Lansing — Jennifer Granholm, U.S. energy secretary and former Michigan governor, said Thursday that President Joe Biden “is in the race and should stay in the race” for a second term, attributing federal investments into Michigan’s auto manufacturing to his leadership.
Granholm visited General Motors Co.’s Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant, which produces the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 and ended production of the Chevrolet Camaro in December. The plant is one of 11 at-risk or shuttered U.S. automotive manufacturing sites receiving $1.7 billion in federal grants distributed by the Energy Department’s Domestic Automotive Supply Chain Conversion Grants program from funding allocated by 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Granholm’s visit comes after Biden, the 81-year-old presumptive Democratic nominee in this year’s presidential race, gave a shaky debate performance two weeks ago, raising questions from fellow Democrats over whether he should continue the pursuit. Michigan is a key electoral battleground and the cradle of the U.S. auto industry, which has been a pillar in Biden’s economic policies.
“President Biden is in the race and should stay in the race,” Granholm said following a formal presentation at the Lansing plant. “All of this churn about his capabilities. It’s completely off-mark. And he is on his game. He asks the hardest questions at cabinet meetings and conversations and bilateral meetings. He’s older, yes, but that also means he’s wiser. And he’s got so much experience and information. When you’re briefing the president, you better go in prepared, because he will ask questions that you hadn’t even thought about.”
Exhibit A, she said, for why Biden should stay in the race is the grants announced Thursday that are expected to create 2,900 jobs and retain 15,000 current ones in eight states. Smaller grants will be released at some point in the future. The awards are part of the administration’s policies seeking to encourage domestic manufacturing and the move to reduce greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions, though consumer hesitation to adopt electric vehicles because of affordability challenges and range anxiety is making that a bumpy road.
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Granholm in her formal remarks harkened to her days as governor of Michigan when the auto industry was flailing, and General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. declared bankruptcies. She was calling the White House for help, and the automakers received bailouts from the Obama administration when Biden was vice president. She criticized laissez faire and trickle-down economics and said state incentive programs aren’t enough in an era of globalization.
“How can a state compete with the minds of China?” she said. “How can a state compete with the wages paid in Mexico? It was like bringing a knife to a gun fight for governors to try to keep these jobs. … I’m here to tell you today that they are different. What’s changed is that we have Joe Biden as our friend, Joe Biden, who decided that our country is going to do something about this, that we are not going to be passive any longer.”
Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for former President Donald Trump’s campaign, said the need for the grants shows that Biden’s “EV mandate is crippling our economy.” His administration has instituted the strictest emissions and fuel economy standards to date, though automakers ultimately can make the decision on the powertrain mix of gas-powered, hybrid and electric vehicles that can get them to the targets.
“For years, Joe Biden has crippled our auto industry with a job-killing EV mandate while simultaneously allowing China to surveil our country and sending American jobs overseas,” Leavitt said. “Americans know that President Trump was tough on China while Joe Biden is weak, and they’ll welcome a new era of America First leadership when they send President Trump back to the White House.”
Although EV sales volumes are up, they’ve increased more slowly than many in the industry expected. Automakers over the past year have announced delays or cuts to EV programs and investments. Granholm highlighted other elements of the Biden administration’s efforts to promote EVs. She noted that the number of public chargers has more than doubled since the president took office, though critics have pointed out that private investment rather than federal support is driving that growth so far.
“I know that (automakers) have to adjust their plans based upon demand, and I know there is an effort out there on the part of some to talk down electric vehicles,” the former two-term governor said. “I expect that once we get by this election that will abate a bit because a lot of these incentives are going to…
Read More: Granholm says Biden should stay in race for US auto industry support