Thread: President Joe Biden

Biden to mark 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement in Belfast

Northern Ireland remains at peace 25 years on from the Good Friday agreement, but sectarian divides are rearing their heads.

The big picture: President Biden will visit Belfast Tuesday to mark the anniversary of an agreement that is heralded as a triumph of peacemaking and power-sharing. However, the Northern Ireland Assembly created under the accords has not convened since February 2022.

The backstory: The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) walked out of Stormont to protest the Northern Ireland Protocol of then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal. The deal placed a de facto trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., rather than between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which would have angered republicans.

• In elections last year, the hardline DUP — the only major party to oppose the Good Friday accords — finished second to Sinn Fein, which was long associated with the IRA. More moderate republican and unionist parties have faded.
• The system designed under the Good Friday Agreement to share power between unionists and republicans means that the DUP's boycott can prevent the entire parliament from convening. It also limits the influence of a growing non-aligned centrist party, the Economist notes.
• The DUP says U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's revised deal resolves some of their concerns over trade across the Irish Sea, but is still holding out for more. Many republicans, meanwhile, believe the unification of Ireland is only a matter of time.

Yes, but: Belfast is a growing tourism and business hub. Biden and Sunak will gather there on Tuesday without the urgent security concerns that would have loomed over such a gathering decades ago.

• Tensions still arise between Catholics and Protestants, republicans and unionists, and paramilitaries still occasionally march through the streets.
• But as long as the discord revolves around boycotts rather than bombings, the Good Friday Agreement will be seen as a resounding success.

What's next: After Belfast, Biden will spend three days in the Republic of Ireland, celebrating U.S.-Ireland ties and his own Irish heritage.

More EV sales could come from anticipated Biden rule

The Biden administration is expected to soon put forward a proposal to strengthen regulations on vehicular emissions that, if finalized, is likely to move the market toward a greater share of electric vehicle sales.

A person familiar told The Hill that they expect the proposal, which concerns passenger cars for model years 2027 and later, to come out this week, while another person familiar added that they expect it soon.

The White House concluded its formal review of the proposal for regulation on Friday.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that the standards would be designed to ensure that electric vehicles make up as much as 67 percent of new car sales by 2032.

The Hill has not been able to independently verify the figure and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

The EPA regularly puts forward standards limiting tailpipe emissions for automakers’ vehicle fleets. Automakers may respond to these standards either by upgrading cars with gas-powered engines to have fewer emissions, making more of their vehicles electric in order to lessen their overall emissions or a combination of the two.

A person familiar with the proposal said that they expect the rule not only to regulate cars for climate change, but also for other pollutants such as soot or nitrogen oxides that can harm the respiratory system.

President Biden has previously said he would like for half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. Last year, 5.8 percent of new car sales were electric, according to Kelley Blue Book.

Biden urges Northern Ireland leaders to seize '''incredible economic opportunity'

U.S. President Joe Biden urged Northern Irish political leaders to restore their power-sharing government with the promise that scores of major U.S. corporations were ready to invest in the region as he marked the 25th anniversary of peace in Belfast.

Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage, spent just over half a day in the UK region - where he met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - before leaving for the Irish Republic for two-and-a-half days of speeches and meetings with officials and distant relatives.

The brief Belfast stop was against the backdrop of the latest political stalemate in which the devolved power-sharing government, a key part of the 1998 peace deal, has not met for more than a year due to a dispute about post-Brexit trade arrangements.

"It took long, hard years of work to get to this place," Biden said in a speech at the new Ulster University campus in Belfast, remarking how the city had been transformed since he first travelled there as a young senator.

"Today's Belfast is the beating heart of Northern Ireland and is poised to drive unprecedented economic opportunity. There are scores of major American corporations wanting to come here wanting to invest."

The 1998 peace accord was backed by the U.S. and largely ended 30 years of bloodshed between mainly Roman Catholic nationalist opponents and mainly Protestant unionist supporters of British rule. But political progress has been held back by a series of disputes, most recently over how Britain's departure from the European Union affects the border with EU member Ireland.

Biden said power-sharing remained critical to the future of Northern Ireland and that an effective devolved government would "draw even greater opportunity in this region".

"So I hope the assembly and the executive will soon be restored. That's a judgment for you to make, not me, but I hope it happens," he told an audience that included the leaders of Northern Ireland's five main political parties.

DUP UNMOVED

Biden said the recent Windsor Framework deal between the European Union and Britain to ease post-Brexit trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom offered the stability and predictability to encourage greater investment.

That deal has so far failed to convince the region's largest pro-British party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to end a boycott of the local assembly. Power-sharing has endured multiple breakdowns and suspensions since 1998.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said Biden's visit - the first to the region by a U.S. president in 10 years - did not change the political dynamic around his party's protest against the trade rules that treat the province differently to the rest of the UK.

The DUP wants further changes around the UK/EU deal and will put proposals to the British government within the next few weeks, Donaldson said. London has said the deal cannot be renegotiated.

Donaldson, who like other local leaders had a short one-on-one meeting with Biden, said the president made clear that he was not in Belfast to interfere and that his speech "was much more balanced than we have heard perhaps in the past".

Present and former DUP colleagues earlier described Biden as "anti-British" and "hating the United Kingdom", prompting a While House official to say the president's track record "shows that he's not anti-British".

But Britain's departure from the EU has at times strained ties between Britain and Biden's White House as London and Brussels struggled to find a divorce deal that would not damage the principles of the peace agreement.

Sunak said he spoke to Biden on Wednesday about "incredible economic opportunities" for Northern Ireland, their hope that power-sharing will be restored as soon as possible, and described both countries as "very close partners".

The pair met over tea at the Belfast hotel Biden stayed in overnight.

One of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement, former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, said it was a "big own goal" that Northern Ireland had no functioning parliament to greet the president.

'LIKE COMING HOME'

Biden swapped clear skies in Northern Ireland for rain south of the border as he began his Irish tour in County Louth - midway between Belfast and Dublin - where his great-grandfather, James Finnegan, was born.

"It feels wonderful. It feels like I'm coming home," said Biden, wearing a baseball cap as he looked out from Carlingford Castle across the water towards Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland where his great-great-grandfather, shoemaker Owen Finnegan, left for the U.S. in 1849. His family followed a year later.

Biden was joined at the castle by Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister, Micheál Martin, and his most famous distant cousin, Rob Kearney. The Louth native is one of Ireland's most successful former rugby players.

Biden, who will meet relatives from another side of his family in the western county of Mayo on Friday, where he will also make a public address, was unperturbed by the weather.

"It's Ireland," he joked.

The locals who lined the streets of Carlingford and nearby Dundalk - where the teetotal Biden met more relatives at the Windsor Bar after shaking hands around the town - were just as enthusiastic.

"Welcoming home a president of the United States, who would ever have thought we'd be doing that," said Carlingford resident Michael Farrow, wearing an American flag draped over a plastic rain poncho.

‘Your future is America’s future’: Biden reaffirms Northern Ireland ties

Biden suggests US government is close to identifying intel leaker

President Joe Biden appeared to suggest Thursday that the US government is close to identifying the leaker responsible for the disclosure of sensitive government secrets posted to social media.

“There’s a full-blown investigation going on, as you know,” Biden said when asked for comment about the leaks. “The intelligence community and the Justice Department. And they’re getting close. I don’t have an answer for you.”

Biden was speaking in Dublin, where he is meeting the Irish president. It was the first time he commented on the leak.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the person behind the leak worked on a military base and posted sensitive national security secrets in an online group of acquaintances.

The leaker is described in the Post story as a lonely young man and gun enthusiast who was part of a chatroom of about two dozen people on Discord – a social media platform popular with video gamers – that shared a love of guns and military gear, according to a friend of the alleged leaker the Post interviewed who was also part of the group.

The friend told the Post he would not reveal the identity of the alleged leaker, who goes by the moniker “OG,” or their location to authorities.

Biden said he was concerned about the fact the leaks happened, but not necessarily about their content.

“I’m not concerned about the leak. I’m concerned that it happened, but there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of any consequence.”

The leaked documents posted to social media, some of which have been obtained by CNN, include detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries alike, including on the state of the war in Ukraine and the challenges both Kyiv and Moscow face as the war appears stuck in a stalemate in the months ahead.

The Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs following a major leak of classified information discovered last week.

Some US officials who used to receive the briefing materials daily have stopped receiving them in recent days, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as the Pentagon’s Joint Staff continues to whittle down its distribution lists.

The Joint Staff, which comprises the Defense Department’s most senior uniformed leadership that advises the president, began examining its distribution lists immediately after learning of the trove of leaked classified documents – many of which had markings indicating that they had been produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as the J2.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder in an interview with News Nation on Wednesday said the Pentagon is looking at “mitigation measures in terms of what we can do to prevent potential additional unauthorized leaks.”

The criminal investigation is being led by the FBI’s Washington field office, including a team of counter-intelligence investigators experienced in hunting leaks.

Those investigators are also working with Pentagon officials on the damage assessment, which would become part of the evidence to be used in any potential prosecution that results.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Tensions still arise between Catholics and Protestants, republicans and unionists, and paramilitaries still occasionally march through the streets.

they do more than march, Biden's kiddy fiddlers are still murdering and planting bombs,

Joe Biden confuses All Blacks with Black and Tans during Ireland trip

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/13/white-house-corrects-black-and-tans-to-all-blacks-after-biden-gaffe

Originally Posted by KWAN

Joe Biden confuses All Blacks with Black and Tans during Ireland trip

Joe Biden confuses All Blacks with Black and Tans during Ireland trip | Joe Biden | The Guardian

The link below should work:

Joe Biden confuses All Blacks with Black and Tans during Ireland trip | Joe Biden | The Guardian

if he run, he wins



Biden signs bill ending Covid-19 national emergency

President Joe Biden on Monday signed a House bill immediately ending the Covid-19 national emergency, first enacted during the Trump administration in 2020.

The White House initially announced plans to extend the Covid-19 national emergency, as well as the public health emergency, until May 11. But shortly after, House Republicans put forth bills to end both imminently. The bill that the president signed into law on Monday ended only the national emergency.

The White House voiced opposition to the bills, saying the resolutions “would be a grave disservice to the American people.”

In a Statement of Administration Policy, the Biden administration said that an abrupt end to the emergency declarations would “create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system.”

Despite this, Biden told Senate Majority Chuck Schumer last month that he did not plan to veto it — marking the second time in recent weeks that the president has signaled opposition to a Republican-sponsored bill, only to later decline to veto it. Last month, Biden told the Senate that he would not veto a GOP-back bill that would repeal changes to the D.C. criminal code, a move that came as a surprise to Democrats.

Ending the national emergency will end the use of some waivers for federal health programs meant to help health care providers during the height of the pandemic.

The law Biden signed Monday did not affect the public health emergency, which is still set to expire in May — along with the Trump-era Title 42 border policy. In the Statement of Administration Policy objecting to the GOP bills seeking to end the pandemic emergencies, the White House warned that an abrupt end to the public health emergency and Title 42 would prove particularly problematic, and could “allow thousands of migrants per day into the country immediately without the necessary policies in place.”

Originally Posted by Switch

His visit offers nothing else but his own rather loose connections there.

You're still making no sense, then.

• Biden casts US and Ireland as allies in quest for shared values

Joe Biden declared that Ireland and the US have a “partnership for the ages” in a highly personal address to the Irish parliament. The US president celebrated his Irish heritage and made a passionate defence of democracy in a speech to a joint sitting of the Oireachtas – both houses of parliament – in Dublin on Thursday evening.

“Tá mé seo abhaile,” Biden told the chamber in Irish. “I’m at home.” He added: “I just wish I could stay longer.”

In a wide-ranging address, the political highlight of his four-day visit to the island of Ireland, the president lauded American and Irish “revolutionary spirit” and cast the two nations as allies in a battle for shared values.

“As we meet these struggles they cast a shadow on our world,” he said. “The struggle between the rights of many and desires of few, between liberty and oppression, and, I know I get criticised for saying this around the world, between democracy and autocracy.”

The US was “shaped by Ireland”, which had been a historical partner, he said. “As nations we’ve known hardship and division, but we have also found solace in each other.”

In what some may view as a tacit rebuke to Downing Street he said the UK “should be working closer” with the Irish government to support Northern Ireland, where power-sharing had collapsed last year. The reference jarred with other statements supportive of Rishi Sunak’s post-Brexit Windsor framework and efforts to revive the Stormont parliament.

Biden said America and Ireland embodied “possibilities” in a speech that at times appeared to reflect campaign-style rhetoric. He is expected soon to confirm another run for the White House, however the 80-year-old also acknowledged his age. “I’m at the end of my career. Not the beginning.”

Biden assailed Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and his invasion of Ukraine, and said the climate crisis was the biggest threat to the world, adding: “We don’t have much time. And that’s a fact.”

He cited Irish poets and related stories of his ancestors’ emigration from Ireland. He also said he treasured a ball the Irish rugby team used to beat the All Blacks, correcting an earlier gaffe that confused New Zealand’s team with the Black and Tans.

Biden was following in the footsteps of previous US presidents who had spoken to the Irish parliament, namely John F Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Clinton in 1995. Biden’s son Hunter and sister Valerie watched from the gallery with dignitaries including the former president of Ireland Mary McAleese, Sinn Fein’s former leader Gerry Adams, and ambassadors.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl, speaker of the Dáil, the lower chamber, gave an effusive welcome, saying Biden personified Ireland’s story of emigration. “President Biden, today you are amongst friends because you are one of us. On this historic occasion – your homecoming – we warmly welcome you back to your roots. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for all you have done, and continue to do, for us here in Ireland.”

The comments reflected a widespread mood of pride, inside and outside the government, at Biden’s political and personal pilgrimage to Ireland. The government and opposition gave Biden standing ovations.

___________

Extra

• The president's great-great-great grandfather, Edward Blewitt, was born around 1803 in Ireland, and was raised in County Mayo. It was there that his son, Patrick Blewitt, was born in April 1832 -- Biden's great-great grandfather.

Edward, his wife Mary and their eight children, including Patrick, traveled across the Atlantic on the SS Excelsior in 1851 for America, to the sister city to Ballina -- Scranton.

The trip was funded in part by Edward's sale of 27,000 bricks to St. Muredach's Cathedral in 1828 -- where Patrick was baptized shortly after his birth, and where President Biden will deliver remarks Friday to end his visit to Ireland.

^ his thrice-great-grandDah was English, Sussex to be exact but the senile old dolt conveniently forgets that when he's cheering on his kiddy fiddler terrorist side

More empty rhetoric blathering based on shady ancestry. Pointless visit. Almost as pointless and honest as Cyrille.

Originally Posted by Switch

Pointless visit

Agree. Watching on beeb and clearly a boon doggle paid for by me!

• Welcomed in Ireland, 'Cousin Joe' Biden jokes of staying

In Ireland this week, well-wishers have lined the streets to catch a mere glimpse of President Joe Biden. Photos of his smiling face are plastered on shop windows, and one admirer held a sign reading, “2024 — Make Joe President Again.”

No wonder Biden keeps joking about sticking around.

Back home, Biden's approval rating is near the lowest point of his presidency. And even some fellow Democrats have suggested he shouldn't run for reelection. On trips within the U.S. to discuss his economic and social policies, Biden often gets a smattering of admirers waving as he drives by, and friendly crowds applaud his speeches. But the reception doesn't compare with the overwhelming adoration he's getting here in the old sod.

Expect more of the same on Friday, when Biden wraps up his visit to Ireland by spending a day in County Mayo in western Ireland, where his great-great-grandfather Patrick Blewitt lived until he left for the United States in 1850. The locals have been abuzz for weeks with preparation for Biden's visit, giving buildings a new coat of paint and hanging American flags from shopfronts.

___________

• Biden Ireland trip going better than some presidents with Irish blood

Like Joe Biden, half of US presidents had Irish roots. But not all Ireland trips went well.

At the start of his three-day trip to the Emerald Isle this week, President Joe Biden saluted the Irish-American architect who designed the White House.

"You know who founded and designed and built the White House? An Irishman," Biden said during a speech at Ulster University in Belfast on Wednesday. "Your history is our history."

Biden's comment applies not just to the White House itself, but also to its occupants.

He may be – in the words of Irish genealogist Fiona Fitzsimons – "the most Irish of all the presidents." Ten of Biden's 16 great-great-grandparents are from Ireland.

But he's far from the only one with a connection.

Half of the 46 presidents trace some of their roots to Ireland, according to the U.S. Census.

That's a lot even considering that nearly one in ten U.S. residents claim Irish ancestry.

"The Irish diaspora punch well above their weight in terms of political clout across the Atlantic!" tweeted EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum.

Of the eight presidents who have visited Ireland while in office, six are counted by the Irish Emigration Museum as having Irish ties. (President Bill Clinton has Irish ancestry but the records are patchy, according to Lynne Kelleher, author of "The Green and White House: Ireland and the US Presidents.")

"There remains something of an enigma around why this familial tie is claimed and celebrated even when the relationship is as distant as an eighth cousin," Kelleher wrote, "but still these presidential family trees spawned a succession of homecoming visits of US leaders to star-struck rural outposts around Ireland."

Biden, whose Irish Catholic heritage has been central to his political identity, has been celebrating the connection. On Friday, his final day in Ireland, Biden is visiting the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centre’s Family History Research Unit.

He spent part of his first day tracing his family roots in County Louth.

At Carlingford Castle, the last Irish landmark that Biden's maternal great-great-grandfather saw before he departed for New York, a four-piece bagpipe and drum ensemble belted out a bespoke anthem: "A Biden Return."

"Feels like I’m coming home," Biden said as he took in the view of the water from a landing in the castle.

If 10% of Americans claim Irish stock, it proves the country is made up of mongrels. (Italians, Gremans, French, Dutch. English and a few Africans too).

Dont worry, mongrel lineage is invariably stronger.

That begs the question, why does Biden come over as weak, indecisive and a poor leader?

Joe Biden ends Ireland tour with passionate address to thousands

Joe Biden has concluded his visit to Ireland with a passionate riverside address to tens of thousands of people at his ancestral town in County Mayo.

The US president turned his farewell speech outside St Muredach’s cathedral in Ballina on Friday night into a celebration of Irish and American values that appeared partly aimed at US voters.

“My friends, people of Mayo, this is a moment to recommit our hearts, our minds and souls to the march of progress. To lay the foundations brick by brick for a better future for our kids and grandkids,” Biden said.

He bounded on to the stage by the banks of the river Moy in a display of energy and stamina after a hectic four-day visit that tacitly rebuked doubts that, at the age of 80, he is too old to run for another term in the White House.

He cast the story of his ancestors leaving famine-stricken Ireland for liberty and opportunity in the US as a parable of the American dream. “I’ve never been more optimistic – and I’ve been doing this a long time – about what we can achieve if we stick together and stick to our values. This is a time of enormous possibilities,” he said.

Calling himself “Mayo Joe, son of Ballina”, the prospective Democratic candidate for 2024 invoked traditional values. “Our strength is something that overcomes everyday hardships, and above all our courage allows us to march forward in faith. Family is the beginning, middle and the end – that’s the Irish of it.”

The 27,000-strong crowd, which had queued for hours and passed though airport-style security, gave the president a rapturous reception, concluding a whirlwind week that stamped his Irish identity on his presidency, evoking comparisons to a 1963 visit by John Kennedy. Ballina is the birthplace of Biden’s great-great-great-grandfather Edward Blewitt.

Earlier on Friday, Biden prayed at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, a Catholic shrine, during a highly personal pilgrimage through County Mayo.

By chance, an ex-US army chaplain who works at the shrine, Fr Frank O’Grady, had tended to Biden’s son Beau, who died of cancer in a US military hospital in 2015. The two men spoke, and Biden wept. He also visited a hospice in the Mayo town of Castlebar that has a plaque dedicated to Beau Biden.

US flags and Biden posters festooned Ballina, which resembled a US town on the Fourth of July. Families queued to take selfies in front of a mural of Biden. “The kettle is on Joe, come on home,” said a poster.

Harry McCafferty, a shoe repairer, said Biden had charmed the nation. “He’s so friendly, he has a great way with him. And it’s great for Ballina. People who have never heard of Ballina will know of it after today.”

The rapture bookended a homecoming for a man who, the Irish Times said, “just loves being Irish”. It was Biden’s third time in Ireland since 2016, but his first as president.

The address outside the cathedral followed three days during which the president caught the public imagination – and made some gaffes – during visits to Dublin and the Cooley peninsula in County Louth, where another branch of his family lives.

The relatively freewheeling tour of the Irish republic, where Biden visited a pub and deli and did walkabouts, contrasted with a brief, politically delicate visit to Northern Ireland earlier in the week when he marked the Good Friday agreement’s 25th anniversary amid tension over the Democratic Unionist party’s boycott of power sharing.

The former DUP leader Arlene Foster said Biden “hates” the UK, a claim repeated by some British commentators. US and Irish officials rejected the assertion.

Another protest came from five leftwing members of Ireland’s legislature, who boycotted his address to the Dáil on Thursday, saying US support for Israel and Saudi Arabia was hurting Palestinians and Yemenis.

Biden’s speech to the legislature won standing ovations and followed in the footsteps of his predecessors Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. “I’m at home,” he declared. “I just wish I could stay longer.”

His official Twitter account said the trip had embodied the Irish phrase céad míle fáilte – a hundred thousand welcomes. “Like my grandfather used to say: ‘If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough,’” the tweet added.

The president visited a heritage and genealogy centre in Crossmolina to learn more about his ancestor Edward Blewitt, a civil engineer, and his wife, Mary Mulderg, who emigrated to the US in 1851 and helped to plan and build Scranton in Pennsylvania, which is now twinned with Ballina.

Alan Dillon, a local politician who played Gaelic football for Mayo, asked the president to “say a little prayer” to break a purported curse that has prevented the county from winning the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, also known as the Sam Maguire cup, since 1951.

Biden concluded his speech in Ballina with a rallying cry. “Mayo for Sam!” The crowd roared. He was to return to the US on Saturday.

__________

Originally Posted by Norton

Watching on beeb and clearly a boon doggle paid for by me!

paid for by me!

Made me smile.

You want to guess how much I mailed the IRS today (1040-V payment voucher)?

Biden makes me proud to be an American.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Made me smile.

This is no laughing matter. We're talkin big bucks here.

“Biden makes me proud to be an American.“

I think we are all well aware of that, but it doesn’t explain why, and neither do your posts.

I remain unconvinced by your pride in the man, when so many see his obvious weaknesses. It’s not enough to be better than Trump. That is a very low bar indeed.

^You weren’t following along close enough.

Not to worry,........ you’ll have about 6 more years to catch up and watch the progress being made.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

watch the progress being made

Mr Burns will either trip up and snap his neck climbing the stairs to airfarce one or one day he'll simply wake and have regressed wanting to do his paper round.

• Biden administration announces $2B loan for electric vehicle battery manufacturing

The Biden administration on Thursday announced that it would issue a $2 billion loan to a battery manufacturing facility as it looks to bolster the country’s supply chain for electric vehicles.

“The Department of Energy is proud to announce a conditional commitment for a $2 billion loan to Redwood Materials,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Thursday during a press conference.

“If finalized, this $2 billion loan is going to help Redwood to complete this project to produce critical components for EV batteries.”

She did not elaborate on what the conditions of the commitment are. The Hill has reached out to the Energy Department for clarification.

The loan would go to Redwood Materials for the expansion of a battery materials facility in McCarren, Nevada.

The facility recycles batteries from electronics including cell phones, laptops and power tools and uses those materials to make components of electric vehicle batteries, according to the department.

Redwood Materials founder and CEO JB Straubel said that with its expansion in the coming years, the facility will be able to produce materials for about a million electric vehicles each year.

“This is a huge number, it’s a momentous project, but it will take many projects like this one, many companies like us, to do this,” Straubel said. “There is an incredible amount of work overall for our country ahead of us as we transition to a sustainable energy economy.”

About 1,600 full-time jobs and 3,400 construction jobs are expected to be created by the loan from the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office.

Exactly who is that that is mounting Biden?