{"id":18303,"date":"2023-09-26T04:07:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T09:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=18303"},"modified":"2023-09-26T04:07:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T09:07:17","slug":"confusion-swirls-around-bidens-trip-to-visit-striking-autoworkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=18303","title":{"rendered":"Confusion swirls around Biden\u2019s trip to visit striking autoworkers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Confusion reigned on the eve of Joe Biden<\/u><\/a>\u2019s Tuesday\u2002trip to Michigan<\/u><\/a>, as the White House scrambled to finalize the president\u2019s plans for visiting striking autoworkers and lawmakers were left guessing about his itinerary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday afternoon, members of the United Auto Workers at the site of one picket line were told that Biden would be coming to their location, only to hear later that that tentative plan was scrapped. In the absence of an announced plan from the White House, speculation spread through the UAW ranks that Biden would go to whatever picket line was closest to the airport. There was even a rumor on Monday that Biden\u2019s trip may have been canceled altogether \u2013 a possibility that one White House official flatly denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is highly atypical for a presidential visit to be so shrouded in uncertainty at such a late hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, members of the White House press corps looking to cover the president\u2019s visit were also unsure even as of late Monday where exactly in Wayne County to go. Multiple Michigan Democrats said they were given no advance details by the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complicated logistics surrounding the president\u2019s hastily announced visit were described to CNN by people familiar with the planning. One person on the ground described the process as \u201cchaotic\u201d and \u201ca mess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many ways, the planning mirrored the thorny politics of the White House\u2019s\u2002unusual decision to send Biden<\/u><\/a> to stand in solidarity with union workers in the middle of an active strike. Biden had previously declined to do so to avoid the perception that he was taking sides in an ongoing labor dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the White House walked back plans for top advisers \u2013 acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and senior adviser Gene Sperling \u2013 to visit Detroit to offer to mediate talks. The change raised questions about what the administration might do in a situation where it has no legal or legislative authority to intervene, and further highlighted the deeply sensitive nature of the ongoing negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House attempted to draw a tricky distinction on Monday, saying that Biden joining autoworkers on strike did not signal that he was supportive of any specific requests that the UAW might be making in the negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is standing with the workers,\u201d press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. But, she added, \u201cWe are not involved in negotiations. That is something for them to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporters sought to put a finer point on his position later in the day, asking Biden directly whether he specifically supported some of the demands that workers are currently seeking from the Big Three automakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes I support \u2013 I always supported the UAW,\u201d Biden told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The possibility of Biden facing off again against former President Donald Trump next year has added political saliency to Tuesday\u2019s visit to Michigan. Trump, too, is headed to Michigan<\/u><\/a> this week, with prime-time remarks to union workers planned for Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, who frequently describes himself as the \u201cmost pro-union\u201d president the country has seen, is hoping to once again win the UAW\u2019s coveted political endorsement ahead of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter your email to sign up for CNN’s “Meanwhile in China” Newsletter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan, who said he has been in close contact with Sperling and others around the strike, said senior administration officials have described the current juncture as a \u201ccoming full circle\u201d moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe [auto] companies were in trouble. The workers and federal government both played an important role in keeping the companies alive. Now they are so highly profitable that it\u2019s time to bring it full circle,\u201d Kildee said. \u201cLet\u2019s get the workers back to where they were before they and the federal government rescued the auto companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the early days of the administration, the Biden White House sought to avoid being seen as influencing third party negotiations, including Justice Department investigations of labor disputes. Biden has argued that his predecessor showed disregard for the independence of such processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House on Monday denied that Trump\u2019s decision to visit Michigan factored into Biden\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d Jean-Pierre said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Confusion reigned on the eve of Joe Biden\u2019s Tuesday\u2002trip to Michigan, as the White House scrambled to finalize the president\u2019s plans for visiting striking autoworkers and lawmakers were left guessing about his itinerary. On Monday afternoon, members of the United Auto Workers at the site of one picket line were told that Biden would be coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1152,5780],"tags":[1169,1213,22748,22747],"class_list":["post-18303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanrights","category-livehood","tag-biden","tag-chaos","tag-striking-autoworkers","tag-visits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18305,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303\/revisions\/18305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}