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Trump panned the CHIPS Act. Harris is in Michigan promoting it

Vice President tours the Hemlock Semiconductor Next-Generation Finishing facility in Hemlock, Mich., on  Oct. 28, 2024.
Jacquelyn Martin
/
AP
Vice President tours the Hemlock Semiconductor Next-Generation Finishing facility in Hemlock, Mich., on Oct. 28, 2024.

Updated October 28, 2024 at 15:44 PM ET

Vice President Harris toured a semiconductor plant in the swing state of Michigan on Monday to highlight big federal investments in manufacturing jobs that former President Donald Trump has recently panned.

The investments come from the CHIPS and Science Act — a bipartisan bill that's pouring $54 billion into the semiconductor manufacturing industry to try to bring back an industry that is dominated by Taiwan, South Korea and China.

"Look: we've got to win the competition for the 21st century. We're not gonna have China beat us in the competition for the 21st century," Harris said after touring a factory near Saginaw owned by Corning that makes polysilicon used in semiconductors.

The company received $325 million in CHIPS funding, and is nearly doubling its workforce to 3,000 people as it expands.

"These are the type of jobs that pay 40% above the regional median," Corning's chief executive Wendell Weeks said. "They help people build lives, raise families and foster strong communities."

The visit comes as some Democrats urge Harris to focus more on the economy in the waning days of the campaign.

Former President Donald Trump — seen here during a news conference on Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas, — did an interview last week with podcaster Joe Rogan, seen here in an Aug. 18, 2023 file photo.
AP / AP
/
AP
Former President Donald Trump — seen here during a news conference on Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas, — did an interview last week with podcaster Joe Rogan, seen here in an Aug. 18, 2023 file photo.

Investments from the CHIPS Act have supported massive expansions of the semiconductor industry in Arizona — another swing state — as well as other regions of the country. The White House has said the projects backed by CHIPS funding have helped create more than 115,000 jobs.

On Friday, Trump blasted the law during a lengthy interview on The Joe Rogan Experience. "That chip deal is so bad, Trump said on the podcast, saying the subsidies went to "rich companies."

Copyright 2024 NPR

Asma Khalid
Asma Khalid is a White House correspondent for NPR. She also co-hosts The NPR Politics Podcast. Khalid is a bit of a campaign-trail addict, having reported on the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections. She joined NPR's Washington team in 2016 to focus on the intersection of demographics and politics. During the 2020 presidential campaign, she covered the crowded Democratic primary field, and then went on to report on Joe Biden's candidacy. Her reporting often dives into the political, cultural and racial divides in the country. Before joining NPR's political team, Khalid was a reporter for Boston's NPR station WBUR, where she was nearly immediately flung into one of the most challenging stories of her career — the Boston Marathon bombings. She had joined the network just a few weeks prior, but went on to report on the bombings, the victims, and the reverberations throughout the city. She also covered Boston's failed Olympic bid and the trial of James "Whitey" Bulger. Later, she led a new business and technology team at the station that reported on the future of work. In addition to countless counties across America, Khalid's reporting has taken her to Pakistan, the United Kingdom and China. She got her start in journalism in her home state of Indiana, but she fell in love with radio through an internship at the BBC Newshour in London during graduate school. She's been a guest on numerous TV programs including ABC's This Week, CNN's Inside Politics and PBS's Washington Week. Her reporting has been recognized with the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Gracie Award. A native of Crown Point, Ind., Khalid is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington. She has also studied at the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics, the American University in Beirut and Middlebury College's Arabic school. [Copyright 2024 NPR]