Joe Biden praises North Carolina economy

DURHAM — North Carolina is ahead of the curve in gearing the economy toward the future, Vice President Joe Biden told state residents Thursday.

Biden toured CREE Inc. — a LED lighting manufacturing company that received tax credits through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in January — and discussed the need for replicating the company’s success across the country.

CREE hired 375 workers as a result of the stimulus funds, exemplifying President Barack Obama’s administration’s focus on creating more clean-energy manufacturing jobs for the middle class.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a success story as I’ve seen here at CREE,” Biden said. “You all are doing here what we hope to do.”

Adam Broome, a CREE employee, said he has seen the company grow tremendously in the 15 years that he has worked there.

“I’m really proud that he’s giving us recognition for all the hard work we do here,” Broome said.

Biden said the administration is pushing Congress to extend the tax credits in the Recovery Act from $2.3 billion to $5 billion so more companies like CREE can expand and boost the economy.

“Look, this is working, and we can make it work even better,” Biden said. “We’ll get our money back in spades. This is to spark job creation today and inspire innovation for tomorrow.”

Biden discussed the ongoing clean-energy projects across the country that are aimed at rebuilding the economy.

“We don’t want to be exporting jobs anymore. We want to produce more stuff here in America. That’s what it’s about,” he said.

Biden said 62,000 jobs were created in the state as a result of the Recovery Act, and 2 million were created nationwide.

The economy has also seen a 12 percent growth rate since President Obama took office, he said.

But for the growth to continue, there needs to be a shift in the economic structure, he said.

“We need big. We need bold. We need ideas that are going to transform how our economy works in the future,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Durham Mayor Bill Bell, N.C. Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and N.C. Speaker of the House Joe Hackney, D-Orange, also attended the event.

John Muth, an engineering professor at N.C. State University, was invited to the event for his work with the FREEDM Systems Center, an organization that explores renewable energy.

“We’ve got a lot of potential in North Carolina, and this is a recognition of it at the national level,” he said.



Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.