U.S. VP Harris takes Biden's jobs message to Marjorie Taylor Greene's district (updated)

Hanwha Solutions

06/04/2023 19:37

(Updates with Harris remarks)
    By Trevor Hunnicutt
       DALTON, Georgia, April 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President
Kamala Harris on Thursday took the Biden administration's jobs
agenda to a right-wing Georgia congressional district
represented by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avid
supporter of former President Donald Trump.
    Harris, a Democrat, went to the small town of Dalton to talk
about the growing solar manufacturing business as part of a
nationwide tour by President Joe Biden and his top aides to
promote his economic agenda in 20 states over three weeks.
    In Dalton, South Korea's Hanwha Solutions Corp's  009830.KS 
Hanwha Q Cells unit has been expanding a solar manufacturing
operation first built during the Trump administration, spending
billions and adding hundreds of jobs in response to tax credits
included in Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and trade
policies that disadvantage imports from China.
    Harris announced further expansion, including an order for
2.5 million new solar panels involving Summit Ridge Energy.
    "President Biden and I will continue to fight to create
opportunity in every community," Harris said in a speech that
made mention of the state's two Democratic representatives in
the Senate but not Greene or Georgia's Republican Governor Brian
Kemp, who has also been a champion of the factory. "We will
continue to work to build a nation for every person, no matter
where they start."
    Biden often describes his economic agenda as reversing the
trend of globalization that he and other Democrats once
celebrated, importing jobs and exporting products rather than
the other way around. He also wants a carbon-free electric grid
by 2035, with a sizeable chunk powered by solar panels.
    Dalton is less than a two hour drive outside of
Democrat-friendly Atlanta, which tipped Georgia to Democrats for
the first time in nearly three decades in 2020. The town and its
surrounding county delivered 2.4 votes to Trump for every one
for Biden. As Harris arrived in her motorcade, chanting people
lined the streets with signs saying "Trump won."
    Greene, the district's representative in the U.S. House, was
among those who joined hundreds in New York to protest outside
the courthouse where Trump was formally charged on allegations
by prosecutors that he orchestrated hush-money payments to two
women before the 2016 U.S. election to suppress publication of
their sexual encounters with him.
    Greene heckled Biden and called him a liar multiple times
during his February State of the Union speech before Congress.
Biden raises her name often now in political speeches and, in
February, made the sign of the cross when he did so.
    In a statement, Harris spokesperson Kirsten Allen said that
"congressional Republicans want to roll back this progress and
put investments in manufacturing, clean energy and good jobs at
risk."
    Greene was notified that the event was taking place,
according to a White House official, but did not participate. A
spokesperson for Greene did not respond to requests for comment.
    Dalton is the self-styled "carpet capital of the United
States" for its longtime manufacturing specialty.
    Now, the town is a picture of Georgia's changing
demographics and economy, having drawn a large Latino and
immigrant population in recent decades to work in its factories.
With the solar factory, the town is increasingly focused on
advanced manufacturing, too.
        The large nondescript warehouse Harris toured is set
among forested northwestern Georgia landscape but inside is a
largely automated dance of robotic equipment making
semiconductor wafers, with the occasional help of a human
worker.
    Georgia is expected to again be one of the most contested
states in the 2024 presidential election that may pit Biden
against Trump once again. A rising share of immigrants and more
highly educated white-collar workers have helped Democrats get a
foothold in a state whose working class white voters favor
Republicans.

 (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Grant McCool)
 ((trevor.hunnicutt@tr.com; +1 (332) 219 1571;
twitter.com/TrevorNews; Reuters Messaging:
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