President Biden appeared to send a very mixed message Friday, saying he will mark his 100th day in office with a Georgia “drive-in rally” to promote his policy agenda — including phasing out fossil fuels.
Pro-Biden car owners will spew greenhouse gases in the parking lot of a yet-to-be-named venue in the Atlanta metro area, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the visit at her daily briefing Friday.
“On the president’s 100th day in office, he and the first lady will travel to Georgia to highlight how he has delivered on his promises to the American people. While he is there, he will participate in a car rally,” Psaki said.
Biden commited Thursday to slash US greenhouse gas emissions by 52 precent by the year 2035.
Biden carried Georgia in November by fewer than 12,000 votes and Democrats narrowly won a pair of Senate runoff races in January, flipping control of the Senate and allowing for Democrats to pass more expansive legislation.
In a first major consequence, the Georgia Senate runoffs allowed Democrats to ram through a nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill without any Republican support.
Democrats are preparing to possibly ram through another major bill — Biden’s more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan — under the same budget reconciliation process that bypasses the usual 60-vote requirement for bills to pass the Senate.
The infrastructure plan would increase taxes on businesses, higher-income people and investors and includes large amounts of money for renewable energy, including nearly $200 billion in electric vehicle subsidies.
Biden routinely hosted drive-in rallies during his presidential campaign last year. They frequently were poorly attended and drew mockery from then-President Donald Trump, who held massive in-person rallies where participants routinely flouted COVID-19 masking and social distancing guidelines.
