Biden presses Congress on innovation: ‘Pass the damn bill’

President Biden on Friday called on Congress to pass a bipartisan innovation bill while stressing steps his administration is taking to lower inflation and combat rising prices on everything from gas to rent.

“Pass the damn bill and send it to me. If we do, it’s going to help bring down prices, bring home jobs and power America’s manufacturing comeback. Look, it’s also going to help reduce cost and strengthen our economic and national security,” Biden said in remarks at United Performance Metals in Hamilton, Ohio.

The legislation would provide funding for domestic manufacturing of semiconductors and other materials that would make the U.S. less dependent on foreign supply chains.

“It’s no wonder the Chinese Communist Party is literally lobbying, paying lobbyists against this bill passing,” Biden said.

The president touted that the legislation is a bipartisan endeavor, including the efforts of Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and Rob Portman (R). The two senators also delivered remarks at the plant and sat behind the president during his speech.

“I know that Senators Brown and Portman are going to work with our colleagues to finish this bill, but it didn’t — you know, they did it on infrastructure, they’re doing it again on this. Let’s get this bipartisan innovation act to my desk,” he said.

Before his remarks, the president and the senators toured United Performance Metals, an Ohio-based manufacturer.

The firm will be a supplier to some of the companies signing on to the board of the newly launched initiative AM Forward. The initiative is aimed at lowering costs for American families by focusing on 3D printing; its initial participants are GE Aviation, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Siemens Energy.

Biden said that AM Forward is “going to bury that label for good: the Rust Belt.”

“We’re at this plant because it’s smaller manufactures, smaller manufacturers, that are going to make this happen,” he added. “All this is going to help address what is on everyone’s mind, fighting inflation, getting prices down.”

The initiative will be a voluntary contract between large manufacturers and their smaller U.S.-based suppliers, supported by the nonprofit Applied Science & Technology Research Organization.

“Every one of you know that competitive and resilience of American supply chain rests of tens of thousands of small-size manufacturers like the ones I met here today, that’s where the supply chain in America is,” the president said.

“For every one of them, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller suppliers that help these iconic American businesses compete globally and when do well, the big businesses do even better,” he added.

Biden called small firms such as United Performance Metals the “foundation of America’s industrial base.”

And he added that 3D printing technology is “incredible.”

“It can reduce the parts and lead times by as much as 90 percent, not always, but as much as 90 percent. Slash material costs by 90 percent, and cut energy use in half. That all helps to lower the costs of making goods here in America,” he said.

The president also directly addressed high inflation, which has been a top cause of his low approval numbers as voters grow unhappier about rising prices for gas, groceries and household items. Inflation is seen as a major headwind for Democrats and the president in this fall’s midterm elections.

“I know you’re worried about the price of gas, food, and other necessities. And why it matters if we make more things here in America. Well, it matters a great deal because the pandemic and the economic crisis that we inherited and Putin’s war in Ukraine have all shown the vulnerability when we become too reliant on things made overseas,” he said.

Earlier on Friday, the president called on Republicans to help with efforts to combat inflation, saying the issue is a top priority for him.

“We learned the hard way that we can’t fight inflation if supply chains buckle and send prices through the roof, every time there’s a disruption, which there have been constant disruptions, particularly in Southeast Asia,” he said in Ohio.

He also hailed the job creation since he took office and said that job creation happens with the “help of the gentlemen behind me,” referring to Portman and Brown.

The U.S. economy last month added 428,000 jobs, and the jobless rate held even at 3.6 percent, according to Labor Department data released on Friday, which was better than the roughly 300,000 added jobs that economists expected.