, but that’s in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district.
“I’ll be there for the groundbreaking,” he added with a chuckle.
The White House declined to provide more details about when and where Biden will be visiting.
South Korean giant Qcells is spending $2.5 billion to expand its solar panel manufacturing plant in Dalton, and building a new production center in Bartow County.
Vice President Kamala Harris toured the Dalton facility in April to announce a historic solar panel order. The company’s Bartow facility falls in Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s neighboring district.
Combined, these two projects represent the largest ever investment in clean energy manufacturing in U.S. history, company leaders and elected officials have said.
In a statement, Qcells President of Corporate Affairs Danny O’Brien did not mention a date for a presidential visit. But he said “Qcells would be honored to host President Biden, Governor (Brian) Kemp, and other federal and local officials at our operations in Georgia to show them what making things in America looks like.”
Greene, a Republican from Rome, was among the vast majority of Republicans in Congress who voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, while no Republican voted for Biden’s signature health and climate law known as and the Inflation Reduction Act. These bills are among the laws signed by Biden that fund the clean energy and manufacturing incentives he is now celebrating.
“Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act and support from the State of Georgia, Qcells has made historic investments in the domestic solar supply chain that we can all celebrate,” O’Brien said.
In recent weeks, Biden and top administration officials have barnstormed Georgia and other parts of the country touting his economic policies. Few states have seen a bigger green jobs boom than Georgia, though Kemp and other Republicans have argued conservative policies have led businesses to pick GOP-controlled states over blue states.
The president’s travel plans come as states like Georgia and Michigan, another state with big green jobs gains, are again set to be key battlegrounds in the 2024 campaign.
During his Thursday remarks, Biden also mentioned investments to boost the domestic creation of electric vehicles, as well as the batteries needed to power electric vehicles.
“We created a battery belt stretching from Michigan to Georgia,” he said.
South Korean companies SK Innovation and Hyundai Motor Group are building an expansive electric vehicle battery plant in Bartow County about an hour north of Atlanta.
Hyundai also is building a $5.54 billion electric vehicle factory near Savannah. And EV upstart Rivian has plans for a $5 billion factory in southern Morgan and Walton counties, which are east of Atlanta.
-Staff writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this report.
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