Vice President Kamala Harris Visits New Flyer in St. Cloud on Thursday Calling Workers “An Example of America’s Future”

(KNSI) — Vice President Kamala Harris visited New Flyer in St. Cloud to highlight the work being done to create innovative solutions for green energy needs and the future of public transportation.

There are 30,000 New Flyer buses on the roads today, and VP Harris says every day, millions of Americans ride the bus to go to work, to school, to church, to the grocery store, to wherever they need to get. She said buses are essential and need an upgrade as most of the nation’s buses run on diesel fuel. “Well, here’s the thing. Diesel exhaust is a poison. Breathing diesel fumes can cause headaches, and nausea. It can make asthma and chronic bronchitis worse, and it can even cause a risk for cancer. Diesel exhaust is also a greenhouse gas. Every year, gas powered buses add millions of tons of pollution to our atmosphere, which further accelerates the climate crisis. But there is a solution to all of this. And that solution is parked right over there and right over there. And right over there. These buses, electric buses. They are healthier for people, cleaner for communities and better for our planet.”

She says electric buses aren’t just cleaner; they are also less expensive to operate, with school districts in all 50 states applying for rebates for buying electric buses. The Environmental Protection Agency is also upping the amount available for those rebates to $1 billion. She says that lower costs to operate electric school buses mean more money for school districts.

VP Harris explained getting electric buses rolling was a bipartisan effort, and Congress has invested “over $5.5 billion to put thousands of new electric transit buses on the streets of our nation.”

Harris says businesses like New Flyer not only contribute to a cleaner environment, they also create good paying jobs that don’t require a four year degree but “do require the kind of skills building that the folks here train people to do. Jobs that offer salaries and benefits that allow folks to raise a family to buy a home to take a vacation from time to time to retire with dignity.”

She called the workers at New Flyer “an example of America’s future” and concluded by saying New Flyer “is not just building better buses. You are building a better America.”

The Minnesota Republican Party said President Joe Biden, Vice President Harris and the Democrats are “out to lunch” and called Harris’s visit a “victory lap,” all the while ignoring “inflation outpacing job growth for 21 straight months.” They add that “Minnesotans are struggling to make ends meet” and that the visit will “do nothing to ease the pain that the Biden-Harris Administration and the Democrats are causing for Minnesota families and businesses.”

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KNSI News Reporter Jake Judd contributed to this story.

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