President Barack Obama brings his campaign to boost America’s middle class to East Tennessee today when he speaks with employees at the Amazon.com fulfillment center in Chattanooga. The speech follows by one day Amazon’s announcement that it plans to hire 7,000 workers at its fulfillment and customer service centers nationwide. The centers in Chattanooga and Murfreesboro are among those that will be hiring.
The President launched this current tour last week and is traveling the country attempting to address the issues of the middle class, from jobs and health care to education and housing. The White House Press Office says today’s speech in Chattanooga will focus on “manufacturing and high wage jobs.” The President will also lay out his proposals to jumpstart economic growth in the private sector.
Today’s event marks Barack Obama’s first Presidential visit to East Tennessee. His only other Tennessee appearance during his presidency occurred in May of 2011 when he gave the commencement address at Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis. The last sitting President to visit Chattanooga was George W. Bush, who delivered a speech on health care there in 2007.