Biden visits Arizona computer chip site, highlights jobs

President Joe Biden on Tuesday visited the site for a new computer chip plant in Arizona, using it as a chance to emphasize how his policies are fostering job growth in what could be a challenge to the incoming Republican House majority.

Biden has staked his legacy in large part on major investments in technology and infrastructure that were approved by Congress along bipartisan lines. The Democratic president maintains that the factory jobs fostered by $52 billion in semiconductor investments and another $200 billion for scientific research will help to revive the U.S. middle class.

“What I’m most excited about is people are starting to feel a sense of optimism as they see the impact of the achievements in their own lives,” Biden said Tuesday. “It’s going to accelerate in the months ahead and it’s part of a broad story about the economy we’re building that works for everyone.”

But there are signs that past moments of bipartisanship on economic matters may be harder to replicate after November’s midterm elections, in which Republicans won a House majority. Biden still pitches the investments as a sign of what happens when lawmakers partner with each other, but Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy, who could be the next speaker, attacked the legislation in a July floor speech as a “blank check” and “corporate welfare.”