President Joe Biden stressed the importance of “made in America” rules concerning physical and broadband infrastructure in his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. He emphasized historic federal government investments in broadband and other infrastructure.
Biden highlighted the CHIPS and Science Act, bipartisan legislation passed last year to subsidize American-made semiconductor production that impacts cell phones. “America used to make nearly 40 percent of the world’s chips. But in the last few decades, we lost our edge and we’re down to producing only 10 percent. We all saw what happened during the pandemic when chip factories overseas shut down,” he said, according to a copy of the speech provided by the White House.
“We can never let that happen again,” Biden said. “We’re making sure the supply chain for America begins in America.”
Concerning broadband, the President highlighted the bipartisan Infrastructure Law that includes $65 billion for broadband deployment. Stressing the need to close the homework gap, said the country needs to ensure “that every community has access to affordable, high-speed internet. No parent should have to drive to a McDonald’s parking lot so their kid can do their homework online.”
“And when we do these projects, we’re going to Buy American,” he said. “Buy American has been the law of the land since 1933. But for too long, past administrations have found ways to get around it. Not anymore.”
Biden announced new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made in America. In addition to “American-made lumber, glass, drywall,” he said, that includes “fiber optic cables.”
Concerning Big Tech, Biden said, “We must finally hold social media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit. And it’s time to pass bipartisan legislation to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online, ban targeted advertising to children, and impose stricter limits on the personal data these companies collect on all of us.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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