Biden to attend Detroit auto show

Vice President Biden will make an appearance at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week, his office said Wednesday.

{mosads}The annual auto show, which has been held for more than a century, is considered among the biggest exhibitions for the industry.

The Detroit News, which first reported Biden’s attendance, said that other top administration officials — including Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker — will also attend the show.

The high-profile delegation’s tour will survey the first auto show since the government divested from General Motors after purchasing a large chunk of the company during the auto bailout.

Last month, President Obama declared, “the American auto industry is back,” following the sale of the government’s last GM stock.

“When things looked darkest for our most iconic industry, we bet on what was true: the ingenuity and resilience of the proud, hardworking men and women who make this country strong,” Obama said. “Today, that bet has paid off. The American auto industry is back.”

The auto bailout has been a central part of the administration’s economic policy, and the president argued then that the health of the Big Three auto manufacturers validated the federal government’s intervention.

The visit is also the first high-profile visit from administration officials since September, when Foxx, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Attorney General Eric Holder and White House Economic Council Director Gene Sperling traveled to the city to announce nearly $320 million in new federal and private aid in the aftermath of the city’s municipal bankruptcy.

The aid included money for housing rehabilitation and demolition, some $30 million targeted to fight crime and reduce the city’s notoriously long emergency response times, and millions more to rehabilitate the city’s transportation network.