{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=B39F4777-D001-48F6-AEA3-3DBD63630F95", "McConnell Applauds $480 Million Department of Energy Grant to Support Lithium-Ion Battery Production in Kentucky", "2022-10-19", "2022", "2022-10", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "LOUISVILLE, KY \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today the Department of Energy (DOE) will provide $480,582,200 to Ascend Elements, a lithium-ion battery materials manufacturer, to support their construction of a 470,000-square-foot battery recycling facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.\n\nDOE awarded this funding as part of the Battery Materials Processing and Battery Component Manufacturing & Recycling program, which awards competitive grants to domestic battery manufacturers in an effort to bring battery production supply chains to the United States. Currently, many of the lithium-ion batteries Americans use \u2013 including for electric vehicles, portable electronic devices, and power tools \u2013 are sourced from countries like China.\n\nSenator McConnell helped secure $7 billion for the Battery Materials Processing and Battery Component Manufacturing & Recycling grant program through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That bill passed Congress last year with the Senator\u2019s support, and the President signed it into law last November.\n\nThis project will create new jobs in Christian County, including temporary construction jobs during the build-out phase, permanent jobs once the facility is complete, and support jobs in the surrounding community. The company plans to open the facility in early 2024.\n\n\u201cThe bipartisan infrastructure bill I supported last year makes important investments in Kentucky\u2019s transportation networks, broadband, and manufacturing capacity to help prepare our economy for the challenges of the 21st century. Today\u2019s grant adds an additional $480 million to the billions Kentucky is already slated to receive from the bill and will help the Commonwealth secure its place as a manufacturing powerhouse. The national security benefits from this project \u2013 which will allow us to source important battery components domestically instead of from rival countries like China \u2013 only add to the significance of this grant for our country,\u201d said Senator McConnell.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:34:28Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=B39F4777-D001-48F6-AEA3-3DBD63630F95"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6658700294792652, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}