WASHINGTON − President Joe Biden set out Thursday to remind Americans that every Republican in Congress voted against his landmark climate law that is now spurring a wave of manufacturing and clean-energy projects across the country.
And he took direct aim at one Republican in particular: the polarizing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who like all her Republican colleagues, voted against Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. last year.
“Since I took office, we’ve seen over 60 domestic manufacturing announcements all across the solar supply chain,” Biden said in remarks in West Columbia, S.C. “One of the biggest is in Dalton, Ga. You may find it hard to believe but that’s Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district.”
Biden then smiled and added: “I’ll be there for the groundbreaking.”
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act contained billions of dollars in green tax credits for companies that build electric vehicles, charging stations, solar and wind facilities, EV batteries and other infrastructure for renewable energy.
Greene’s northern Georgia congressional district is the future home of a $2.5 billion solar manufacturing facility planned by South Korea-based Hanwha Qcells. The facility, billed as the largest solar project in U.S. history when it was announced in February, is projected to create 2,500 jobs.
Private companies have announced $500 billion in manufacturing and clean-energy investments since Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act last August, according to the White House.
“Didn’t get much help from the other team,” Biden said, “but that didn’t stop us from getting it done. And it’s going to transform America.”
Greene’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. This year, Greene introduced articles of impeachment against Biden.
In his remarks, Biden continued to embrace his new “Bidenomics” rebranding of his economic agenda, which is headlined by efforts to jump-start domestic manufacturing. The label is part of the White House’s attempt to try to get credit for low unemployment, historic job growth and other positive economic metrics that have failed to ease the nation’s economic anxieties coming out of 40-year-high inflation.
“I’m not here to declare victory on the economy,” Biden said. “I’m here to say we have a plan that’s turning things around quickly.”
Biden spoke from a factory floor to highlight a $60 million solar investment from Enphase Energy, which has partnered with the manufacturing company Flex to produce microinverters that convert solar energy into useable electricity. The project is expected to produce 600 hundred jobs in South Carolina, a state dominated by Republicans.
“Jobs that used to go to Mexico, India, Romania and China are now coming home to South Carolina,” Biden said.
The project is planned for the congressional district of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who did not attend Biden’s event. Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary, said the White House made Wilson “aware” of the event beforehand.
House Republicans have proposed repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, which also contained measures aimed at lowering prescription drug costs, but such efforts have not advanced.
Clean-energy projects have accounted for more than 142,016 new jobs announced in 31 states since the Inflation Reduction Act became law, according to an analysis from Climate Power, which advocates for clean energy.
The group also found that more than half of all clean energy projects are in districts represented by House Republicans.
“Some analyses have said that the laws I’ve signed are going to do more to help red America than blue America,” Biden said. “That’s OK with me because we’re all Americans. My view is, wherever the need is most, that’s the place we should be helping.”
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
