President Joe Biden on Monday visited engine and alternative power manufacturer Cummins in Minnesota, part of his nationwide “Investing in America” tour highlighting investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and job creation.
The visit coincides with the company's announcement of a more than $1 billion investment across their domestic engine manufacturing network in New York, North Carolina and Indiana. The funding is aimed at upgrading their facilities so they can manufacture low- to zero-carbon engines, which will help decarbonize the country’s trucking fleet.
The Biden administration says that the funding will create hundreds of new jobs in New York, North Carolina and Indiana, as well as help retain thousands of current engineering and manufacturing jobs.
The president hailed the announcement from Cummins, crediting his legislative agenda – namely the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost semiconductor manufacturing, as well as the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act – for boosting domestic investment nationwide.
"I've asked most of the CEOs that I've come in contact with ... when the United States government makes considerable resources available for new industries, What does that do to businesses?" Biden said. "The answer every single time is it encourages them to get into business, encourages investment, federal investment attracts private investment. It creates jobs and industries. And it demonstrates we're all in this together."
"I've said for a long time, if we invest in America, we can change the country's future," Biden later added. "We have the best scientists in the world. We have the best research universities and we're the most productive workers in the world."
Biden praised the company for its decades of service to the country, including making 50% of all the diesel and gas generators used by the allies in World War II, while praising its future in the clean energy space. The company announced in October of last year that it will begin producing electrolyzers — a critical component in producing low-emission hydrogen — at this facility for the first time.
"For over a century, Cummins has built diesel engines and heavy-duty trucks and power generators," Biden said."Over half of all medium- and heavy-duty trucks on the road today have Cummins engines."
"When Cummins first manufactured hydrogen electrolyzers, they had to make them overseas," the president added. "These are the machines that make clean hydrogen, renewable energy used to power our economy, from clean cars to trucks to steel to cement manufacturing. But now, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, with the tax credits for renewable energy, Cummins is going to manufacture these electrolyzers here in America for the first time."
The president cheered the job creation the company's electrolyzer plan would bring, while also highlighting its importance for improving domestic supply chains.
"Before the pandemic, supply chain wasn't something most Americans spent much time thinking about," Biden said. "But today after delays for parts and products, everyone knows why supply chains are so important. Instead of relying on equipment made overseas in places like China, supply chains will begin in America."
Biden also sought to contrast his plans to those of House Republicans, particularly amid the ongoing battle over raising the country's borrowing power. The president recently released his budget, which aims to reduce deficits and increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations. Republicans, who have demanded spending cuts in an effort to reduce the deficit, have slammed his proposal, though have not yet offered a counter of their own.
"This is not your father's Republican Party," Biden said, adding: "MAGA Republicans in Congress threaten to undo all this progress. They're putting our economy in jeopardy by threatening to refuse to pay America's bills."
The president charged that Republicans in Congress want to repeal parts of his Inflation Reduction Act, and that some of their plans would worsen the deficit rather than reduce it.
"I've got news for my MAGA Republican friends: Not on my watch," Biden said. "I'm not gonna let them undo the progress we've made."
Upon arriving in Minnesota, Biden was greeted at the airport by a cadre of the state's elected officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen, both of the state's U.S. Senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Biden's visit was part of a recent initiative highlighting his economic agenda, dubbed the "Investing in America" tour.
The tour — which will see Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and dozens of other White House and Cabinet officials visit more than 20 states to tout the president’s economic agenda — comes ahead of an expected re-election campaign announcement.
This week, Vice President Harris will visit Dalton, Georgia, to talk about how the administration’s agenda has created $435 billion in private-sector manufacturing and clean energy investments, while First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Vermont and Maine to tout programs preparing high school and community college students for jobs created by Biden’s agenda.