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Biden: Ohio Has Become a ‘Silicon Heartland’
President Joe Biden declared Friday that the era of Ohio's “rust belt” was over, thanks to a bill he signed to invest in producing and manufacturing electronic semiconductor chips.
“It’s time to bury the label Rust Belt and call it, as Pat said, the Silicon Heartland,” the president said, referring to remarks Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of Intel, made earlier.
The president traveled to New Albany, Ohio, to mark the start of a new Intel semiconductor manufacturing facility.
“Folks the future of the chip industry is going to be Made in America,” Biden said during his remarks.
The president spoke with a bipartisan group of public officials in front of a construction site in Ohio to celebrate the passage of the CHIPS Act. Republican Governor Mike DeWine and retiring Republican Senator Rob Portman attended the ceremony.
“The industrial midwest is back!” he said, describing the site as a “field of dreams.”
Despite his enthusiastic support for revitalizing the Midwest industry, Biden did not apologize for his open trade policies, such as his vote for NAFTA, which only encouraged businesses to outsource American jobs.
He appeared perplexed about what was causing job losses in the Midwest.
“Over 30 years ago America had more than 30 percent global chip production, then something happened,” he said. “American manufacturing, the backbone of our economy got hollowed out. Companies moved jobs overseas, especially from the industrial midwest.”
To compete with foreign countries like China, Biden's solution to restoring manufacturing in the United States is to spend more taxpayer dollars on subsidies for the chip manufacturing industry.
“China is trying to move way ahead of us in manufacturing them,” Biden stated. “The United States has to lead the world in producing these advanced chips and this law made sure that we will.”
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