Obama Administration to lay out clean energy, jobs agenda during TPI visit

In a statement earlier Tuesday morning, a spokesperson from the White House announced that President Obama will visit TPI Composites in Newton at 4:15 p.m. Thursday as part of a planned official visit to discuss his administration's renewable energy objectives.

Since the announcement of the Iowa trip last week, White House officials have been referring to a "to-do list" that Obama is slated to lay out during a speech at the Newton wind blade manufacturer.

According to the latest information from White House Regional Communications Director Caroline Hughes, while at TPI the president will call on Congress to extend the Production Tax Credit, which is slated to expire at the end of this year. The credit gives a 2.2 cent per kilowatt hour reimbursement to companies that distribute and generate renewable energy from sources such as wind. The credit in turn supports manufacturers such as TPI that build the infrastructure to those power companies.   

Obama also will call for new tax incentives and an expansion of the 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax credit, which gives a 30 percent investment credit to manufacturers that invest in equipment to make components for clean energy products. The 48C credit originally was part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly known as the economic stimulus bill. Obama wants the credit to be extended by $5 billion to compensate for more than $5 billion in projects his administration claims it did not receive but merited funding under the original program.  

In the statement, the administration said that Obama will call on Congress to pass legislation that gives companies a new 20 percent tax credit for the cost of moving their operations back to the United States.

Officials propose paying for the new credit by eliminating tax incentives that the administration claims allows companies to deduct the costs of moving their businesses to other countries.

The president also is slated to propose a 10 percent income tax credit for small businesses that increases wages in calendar year 2012.

Obama also will urge Congress to create a Veterans Jobs Corps which could allow Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans to find jobs in community service such as law enforcement and as firefighting.

Although the visit to Newton is considered official, this will be Obama's third visit to Iowa this year, and the president will hold a campaign event in Des Moines as the general election heats up. Newton has been a hot spot for Obama, visiting the city a total of four times since 2007. Then-candidate Obama visited Berg Middle School, the Newton YMCA and Newton Senior High School before the 2007 Iowa Caucuses and once as a sitting president in 2009 when he gave an address over renewable energy at Trinity Structural Towers.