President Barack Obama's visit to Metro Detroit comes amid Lansing's battle over right-to-work legislation, though observers expect his focus to stay on the national "fiscal cliff."
As Obama visits a Daimler AG plant in Redford Township today for a 2 p.m. economic speech, the company plans to announce the investment of more than $100 million at the facility "in new technology, expanded production and jobs in the United States," a Daimler executive told The Detroit News.
The investment at Detroit Diesel — a unit of the German automaker — will add an unspecified number of new jobs to the 3-million-square-foot plant on West Outer Drive as it expands beyond diesel engines.
Craig Ruff, senior policy fellow at Public Sector Consultants, said he expects Obama to touch on Gov. Rick Snyder's support of right-to-work legislation, but his main focus will be on pressuring Republicans to agree to raise tax rates on wealthier Americans.
On Mlive, columnist Tim Skubick writes that Michigan Democrats want the president to tell Snyder he's going to withhold federal money for the governor's bridge between Detroit and Windsor and the $25 million or more for a new transit system down Woodward Avenue.
