How America can fight the economic shock of Putin's war

Just as the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the risks of depending on manufacturing supply chains outside of America, Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine has once again revealed the dangers of existing within a globalized supply chain.

With the costs of gas, and other goods continuing to rise Democrats have a real opportunity to create better-paying jobs for Americans and ensure that we are not totally dependent on manufacturing hubs outside of our country.

To do this president Joe Biden must harness the power of private and public investment to lead the way to greater innovation and economic growth. That way the country can build upon the growth fostered by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, increasing our manufacturing output by making things in America to strengthen our supply chain and pass some version of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.

The country has made a substantial down payment in boosting our aging infrastructure by giving states the resources to fix their roads and bridges. Over five years, a state like Arizona could be receiving up to $5 billion for highways, $225 million for bridges, $619 million for clean water infrastructure, $100 million for broadband access, 500 million for healthy streets, 500 million for valley metro, and $76 million for an Electric Vehicle charging network.

These efforts translate into wins for local economies, not only in job creation but in direct benefits to people's everyday lives. Yet, that is just the beginning, once deployed it is estimated that these investments will add, on average, approximately 2 million jobs per year over the next ten years. This will accelerate America’s path to full employment, increase labor force participation and put more money in people's pockets.

President Biden has long been focused on fixing supply chains necessary for domestic manufacturing capacity. Since Biden took office, Intel has been building a $20 billion computer chip facility in Ohio amid a global shortage. It is estimated that this factory will create 7,000 construction jobs and another 3,000 permanent jobs.

Additionally, General Motors has announced its largest-ever $7 billion investment to create 4,000 new Electrical Vehicle (EV) manufacturing jobs at sites across Michigan. These are just two examples of companies working to address challenges to get us to our new and better normal.

The final piece of the puzzle is passing the United States Innovation and Competition Act. This legislation will strengthen the forces that have propelled decades of U.S. innovation: interconnectivity between academic research, government grants, venture capital, and competition. Perhaps more importantly it will invest directly in the U.S. supply chain. It does this by providing funding to support U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research, and development, as well as supply chain security and wireless supply chain innovation.

Dan Carol a veteran of the Obama Administration who serves on the faculty of Georgetown University's Urban & Regional Planning program puts it this way: “Both the House and the Senate have passed bipartisan bills to boost our global competitiveness with smart investments in R&D, cyber and regional innovation hubs to help bring back smart manufacturing in every region of the country. Getting a final bill to the President’s desk will help insulate our economy from future turbulence and build durable supply chains able to weather the next crisis we may face.”

There is a real opportunity now if Democrats play their cards right, that this could make things much better for them in the midterms. Remember at the core of Donald Trump’s argument in 2016 was about American renewal, the return of Made in America, and the passage of infrastructure. What Americans got was chaos, culture wars, and a pandemic.

President Biden and Democrats have actually provided economic stimulus directly to people that have helped our country get working again. President Biden has done all this by making things in America, has passed infrastructure legislation, and is on the cusp of passing legislation that will foster greater innovation and growth for the American worker.

At stake is all of the progress we have made in our economic recovery: 7.9 million jobs created, a low rate down, robust GDP growth, a record number of new small businesses formed, real wages increased, and deficit reduction. Sadly, all of this economic growth could be hurt by what is happening in Ukraine.

The good news is Biden is being bold and proactive. He is creating and pushing forward the new and sound policies and opportunities that our country so desperately needs, to address the challenges facing our nation. Will they solve all the problems caused by Putin’s war? They will not, but right now with so much on the line, these steps are what we need to help build a stronger America.