House passes semiconductor subsidy bill
$280 billion Chips and Science Act hopes to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in key industry
The House on Thursday voted to pass the $280 billion Chips and Science Act, a bill that would subsidize domestic semiconductor manufacturing and invest billions in science and technology innovation, in a bid to strengthen the United States’ competitiveness and self-reliance in what is seen as a keystone industry for economic and national security.
The House passed the legislation on a 243-187 vote, with strong bipartisan support — despite a last-minute push by House GOP leaders to whip against the bill. Twenty-four Republicans joined Democrats in backing the measure.
The Senate had passed the bill Wednesday in a 64-33 vote. Days earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had said there would be bipartisan support for the bill’s passage in the House and vowed to send it to President Joe Biden’s desk as soon as possible. At the time, House Republican leaders had planned to let their rank and file vote their conscience on the bill.
However, after the stunning news Wednesday night of a deal between Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Democratic leaders on a separate climate, health-care and taxes bill, House GOP leaders urged members to oppose the chips bill as retribution, in an effort to deny Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a legislative win.
Before the House GOP decided to whip against the chips bill, proponents of the legislation thought they could garner a sizable amount of Republican support, according to people familiar with the vote counts who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the matter. Before the vote, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters he would still support the bill, calling it a national security issue.
Others, however, said they would toe the party line. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., the ranking GOP member on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said he expected his remarks on the bill would be very different “just 24 hours ago.” Lucas noted he had worked on the chips-funding legislation for more than three years, and lamented that it was now “irrevocably tied to a massive tax hike and spending spree,” referring to the Democrats’ tax bill.
“Regrettably, and it’s more regrettably than you can possibly imagine, I will not be casting my vote for the CHIPS and Science Act today,” Lucas said. “I want to emphasize that this is in no way a reflection of my feeling about the transformational research policies in this bill.”
Some members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus were also squeamish on the bill, and there was fear its passage in the House could be threatened if supporting lawmakers dwindled. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with the caucus virtually Thursday afternoon to provide reassurances about guardrails included in the bill.
On the House floor Thursday, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., slammed the legislation as a “$280 billion blank check” to the semiconductor industry, saying he had always opposed it. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., criticized the bill as one that would benefit only “a single industry,” and several GOP lawmakers urged their colleagues to vote no.
Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., countered by saying there were few industries that did not utilize semiconductor chips.
“Chips run everything. So whether it’s your cellphone, your laptop, your automobile, it really doesn’t matter. Children’s toys have chips in them,” Morelle said. “And the fact is we have lost our competitive edge … This isn’t about a single industry. It’s about every industry.”