President Joe Biden will be visiting Denver and Pueblo this week.
He’ll be holding a campaign reception in Denver on Tuesday, which is expected to include Gov. Jared Polis. Then on Wednesday, the president heads to Pueblo, where he will tour CS Wind, the largest wind tower manufacturer in the world.
Biden’s stop in Pueblo will highlight the investments his administration has made in the clean energy sector through the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, his signature climate, tax and health care law.
CS Wind announced a $250 million investment to expand its facility in southern Colorado due to the IRA. It is expected to add 850 jobs in the area.
He’s also expected to point out how Republicans, like Pueblo’s congressmember Lauren Boebert, are threatening those investments and the jobs expected to be generated by the investments. House Republicans have put forward several different bills and amendments that would try and rescind parts of that law.
Biden foreshadowed his Colorado trip in August. During a stop in New Mexico to highlight the law and other aspects of his administration’s economic record, he dinged lawmakers like Boebert for not supporting the law, even as it benefitted their districts.
“CS Wind is Congresswoman Lauren Boebert — you know, the very quiet Republican lady? — it’s in her district,” Biden said. “Who, along with every other Republican, voted against this bill. And it’s making all this possible. And she railed against its passage.”
Another project in the 3rd congressional district benefitting from the Inflation Reduction Act is Primergy’s 155 megawatt solar power and battery storage project outside of Durango.
All of Colorado’s Republicans voted against the IRA, as well as the CHIPs and Science Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, while all of Colorado’s Democrats voted for the laws.
So far companies have announced $5 billion in investments in the state in sectors running from clean energy to semiconductors, as a result of legislation passed during Biden’s time in office.
The president was originally expected to visit in October, but postponed the trip to hold meetings on Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Ahead of the October visit, Boebert asked on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, if Biden would be meeting with oil and gas workers, farmers and ranchers or families affected by the opioid crisis.
“If he’s not here to address these serious issues, perhaps he should stick to what he does best — relaxing on the beach and doing nothing,” the congresswoman wrote.
This will be Biden’s fifth trip to Colorado since taking office. His last visit was to give the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy in June.
