President Joe Biden speaks at the construction site of the...

President Joe Biden speaks at the construction site of the Hudson Tunnel Project. Credit: AP/John Minchillo

WASHINGTON — To New York Democrats, Joe Biden is the president who secured funding for major railway projects, signed off on grants to develop upstate New York into a manufacturing hub for microchips and helped ramp up a national vaccination campaign during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To local Republicans, Biden is a flawed leader who allowed a surge in migrant arrivals to New York City and a post-pandemic rise in inflation and whose age raised questions about his fitness to serve as an octogenarian.

Biden has spent the final weeks of his presidency looking to shape how his tenure will be remembered. The 82-year-old, the oldest sitting U.S. president, has signed a flurry of bills into law, delivered speeches touting his work on the bipartisan infrastructure package that will fund major transportation projects for years to come, and on Wednesday evening delivered his final Oval Office address.

"It will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together, but the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come," Biden said during his speech behind the Resolute Desk.

In New York, Democratic leaders contend that Biden should be remembered for the billions of dollars in infrastructure spending that has been directed to the state to improve roadways and mass transit. They say he accomplished a lot, despite taking office at a moment of crisis.

"I think that any fair assessment of his presidency has to recognize that he came into office with tens of thousands of people dying every month from COVID, no access to the vaccine for most of the country, an economy that was expected to go into a deep recession, if not a depression, because of the pandemic, unemployment at near record highs and the country in a mess," said New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs.

Jacobs, who also chairs the Nassau Democratic Committee, told Newsday that Biden should get credit for shepherding major pieces of bipartisan legislation through a bitterly divided Congress. Those included the $1.2 billion infrastructure package aimed at upgrading the nation’s roads, bridges and transportation hubs, and the $53 billion CHIPS and Science Act aimed at increasing domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips and combating Chinese advances in the tech sector.

Jacobs also acknowledged that Biden's handling of the migrant crisis and late withdrawal from the presidential race may have cost the party. "Could he have done a better job earlier and quicker with the border? I would say most people would agree that that is correct," Jacobs said. "That being said, if it wasn't a complicated problem, it would have been easily solved."

State Republicans contend that Biden's not acting sooner to seal up the U.S. southern border, allowed for an influx of migrants to arrive in New York, particularly New York City. Local leaders scrambled to provide shelter for new arrivals that were bused daily from Texas at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) who argued that so-called Democratic sanctuary cities should shoulder the pressure that southern border communities faced in responding to the increase in border crossings.

Suffolk GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia said the border crisis compounded with economic concerns over inflation played a key role in helping President-elect Donald Trump win both Nassau and Suffolk, while also helping Republicans gain ground in other areas of reliably blue New York.

"The legacy of Joe Biden will be one of failure across the board," Garcia told Newsday. "He was very slow to respond to the issues that mattered to common sense Americans."

As Democrats and Republicans debate how history will remember Biden, here’s a look at some of the local impacts of his presidency:

New York is in line to receive a substantial share of the $53 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding passed by Congress in 2022.

The package, signed into law by Biden and crafted by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) looks to boost U.S. production of computer chips and create more jobs in the tech sector.

Two of New York state’s largest microchip manufacturers — Micron Technology and GlobalFoundries, have been allocated more than $7.5 billion in federal grants for new factories, according to the Albany Times-Union. Micron has announced plans to build a $100 billion chip manufacturing campus in Syracuse, and GlobalFoundries will use $1.7 billion in grant funding to build a second factory in Saratoga County, according to the Times-Union.

Schumer previously told Newsday in a July 2022 interview that money from the fund will direct millions in federal funding to Long Island-based academic institutions, including the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Trump on the campaign trail raised reservations about the CHIPS Act, asserting that he would have enacted tariffs on foreign-made microchips that would have ultimately encouraged U.S. companies to boost their own manufacturing.

"When I see us paying a lot of money to have people build chips, that’s not the way," Trump told podcaster Joe Rogan during an October interview.

The Biden Administration in July announced nearly $12 billion in federal funding and $4 billion in federal loans to help with the completion of the Hudson Tunnel project.

The project, whose federal funding was repeatedly stymied under the Trump Administration, looks to create a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River and to upgrade the 106-year-old North River Tunnel that is currently used as the principal rail tunnel connecting the Northeast Corridor. The North River Tunnel was heavily damaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

The new Hudson Tunnel is expected to be completed by 2035 and repairs on the North River Tunnel are expected to be done by 2038, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation fact sheet.

During his first term Trump threatened to veto a spending package in 2018 that originally included money for the project, arguing in part that New York and New Jersey needed to contribute more money to the project.

Democrats at the time accused Trump of delaying funding for the project as leverage to get funding for a southern border wall. In 2020 the Federal Transit Administration under Trump designated the project a "low" priority, all but ensuring a delay in funding as the agency’s guidelines deemed low rated projects ineligible for critical grants.

Biden won New York by 23 percentage points in 2020, but waning support for the octogenarian president helped state Republicans, particularly those on Long Island, gradually gain ground over the past four years, said Democratic campaign strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

Trump narrowed his margin of defeat in the state by half this year, losing to Vice President Kamala Harris by 12.8 percentage points. Trump also won Nassau County for the first time in his three presidential runs, and won Long Island overall with 53% of the vote in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

"The Democrats are in deep trouble," Sheinkopf said. "New York City is becoming more red. The suburbs, Nassau and Suffolk are absolutely red."

Sheinkopf said Biden’s legacy in part will be defined by the inflation that hit a high of 9.1% in June 2022, but has since dropped to 2.7% as of last month.

"People are not going to remember big infrastructure deals, or him being on a picket line defending the United Auto Workers. They won’t remember any of that. What they will remember is how tough it was for them," Sheinkopf said. "People tend to respond to the crisis they’re experiencing and not to other facts of life. You're going to remember the cost of that loaf of bread, the cost of that gallon of gas, that sense that things were out of control."

WASHINGTON — To New York Democrats, Joe Biden is the president who secured funding for major railway projects, signed off on grants to develop upstate New York into a manufacturing hub for microchips and helped ramp up a national vaccination campaign during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To local Republicans, Biden is a flawed leader who allowed a surge in migrant arrivals to New York City and a post-pandemic rise in inflation and whose age raised questions about his fitness to serve as an octogenarian.

Biden has spent the final weeks of his presidency looking to shape how his tenure will be remembered. The 82-year-old, the oldest sitting U.S. president, has signed a flurry of bills into law, delivered speeches touting his work on the bipartisan infrastructure package that will fund major transportation projects for years to come, and on Wednesday evening delivered his final Oval Office address.

"It will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together, but the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come," Biden said during his speech behind the Resolute Desk.

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND

  • Democratic leaders in New York contend that outgoing President Joe Biden should be remembered for the billions of dollars in infrastructure spending that has been directed to the state to improve roadways and mass transit.
  • State Republicans contend that Biden's slow action on the U.S. southern border allowed for an influx of migrants to arrive in New York, particularly New York City, where local leaders scrambled to provide shelter.
  • Republicans made gains in New York during Biden's term. President-elect Donald Trump won Nassau County in 2024 for the first time in his three presidential runs, and won Long Island overall with 53% of the vote in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

In New York, Democratic leaders contend that Biden should be remembered for the billions of dollars in infrastructure spending that has been directed to the state to improve roadways and mass transit. They say he accomplished a lot, despite taking office at a moment of crisis.

"I think that any fair assessment of his presidency has to recognize that he came into office with tens of thousands of people dying every month from COVID, no access to the vaccine for most of the country, an economy that was expected to go into a deep recession, if not a depression, because of the pandemic, unemployment at near record highs and the country in a mess," said New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs.

Jacobs, who also chairs the Nassau Democratic Committee, told Newsday that Biden should get credit for shepherding major pieces of bipartisan legislation through a bitterly divided Congress. Those included the $1.2 billion infrastructure package aimed at upgrading the nation’s roads, bridges and transportation hubs, and the $53 billion CHIPS and Science Act aimed at increasing domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips and combating Chinese advances in the tech sector.

Jacobs also acknowledged that Biden's handling of the migrant crisis and late withdrawal from the presidential race may have cost the party. "Could he have done a better job earlier and quicker with the border? I would say most people would agree that that is correct," Jacobs said. "That being said, if it wasn't a complicated problem, it would have been easily solved."

State Republicans contend that Biden's not acting sooner to seal up the U.S. southern border, allowed for an influx of migrants to arrive in New York, particularly New York City. Local leaders scrambled to provide shelter for new arrivals that were bused daily from Texas at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) who argued that so-called Democratic sanctuary cities should shoulder the pressure that southern border communities faced in responding to the increase in border crossings.

Suffolk GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia said the border crisis compounded with economic concerns over inflation played a key role in helping President-elect Donald Trump win both Nassau and Suffolk, while also helping Republicans gain ground in other areas of reliably blue New York.

"The legacy of Joe Biden will be one of failure across the board," Garcia told Newsday. "He was very slow to respond to the issues that mattered to common sense Americans."

As Democrats and Republicans debate how history will remember Biden, here’s a look at some of the local impacts of his presidency:

Microchip money

New York is in line to receive a substantial share of the $53 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding passed by Congress in 2022.

The package, signed into law by Biden and crafted by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) looks to boost U.S. production of computer chips and create more jobs in the tech sector.

Two of New York state’s largest microchip manufacturers — Micron Technology and GlobalFoundries, have been allocated more than $7.5 billion in federal grants for new factories, according to the Albany Times-Union. Micron has announced plans to build a $100 billion chip manufacturing campus in Syracuse, and GlobalFoundries will use $1.7 billion in grant funding to build a second factory in Saratoga County, according to the Times-Union.

Schumer previously told Newsday in a July 2022 interview that money from the fund will direct millions in federal funding to Long Island-based academic institutions, including the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Trump on the campaign trail raised reservations about the CHIPS Act, asserting that he would have enacted tariffs on foreign-made microchips that would have ultimately encouraged U.S. companies to boost their own manufacturing.

"When I see us paying a lot of money to have people build chips, that’s not the way," Trump told podcaster Joe Rogan during an October interview.

Hudson Tunnel

The Biden Administration in July announced nearly $12 billion in federal funding and $4 billion in federal loans to help with the completion of the Hudson Tunnel project.

The project, whose federal funding was repeatedly stymied under the Trump Administration, looks to create a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River and to upgrade the 106-year-old North River Tunnel that is currently used as the principal rail tunnel connecting the Northeast Corridor. The North River Tunnel was heavily damaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

The new Hudson Tunnel is expected to be completed by 2035 and repairs on the North River Tunnel are expected to be done by 2038, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation fact sheet.

During his first term Trump threatened to veto a spending package in 2018 that originally included money for the project, arguing in part that New York and New Jersey needed to contribute more money to the project.

Democrats at the time accused Trump of delaying funding for the project as leverage to get funding for a southern border wall. In 2020 the Federal Transit Administration under Trump designated the project a "low" priority, all but ensuring a delay in funding as the agency’s guidelines deemed low rated projects ineligible for critical grants.

Republican inroads

Biden won New York by 23 percentage points in 2020, but waning support for the octogenarian president helped state Republicans, particularly those on Long Island, gradually gain ground over the past four years, said Democratic campaign strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

Trump narrowed his margin of defeat in the state by half this year, losing to Vice President Kamala Harris by 12.8 percentage points. Trump also won Nassau County for the first time in his three presidential runs, and won Long Island overall with 53% of the vote in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

"The Democrats are in deep trouble," Sheinkopf said. "New York City is becoming more red. The suburbs, Nassau and Suffolk are absolutely red."

Sheinkopf said Biden’s legacy in part will be defined by the inflation that hit a high of 9.1% in June 2022, but has since dropped to 2.7% as of last month.

"People are not going to remember big infrastructure deals, or him being on a picket line defending the United Auto Workers. They won’t remember any of that. What they will remember is how tough it was for them," Sheinkopf said. "People tend to respond to the crisis they’re experiencing and not to other facts of life. You're going to remember the cost of that loaf of bread, the cost of that gallon of gas, that sense that things were out of control."

New Suffolk police commissioner ... Senate confirms Zeldin ... Heat battle with LI landlord Credit: Newsday

Updated 14 minutes ago Latest on alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer ... Congestion pricing stats ... 8th arrest in missing girl case ... Fitness Fix: Pickle n Par

New Suffolk police commissioner ... Senate confirms Zeldin ... Heat battle with LI landlord Credit: Newsday

Updated 14 minutes ago Latest on alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer ... Congestion pricing stats ... 8th arrest in missing girl case ... Fitness Fix: Pickle n Par

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