Vice President Harris Announces More Than $100 Million to Support American Auto Workers and Small Auto Suppliers

 Today, as part of her Economic Opportunity Tour, Vice President Harris will join Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su in Detroit, Michigan to announce new funding and resources for small- and medium-sized auto manufacturers and autoworkers.

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More than $100 million in funding for small- and medium-sized auto parts manufacturers to expand or retool manufacturing facilities:

  • The Department of Energy will set aside $50 million of its Automotive Conversion Grants Program for partnerships with states to help small- and medium-sized suppliers convert from manufacturing internal combustion engine parts to manufacturing parts for the EV supply chain. This funding will maintain the Domestic Conversion Grant’s same focus on supporting retooling to keep good, good-paying and union jobs in the same communities as automakers and auto suppliers transition to electric vehicle manufacturing here in America. The Department of Energy recently requested public input on the design of these state-federal partnerships in order to best support small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the auto supply chain.
     
  • The Department of Energy is setting aside up to $50 million of its Industrial Assessments Center Implementation Grants Program to help auto suppliers kickstart manufacturing diversification and conversion projects. Specifically, this program, which was funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is covered under the President’s Justice40 Initiative, provides grants of up to $300,000 to entities that have received an Industrial Assessment Center assessment to improve their facilities’ energy and material efficiency, cybersecurity, or productivity, or reduce the greenhouse gas emissions.
     
  • The Small Business Administration will leverage its Small Business Investment Company program to catalyze millions of dollars in private capital for the EV supply chain to help small and medium-sized manufacturers grow and diversify their businesses. The Department of Energy will partner with the Small Business Administration to provide technical expertise to de-risk private investments and lower the cost of capital for small and medium-sized manufacturers.
     
  • The Small Business Administration plans to establish a new Working Capital Pilot Program under its signature 7(a) lending program to provide lines of credit to small businesses, including auto parts manufacturers and distributors, to support their domestic or export finance needs. The program will be paired with business counseling from the Small Business Administration.