President Joe Biden highlighted a $60 million investment by Enphase Energy Inc. as proof that his economic agenda is creating jobs for American workers, bringing his “Bidenomics” presentation to South Carolina.
“Our plan is working. And one of the things I’m most proud of is that it works everywhere,” Biden said Thursday in West Columbia, his latest trip outside Washington to highlight his efforts on the economy to skeptical voters as he seeks re-election. “It’s no coincidence. It’s Bidenomics in action.”
Enphase’s investment will create 1,800 jobs in the US, including 600 jobs in South Carolina between the solar equipment company and its partner, manufacturing giant Flex Ltd.
Biden was joined by Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi and Enphase President and CEO Badri Kothandaraman. He visited a Flex facility, where the company will manufacture products for Enphase. Enphase sells microinverters and batteries for solar panels, but its products are manufactured in factories in China, Mexico and India. Thursday’s announcement marks Enphase’s first U.S.-based contract manufacturing facility.
“Jobs that used to go to Mexico, India, Romania and China are coming home to South Carolina,” Biden said.
Thursday’s visit brought Biden to a state where he has pivoted his 2020 campaign. Biden has credited the state’s black voters, who scored their first primary victory this campaign, for helping him to the Democratic nomination and the White House. Subsequently, Biden pushed the Democratic National Committee to move South Carolina first on its presidential primary schedule.
But the state went for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 general election and has produced two 2024 GOP presidential candidates, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Speaking in the Republican-controlled state, Biden argued that his policies have tried to help all voters, even those who did not support him.
Biden took a jab at GOP lawmakers he said opposed to his policies, but later took credit for investments in their states, citing a project in the district of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“Guess what? I’ll be there for the breakout,” Biden said.
Biden spoke in South Carolina days after Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, held a rally in the state. The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump with a small head-to-head lead nationally.
Skeptical voters
Biden’s efforts to create manufacturing jobs have been a centerpiece of his economic agenda, fueled in part by legislation he signed into law, including the $370 billion Inflation Reduction Act and the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act.
The president has insisted that his policies are already delivering benefits to voters and creating lasting change for American industry by encouraging smart investments in clean energy, growing the middle class and promoting competition to lower costs for consumers and businesses. small businesses
Still, voters, plagued by unusually high inflation and fears of a possible looming recession, have been reluctant to credit the president’s efforts. Biden has been hurt by low poll numbers and the perception among voters that he has accomplished little in office.
To counter this, Biden has stepped up his economic message. Last week, he delivered what the White House billed as a major address on Bidenomics, contrasting his economic agenda with the small-government philosophy Republicans have championed for decades and seeking to reclaim a moniker the GOP has deployed teasing
Many of his measures, however, will not bear fruit for years as new manufacturing facilities are phased in, posing a challenge for a president whose re-election prospects are tied to the perception of voters about the state of the economy.
Republicans have seized on polling data showing Americans have a dim view of the economy to brand Biden’s policies.
Scott criticized Biden’s policies earlier Thursday, saying Americans needed relief from rising inflation.
“I hope he starts his apology tour here in South Carolina because what the president wants the American people to do is believe what he says and not what we see with our own eyes,” Scott told Fox News . “Every month since he’s been in office, except for one, inflation has outstripped wage increases.”
