Obama visits Holland to open battery factory

By Lindsey Smith, Michigan Public Radio Network

HOLLAND, MI –

President Obama was in Holland today for a groundbreaking ceremony at a new advanced battery factory partially financed with federal grants. The Michigan Public Radio Network's Lindsey Smith reports the new L-G Chem plant will produce hundreds of thousands of battery packs for electric vehicles when it opens in 2012.

AUDIO:
President Obama received a warm welcome from company officials and state leaders. That didn't stop him from taking a couple shots at Republicans who did not vote for the Recovery Act that help attract the big investment.

"Now that doesn't stop them from being at ribbon cuttings but. but that's okay," he says.

Congressman Pete Hoekstra called that a cheap shot. The Holland Republican added that it was very "unpresidential".

"I'm here out of respect to the company that is investing here in Michigan, to my constituents and the office of the president," he explained.

Hoekstra says Michigan would be better off it had a fairer tax structure. And he says the country would be better off if government was less involved in picking winners and losers and let businesses do the job creating.

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