(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden demanded Congress pass legislation to make the U.S. more competitive with China during a speech in Ohio that wasn’t attended by the Democratic nominee for the state’s pivotal open Senate seat.
“Pass the damn bill and send it to me,” Biden said Friday after touring a manufacturing facility in suburban Cincinnati. “If we do, it’s going to help bring down prices, bring home jobs, and power America’s manufacturing comeback.”
The bill Biden wants lawmakers to pass, called the Bipartisan Innovation Act, is aimed at boosting U.S. manufacturing and supply chains — particularly of semiconductors — to reduce the country’s dependence on imports from China and other nations.
Biden visited the state three days after a primary election that saw Republicans nominate author and venture capitalist JD Vance for the Senate while Democrats selected Representative Tim Ryan. Vance calls Cincinnati his hometown.
Ryan’s absence from the speech suggests Democrats running in the most competitive congressional races regard Biden and his low public approval ratings as a drag on their chances.
Just 42% of Americans approve of Biden’s performance as president, according to an analysis of polls by FiveThirtyEight.
Ryan dodged questions about whether he wanted Biden campaigning for him in TV interviews this week. “We welcome everybody’s support, but I will be the face of this campaign,” he told CNN.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki attributed Ryan’s absence to a funeral and other events the candidate needed to attend, telling reporters traveling to Ohio with the president aboard Air Force One that Biden “remains in close touch” with the congressman.
Read more: JD Vance Shows Trump’s Enduring GOP Grip With Ohio Primary Win
Ohio’s two current senators, Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown, joined Biden on Friday, along with Greg Landsman, a Democratic city councilman in Cincinnati who is challenging Representative Steve Chabot’s re-election.
Brown said the China bill has been delayed because “some Republicans don’t want to give Biden a win,” but predicted it will pass.
“We’re going to get it, yeah, absolutely,” he said. “I think it’s done — done and done — by the summer, or early summer.”
Biden traveled to Cincinnati to celebrate U.S. job gains in manufacturing. The Labor Department reported Friday that the country gained 428,000 jobs in April, despite high inflation and an anticipated interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
“I know you’re worried about the price of gas, food and other necessities,” Biden said, adding that increased domestic manufacturing could help make the U.S. less vulnerable to inflation.
He hailed an agreement between large companies and smaller suppliers to boost so-called additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing.
The initiative includes GE Aviation Systems, Honeywell International Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Technologies Corp., and Siemens Energy AG. The companies are pledging to buy a minimum amount of 3-D printed material from U.S. small- and medium-sized businesses. The agreement is aimed at solving a chicken-and-egg problem: Small firms can’t grow without orders, and large companies lack the scale they need from domestic suppliers, an administration official said.
“Every one of you know that competitiveness and resilience of the American supply chain rests on tens of thousands of small-size manufacturers like the ones I met here today,” Biden said.
But the political backdrop of the trip overshadowed the policy aspects, as the Senate race kicks into full gear and Washington lawmakers begin to turn more of their attention to November’s midterm elections. Biden didn’t mention the Senate race or its candidates.
Ohio was once a Democratic stronghold, but it has grown steadily more conservative. Donald Trump won the state by 8 percentage points in 2020 and endorsed Vance in his primary election. Portman’s retirement means a Senate race without an incumbent, making it more competitive, though Ryan likely enters the contest as an underdog due to Ohio’s political shift.
Biden has said he thinks Democrats have a shot at gaining two Senate seats in November, though he hasn’t said where.
The president this week sharpened his criticism of Republicans, seeking to draw clear contrasts between their proposals and his, particular on taxes and the economy. He’s said they’re pursuing a “MAGA agenda” he’s called “radical” and “extreme,” referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Ryan has sought to appeal to disaffected Republicans in his campaign.
(Adds Psaki comment in sixth paragraph)
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