China Competitiveness and Chip Bill Passes House, Goes to Biden

During a meeting with CEOs on the economy in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington, US President Joe Biden responded that the CHIPS-plus bill had passed in the House. DC on July 28, 2022.

Mandel Naga | AFP | Good pictures

The House on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation to boost America’s competitiveness with China, allocating billions of dollars to domestic semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research.

The bill passed 243-187, with no Democrats voting against the bill. Twenty-five Republicans voted for the legislation, even after GOP leaders vetoed it at the last minute.

The bill, which passed the Senate on Wednesday, now heads to the White House for the president Joe Biden Sign the law.

“This is what we need to do now to grow our economy,” Biden said in a statement after the vote. “I look forward to signing this bill into law.”

Lawmakers were pushed to quickly approve the package before they left Washington, D.C., for an August vacation. But the final vote came later Fighting years On Capitol Hill, legislation takes many forms and names in both houses of Congress.

The Final version, known as the Chips and Science Act, includes more than $52 billion in tax incentives for U.S. companies that make computer chips and billions in tax incentives to encourage investment in chip manufacturing. It provides tens of billions of dollars to fund scientific research and the discovery and development of other American technologies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the bill “a huge win for American families and the American economy.”

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But House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., urged his colleagues to “reject this deeply flawed bill” and “start fresh” in comments before the vote.

The The Senate passed the bill In a 64-33 vote on Wednesday, they won support 17 Republicans. Among those yes votes was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Forewarned If Democrats pursue an unrelated reconciliation package, Republicans will not support the China Competition Bill.

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Hours after Wednesday’s bipartisan Senate vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DNY. and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., disclosed that they had contracted. A large reconciliation bill.

“It’s been an important 24 hours in Congress, a legislative one-two punch the likes of which the American people rarely see,” Schumer said in a victory lap after the vote Thursday afternoon.

Schumer and Manchin hope to pass their reconciliation package next week with a simple majority in the Senate, which is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting any tiebreaking votes.

Shortly after that deal was announced, House Republican leaders urged their members to vote down the CHIPS and SCIENCE Act. They argued against handing out multibillion-dollar subsidies to chipmakers at a time of historically high inflation, while also citing the timing of the Democrats’ reconciliation deal.

“The partisan Democratic agenda has given us record inflation, and now they’re poised to send our country into a crushing recession,” the office of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a memo Wednesday night.

Republicans echoed that new position during floor debate before the vote. Rep. Frank Lucas, the top Republican on the House Science Committee, said he regretted voting against the bill because it was “irreversibly” tied to the reconciliation plan when many of the bill’s provisions were first eliminated.

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Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, urged all lawmakers to “put politics aside” and vote for the bipartisan bill.

Some Republicans, who opposed the bill on its own merits, said there were no “guards” to prevent any funds from ending up in Chinese hands. Other critics argued that the U.S. would have to spend billions more to have a real chance of competing with the world’s leading chipmakers.

But advocates of the bill say the creation of more chips is vital to the U.S. economy and national security, as they are increasingly important components in a wide range of products, including consumer electronics, automobiles, health-care equipment and weapons systems.

Chips were scarce The covid-19 pandemic. Factory closings at the start of the outbreak sidelined chip production in Asia, while consumer demand for autos and improved home electronics that require chips increased during the lockdowns. The United States’ share of global chip production has fallen sharply in recent decades, while China and other countries have invested heavily in the industry.

The U.S. also makes some advanced types of semiconductors that are mostly manufactured in Taiwan, the center of rising political tensions with China.

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Many modern warfare systems require sophisticated semiconductors—every missile launch system Contains hundredsFor example — U.S. defense officials have been at the forefront of concerns about the country’s reliance on foreign manufacturers for its chip supply.

Biden has blamed the chip shortage for the sky-high inflation that has plagued his presidency. A shortage of available chips is linked to new car production Rising prices of used carsThis increases inflation.

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“America invented the semiconductor. It’s time to bring it home,” Biden said this week.

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