President Joe Biden was back on the road pitching his economic agenda on Thursday – this time focusing on unions and renewable energy in the Scranton native’s crucial stomping ground of battleground Pennsylvania.
“I made a commitment: I've been the most pro-union president in American history,” Biden declared during his speech in Philadelphia. “I'm keeping that promise.”
The remarks followed the president’s tour of the Philly Shipyard for a steel-cutting ceremony for the Acadia, which the White House says is the first offshore wind vessel of its kind to be made in the country.
Biden made a point to highlight the union jobs created by the project, with the White House saying it will take more than 1,000 workers from nine unions to complete the vessel.
“When I think climate, I think jobs. I think union jobs. Not a joke. Not a joke,” Biden said on Thursday.
The president also touted the first-ever Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease sale set to take place on Aug. 29. The administration made the announcement earlier Thursday, hailing it as another step toward its goal of building enough gigawatts of offshore wind projects to power 10 million homes by 2030. The White House said this sale alone, which will include areas in Louisiana and Texas, has the potential to power nearly 1.3 million homes.
“All this investment means good paying jobs here at home, here at home,” he said on Thursday. “We’re making sure these new jobs come free and fair and [with] the ability to join a union if you’re not already in a union”
Biden’s pitch that unions will be building America’s renewable energy future comes at a time when major ones are weighing strikes, something the Democratic president knows could cause serious disruption.
Hollywood production is shut down as the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild are currently striking.
The United Auto Workers are starting contract talks, and members say they expect a possible strike. The Teamsters are threatening one as well by 340,000 UPS workers if a deal is not reached with the delivery company by July 31.
The president on Thursday also pointed to the unemployment rate, rising wages and falling inflation as evidence his plans are working.
The unemployment rate is near an historic low at 3.6% and inflation is at its lowest point since 2021, despite still being more than the Federal Reserve’s target number.
“We need to talk about this, and all of our accomplishments, in the morning, at noon, at night,” Gabe Horwitz, senior vice president for the economic program at Third Way, a center-left think tank in Washington, said. “We need to be sick of talking about it. And that still won't be enough.”
The Biden administration just wrapped up a second wave of its Investing in America tour, which kicked off with an announcement on high speed internet funding in late June.
Since then, the administration has been in a full-force effort to sell the public on the president’s economic agenda, embracing the term “Bidenomics” and sending top officials, including the president himself, on the road to tout Biden’s policies and legislation.
The push is despite a skeptical public. At the beginning of the economic messaging blitz, just 34% of U.S. adults said they approved of his handling of the economy, according to a survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
In the weeks since, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey released Thursday, his economic rating improved slightly. However, still just 37% said they approve of his handling of the economy, according to the poll.
Republicans have jumped on the administration’s 'Bidenomics' focus, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., calling ‘Bidenomics’ an “economic disaster where government causes decades-high inflation, high gas prices, lower paychecks, and crippling uncertainty that leaves Americans worse off” on Twitter.
Horwitz said Democrats need to put more focus on messaging around macroeconomic issues such as GDP, jobs and small business growth – things he says “Republicans talk about a lot more.”
A Monmouth University poll conducted July 12-17 found only 34% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of inflation. When it came to his handling of jobs and unemployment, 47% approved while 48% disapproved.
Horwitz attributed Biden’s economic rating to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
“Voters have had so much economic turbulence over the last couple of years,” he said. “It’s just been a tumultuous time in America. And so, it's going to take people a little bit of time to come out of that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.