Thank you.

When President Biden asked me to take this job, he told me that one of his top priorities is the revitalization of our manufacturing economy.

The main reason I took this job is because my dad lost his manufacturing job when it went overseas, like so many others.

And my brother told me “Dad would be so proud of you if you were a part of bringing manufacturing jobs back to America.”

So from day one, President Biden has recognized that if we want to compete globally, we need to invest domestically.

Thanks to his leadership, the economy added 6.4 million jobs in 2021, the most in any year in U.S. history. The unemployment rate dropped nearly 70% in the last year.

The Biden economy is strong by nearly any measure.

But our supply chains remain fragile, because decades ago we sent all our manufacturing jobs overseas, and that’s having ripple effects throughout the economy.

That’s particularly true of our semiconductor supply chain, which is far too dependent on conditions in other countries half a world away.

This is an economic vulnerability, and it is a national security vulnerability.

It is impossible to have a strong economy and a strong country if we don’t make things anymore.

Right now, there is a bill before Congress that would invest $52 billion in domestic semiconductor production and strengthens our ability to compete with foreign adversaries, like China.

We urgently need Congress to pass that bill and help us revitalize America’s domestic manufacturing.

It will be a win for our workers, our businesses, our supply chains, and our economy.

So again, thank you, President Biden, for your leadership.