Biden goes to Illinois auto plant saved by union agreement, a sign his policies are helping workers
President Joe Biden went to Chicago on June 28 to give a landmark speech on “Bidenomics, ” only to learn in private during the trip about a soon-to-close auto factory, news that was a challenge to his vision for the country. The prospect of a shuttered Stellantis plant in the small city of Belvidere became an immediate priority for Biden. The president wanted to show that his policies could deliver for workers, rather than repeat the decades of factory closures that had gutted parts of the Midwest and fed into a deep political divide.