MADISON, Wis. — Vice President Kamala Harris made her sixth trip to Wisconsin since taking office with a visit to Madison on Wednesday to tout the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to create good-paying union jobs.
The White House is doubling down on its commitment to expand apprenticeship programs. During a stop at the future Metro Transit bus facility, Vice President Harris announced that President Joe Biden signed a new executive order to expand registered apprenticeships.
“This work that we see behind us is a function of that partnership around how we can get federal dollars out to local governments and local communities in a way that they then invest in the talent,” Vice President Harris explained.
Highlighting the administration’s investments in clean energy infrastructure, the vice president spoke from the job site of a soon-to-be electric bus depot where registered apprentices were at work Wednesday.
U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, who joined the vice president on the trip, said the project in Madison is just one example of how federal funds are creating jobs.
“We want to walk the talk,” Su said. “This is about saying apprenticeship programs—we know they work; we know they create opportunity. We know that they are a pathway for people who might not have even known there was a job like that.”
Damian Escobedo from Beaver Dam, Wis. has been an apprentice at 1901 Inc. for about a year and said more Wisconsinites need to know about what career opportunities are out there.
“A lot of light needs to be shed on the fact that there’s a shortage of people in the trades, you know,” Escobedo said. “The college route for a lot of people seems to be the only route, and they kind of overshadow the fact that you can make a really nice living building something that at the end of the day you walk away and kind of look at like, ‘Yeah, I built that.’”
The latest executive order from the White House will direct federal agencies to explore what kinds of jobs can be filled by skilled apprentices rather than prioritizing four-year college graduates.
“They are learning skills that are about engineering and technology,” Vice President Harris added. “They are learning skills that [are] about complex math and science, and these are the kinds of skills that we need in a variety of jobs.”
With several visits from the White House recently, including a campaign stop by First Lady Jill Biden in Waukesha County on Sunday, Republicans insist it shows President Biden's reelection campaign is in trouble, especially in battleground states such as Wisconsin.
“Joe Biden is in avoidance. He needs to come out to places like Wisconsin,” Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming said. “Not only just to speak, but to answer questions and to be out there. They are sitting in a situation, right now, where the last poll I saw, all seven of the swing states that are in play, he’s down by three to seven points between all of them, so there’s a reason they’re coming here as much as they are.”
Wednesday’s visit marked Vice President Harris’ second trip to Wisconsin this year, which she wrapped up with a campaign event at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s office in downtown Madison.
Harris last visited the Badger State in January to kick off her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour in Waukesha County.