1 year ago
President Joe Biden plans to travel to Colorado on Monday to tout his economic agenda in the home district of one of the House GOP’s most controversial lawmakers.
Biden will go to the district of Rep. Lauren Boebert and tour the wind tower factory CS Wind in Pueblo, Colo.
The visit — in which Biden will give remarks touting the factory’s take-up of the Inflation Reduction Act and other parts of his economic record, which the White House calls “Bidenomics” — marks an escalation of the contrast the White House and Biden have tried to draw between his agenda and the Republican opposition.
While Biden has called out several Republicans such as Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia during speeches or on social media, Monday’s visit marks the highest-profile trip outside of Washington to needle Republicans on their home turf — and in front of their home media — over their opposition to legislation such as the IRA or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“During the visit, the President will highlight how Bidenomics and the Inflation Reduction Act are mobilizing companies to invest in clean energy industries and create good-paying jobs in places like CO-03, while extreme House Republicans try to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and deny their constituents the jobs and opportunities that the President’s agenda is creating,” a White House official said in an e-mail.
CS Wind says the Pueblo facility is the world’s largest manufacturing plant for wind turbine towers. The company, which is based in South Korea, has credited the IRA with helping spur the growth that allowed it to expand its Pueblo facility. In April, the company broke ground on an expansion that is due to open next year and is expected to create 850 new jobs in Colorado by 2026. CS Wind will be eligible for clean-energy tax credits under the IRA.
The White House has tallied more than $5 billion in clean-energy and manufacturing investments made by companies in Colorado since Biden took office. An outside group that supports climate change policies estimated 3,500 jobs were created in the state since the IRA’s one-year anniversary in August.
Boebert was not invited to the event, according to a White House official. The administration has often invited lawmakers of either party to events in their districts.
Biden has publicly pointed out CS Wind’s massive expansion before. During an August speech in New Mexico, he called out the facility and its representative.
“CS Wind is Congresswoman Lauren Boebert — you know that very quiet Republican lady?” he said sarcastically. “It’s in her district. Who, along with every other Republican, voted against this bill. And it’s making all this possible. And she railed against its passage.”
Boebert, like many Republicans, has been sharply critical of the Inflation Reduction Act. In August, she called it a “massive failure.” And she said Biden’s comment about her was just “wishful thinking. … I'm calling you out every single day and I won't be getting more quiet about it anytime soon!”
The visit is part of Biden’s Investing in America tour, in which the president and members of his Cabinet have traveled the country to sell “Bidenomics.” They have often gone to red states to do so, in part because many of the law’s benefits and funding have gone to those regions — with the political upside.
However, polls have shown that the public is still sour on the economy and that the recovery on paper hasn’t translated to how most Americans feel about the economy.
A White House official said the visit was planned in advance and well before House Republicans kicked Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) out of the speaker chair, prompting a week and counting of a rudderless chamber. House Republicans hope to hold a vote this week to elect a new speaker.
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