The Senate is likely to begin floor consideration this week on a narrower economic competitiveness bill that would provide $52 billion in funding for semiconductor manufacturing grants and investment tax credits for the chip industry. A procedural vote could happen as early as Tuesday. This would begin the floor process on a limited competition measure that would include the chip items and any other provisions from rival, broader bills that have bipartisan consensus and will be ready to move, a source told Roll Call.
A bicameral conference committee on the broader Senate and House China competition bills stalled amid disagreement over trade and other controversial provisions that are likely to be left out of the more narrowly tailored measure. It’s not clear whether Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would support what lawmakers are calling a “chips-plus approach” that would add other provisions like the semiconductor tax credits, which were not in either the House or Senate versions of the broader bill.
But other key Republicans said they support a more limited bill that goes beyond the manufacturing grants. Todd Young (R-IN) who was the lead Republican on the Senate version of the competition bill, said the conference committee was “very close to a final agreement” before the talks broke down and he would like to see as much of that work included in the more limited measure as possible. “[W]e’ll advance chips because of the national security and the economic urgency of it. We should also advance those things on which there was already agreement or closed out or on the cusp of being agreed, which have national security implications.”
Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) was one of her party’s lead negotiators on the measure. She said she supports moving a limited bill but she doesn’t know what provisions will make it in a more narrow competition package. “I think people are just trying to move ahead and would like to see this done,” Roll Call reported.
Industry and Localities Press
Business groups and local officials have urged swift approval of the chip funding, saying semiconductor companies may decide to build new plants overseas unless Congress provides domestic subsidies.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has been urging lawmakers to jettison the broader China-focused legislation that the chips funding had been paired with, and act on the chips portion alone to address national security and supply chain concerns — a point she reiterated after a briefing for House lawmakers on Thursday, reported Politico.
“If we don’t pass this, we’re going to wake up, other countries are going to have these [chip] investments, and we’re going to say, ‘why didn’t we do it?’” Raimondo said, urging lawmakers to pass the funding this week. “We want as robust of a bill as possible,” Raimondo said, but added, “all options are on the table because we’re out of time.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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