SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — President Joe Biden made a speech in Syracuse Thursday afternoon to tout his administration’s CHIPS and Science Act, which contributed to computer memory chip maker Micron’s plan to build a new manufacturing plant in Clay.
Biden was joined by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, as well as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, and Gov. Kathy Hochul. Sanjay Mehotra, President and CEO of Micron, was also on-stage with the President.
Schumer, one of the lead politicians behind the initiative and U.S. Senate Majority Leader, lauded Biden, saying the actions from his administration have left a mark on Central New York.
“Today, your legacy here is secured forever,” Schumer said.
President Biden said today that his actions on attempting to move manufacturing jobs back to the United States, specifically areas in the so-called “Rust Belt” that were once manufacturing hubs like Central New York and Syracuse. Many places in Pennsylvania and Ohio also fall under this category.
“American manufacturing — the backbone of our economy — got hollowed out,” Biden said. “Companies moved jobs overseas from the industrial Midwest as well as from the Northeast and manufacturing towns like here in central New York and upstate New York. And as a result, today we’re down to producing only around 10 percent of the world’s chips. We invented them, but we’re producing only 10 percent despite leading the world in research and design of new chip technology as well. It’s here in the United States.”
Biden criticized his predecessor, Former President Donald Trump, for what he says is a lack of following through on manufacturing promises.
“The previous President made a string of broken promises in places like Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, where promised investments and jobs in manufacturing never materialized but layoffs and shuttered factories did materialize,” Biden said.
Biden also used Thursday’s speech as a midterm stump, criticizing “MAGA Republicans” for what he said was an empty platform and one of opposition rather than policy.
The President said his opposing party would get rid of Social Security, raise prescription drug prices, and fail to hold big businesses and oil companies accountable regarding price gouging if they took control of Congress.
“[Biden’s policies are] working compared to what the very conservative Republicans are offering these days,” The President said.
