President Joe Biden touts Inflation Reduction Act, highlights clean energy investment, employment during Milwaukee visit

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President Joe Biden on Tuesday touted manufacturing and constructed jobs boosted by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) while visiting the renewables producer Ingeteam plant in Milwaukee.

“Instead of exporting American jobs, we’re creating American jobs and exporting American products. And we’re doing it in places like Wisconsin where factories were shut down,” Biden said, noting the city had only a third of its manufacturing jobs in the year 2000.

During his “Bidenomics” campaign, the president highlighted the Inflation Reduction Act, which poured tax credits and energy incentives into construction and was signed into law in 2022. Biden arrived before the Republican presidential primary debate slated for Aug. 23 and amid former president Donald Trump and his allies’ indictment by a grand jury for trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Biden didn’t comment on the indictment, however much of his speech was focused on the political landscape after Trump’s tenure.

The president said construction of plants for semiconductor production and research has doubled over the last two years after he signed the CHIPS and Science Act bill. The president said the U.S. economy has added 600,000 construction jobs since he took office.

According to a study from Renew Wisconsin, the Inflation Reduction Act included over $300 billion worth of clean energy tax credits, manufacturing incentives and other accelerants for clean energy transition in Wisconsin alone.

Ingeteam, a company based in Spain that arrived in Wisconsin a decade ago, plans to add 100 jobs with federal funding for clean energy products, according to White House officials. The company announced intentions to make up to 500,000 DC and ultra-fast chargers for electrical vehicles and expand its 140,000-square-foot production facility in Milwaukee.

Private firms have committed more than $3 billion in manufacturing and clean energy investments since Biden was sworn into office, The Associated Press reported. The annual rate of inflation has fallen from 9% last summer to 3.2% in its most recent 12-month reading, according to the AP.

The president also announced Siemens will start manufacturing photovoltaic string inverters in Kenosha. Siemens officials said the company will produce utility-scale solar components just for the U.S. market. Sanmina owns and operates the Kenosha facility, and the two companies will partner to meet increased demand and local production for photovoltaic projects, company officials said.

Biden also highlighted the Paris Solar Farm project, a 200-megawatt development in Kenosha County that is expected to create 300 construction jobs. Project construction started in 2021 and the plant is expected to be operational this year, according to project officials.

Congresswoman Gwen Moore praised the legislation and said Wisconsin was evidence of the plan working.

“Bidenomics is working. And this is evidence of that. The IRA was made for Milwaukee,” Moore added, noting the legislation had provisions for a diverse workforce for clean energy.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin also spoke and highlighted Ingeteam’s work with electric vehicle chargers, wind turbines and solar panels, as well as other company’s work toward a carbonless economy in the state.

“You could say in Wisconsin we manufacture everything but the kitchen sink, but wait, we do that too in Kohler,” Baldwin added.

Gov. Tony Evers, who passed Wisconsin’s first clean energy plan, thanked the Biden administration.

“I know we’ll build a cleaner, brighter future that we need for our state,” Evers remarked.