by Dennis Dalman
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris paid a visit Feb. 9 to the New Flyer bus-manufacturing company in St. Cloud, praising it as “key to the future of public transportation in America.”
New Flyer, a subsidiary of a Canadian company, manufactures electric buses. It employs 600 workers and makes thousands of buses for transportation companies throughout the United States.
A few hundred people greeted Harris and then applauded during her upbeat speech. They included Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis and members of the St. Cloud City Council.
Following President Joe Biden’s Feb. 2 annual “State of the Union” speech, he and Harris set out to visit cities in the nation where innovative work is being done to make the nation more climate-friendly in ways that reduce carbon emissions and create good-paying union jobs.
“Buses are the most popular forms of transportation in the United States,” said Harris, noting people far and wide use them to get to and from workplaces, schools, grocery stores, churches and more.
Electric buses, she added, spew no toxic diesel-fume exhaust like many buses. They are clean, healthy and better for the planet, Harris said.
New Flyer, she told the audience, is a “great example of American innovation.” The company also makes possible good-paying jobs elsewhere, in other states and cities. As an example, manufacturing the electric buses requires steel made in Ohio and batteries for the buses are made in various American plants.
In 2021, the Democrats and many Republicans in the U.S. Congress joined forces to pass a huge infrastructure bill, Harris noted. In that bill, $5.5 billion was allocated for the production of electric-driven transit systems in the nation, she added.
Harris recalled that in 2009, when Biden was vice president, he toured and spoke at the St. Cloud New Flyer company.
“This company is an example of the future,” Harris said, using a direct quote from Biden during his visit.
“You are still an example of America’s future,” Harris said. “You are not just building better buses, you are building a better future.”
Vice President Kamala Harris visited the New Flyer company in St. Cloud Feb. 9. She had high praise for the company as an innovative effort for a clean environment and for good-paying union jobs.
