The publication is reproduced in full below:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
CHIPS ACT OF 2022--Resumed
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 4346, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
House message to accompany H.R. 4346, a bill making appropriations for Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes.
Pending:
Schumer motion to concur in the amendment of the House to the amendment of the Senate to the bill, with Schumer amendment No. 5135 (to the House amendment to the Senate amendment), relating to the CHIPS Act of 2022.
Schumer amendment No. 5136 (to amendment No. 5135), to add an effective date.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader is recognized.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, for the last century--the whole last century--America's prosperity was anchored on our country's unmatched commitment to science research, technological growth, innovation, and advanced manufacturing.
The question before the Senate, then, is simple: Will that prosperity live on in the century to come? Are we on the brink of another generation of American ingenuity, of American discovery, of American leadership? By passing our CHIPS and Science bill today, the Senate says: Yes, we are, and in a loud, bipartisan voice.
Today, by approving one of the largest investments in science, technology, and manufacturing in decades--in decades--we say that America's best years are yet to come.
This is a very good day for the American people and for American innovation. The legislation is going to create good-paying jobs. It will alleviate supply chains; it will help lower costs; and it will protect America's national security interests.
I am confident that future generations will look back on the passage of this bill as a turning point for American leadership in the 21st century.
I admit that some of the policies--not all, but some are esoteric, but they are vital. All too often we are told government and business think short term. This is one of the most significant pieces of long-
term effect and thinking legislation that we have seen in this body in a very long time.
I believe that our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren will work in jobs we cannot yet imagine because of the investments we are making here today.
Like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the recent gun safety law, the CHIPS and Science bill is one of the major bipartisan achievements of this Congress. But reaching this point was anything but easy.
On the contrary, the legislation has been several years in the making, and it took a lot of twists and turns before reaching the finish line. It brought together industry, labor, universities, Governors, mayors from both parties and from every region. And I thank my colleagues and their staff for pushing it over the line.
In 2019, I approached my Republican colleague Todd Young. We had talked in the gym that he was interested in the same types of investments that I was. And I said: Let's work together on legislation to revive America's commitment to science and innovation. Together, we drafted the first version of the Endless Frontier Act, a bill whose policies shaped today's legislation.
A year later, we joined with Senators Cornyn and Warner to begin addressing our Nation's chip crisis by pushing for an authorization of new Federal chips as an incentive as part of the NDAA. And Senator Kelly of Arizona has been a major advocate for getting these chip programs done.
So even before this Congress began, Members on both sides knew that we had to work together if we were to keep America competitive in the 21st century. We also knew that if we didn't get there first, our rivals--chief among them the Chinese Communist Party--would likely beat us to the punch and reshape the world in their authoritarian image, a frightening, frightening process.
A month after I became majority leader, I directed the chairs and members of our relevant committees to start drafting a legislative package to outcompete China and create new American jobs, with the Endless Frontier Act serving as the core of this effort.
I also instructed them to draft legislation to plug the dangerous holes in America's semiconductor industry. I said to everyone, to people on both sides of the aisle, that if both sides work together, I would put a bill on the floor of the Senate later that spring, and that is what happened when we overwhelmingly passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act in June 2021. It took 3 weeks, lots of debate, amendments, just as the Senate ought to work, even on major and difficult legislation, as this has been.
Senators Cantwell and Wicker were tremendous leaders in this effort and skillfully managed the floor process. They deserve a great deal of praise not only for passing last year's bill but for their efforts this year as well.
A year later, the legislation we are passing today contains many of the critical investments in that bill. Both bills make historic investments in science and innovation--the original Endless Frontier and USICA bill and the bill we are passing today, CHIPS plus Science. Both bills make those investments.
We will plant the seeds for developing the tech hubs of tomorrow in places with great potential but which have been overshadowed by cities like San Francisco or Boston or Austin or New York City. The bill will help turn cities like Buffalo and Indianapolis into new centers for innovation, and the result will be countless new, good-paying jobs and a bright future for those areas for years to come.
Both bills will help end the chips crisis by offering tens of billions of dollars to encourage American chip manufacturing and R&D. And, if anything, this year's version is stronger because of the ITC provisions. It will create tens of thousands of high-tech manufacturing and Davis-Bacon construction jobs from Albany, NY, to New Albany, OH, and beyond. It is going to lower costs for cars, washing machines, and so much more in the long run because our chip shortage will be alleviated.
Both bills establish the National Foundation tech directorate and provide funding to the Department of Energy to achieve new breakthroughs in the technologies like AI, quantum computing, cyber security, renewable energy, 5G, biotech, and other discoveries yet unknown. And both bills provide funding to build wireless communication supply chain to counter Huawei. This was a top priority for my colleague Mark Warner, and I thank him for his efforts in this regard.
The bottom line is this: Today's legislation is one of the largest investments in science, technology, and advanced manufacturing in decades.
Now, of course, while this bill contains many critical investments in chips and scientific research, there are other major proposals from both sides that are still in the works within the conference committee. That important work must continue. It will. And it is my intention to put the conference committee on the floor in September after the work is complete.
So let me be clear. Today is a very good day for the American people and for the future of our country. I believe firmly that, when signed into law, this bill will reawaken the spirit of discovery, innovation, and optimism that made America the envy of the world and will continue to do so. Because of the investments we are approving today, America will be the place where the next transformational breakthroughs in industry and science occur.
Nearly 80 years ago, Dr. Vannevar Bush, the head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research, wrote in a report to President Truman that
``without scientific progress, no amount of achievement in other directions can ensure our health, prosperity, and security in the modern world.'' The name of that report? It was called ``Science: The Endless Frontier.'' It is the inspiration for much of the work we have dedicated to passing this bill today.
In the wake of Dr. Bush's report, we created the National Science Foundation, funded the National Energy Laboratories, split the atom, spliced the gene, landed a man on the Moon, and unleashed the internet. We generated decades of American prosperity and fostered an innate sense of optimism in the American spirit.
Today, we face the great task of renewing and strengthening that legacy in a world of fierce competition. It is no longer a situation where we can just leave it up to corporate America because we didn't have competition. Now there are nation-states funding and aiding their corporations, and authoritarian governments around the world are doing that and cheering for us to fail--cheering for us, hoping that we will sit on our hands and not adapt to the changes in the 21st century. They believe that squabbling democracies like ours can't unite around national priorities like this one. They believe that democracy itself is a relic of the past and that, by beating us to emerging technologies, autocracies around the world hope to reshape the world in their own image.
Well, let me tell you something: I believe in America. I believe in our system. I believe that they will not succeed. I believe that this legislation will enable the United States to outinnovate, outproduce, and outcompete the world in the industries of the future, and I believe that the strongly bipartisan work on this bill revealed that, in this Chamber, we all believe--all of us, Democrats and Republicans--that another American century lies on the horizon.
For this, these many worthy reasons, let us pass the CHIPS and Science bill today.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaine). Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Republican leader.
The Republican leader is recognized.
Inflation
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, here is how Washington Democrats are describing the American economy. From the White House last month:
``robust economic progress under President Biden's leadership.'' According to President Biden himself, our economy has ``unique strengths that we can build on,'' that it was ``providing important breathing room for American families,'' and that it was ``strong as can be but for inflation, but for gas and food.'' The economy is as strong as it can be except that pesky thing: the worst inflation in more than 40 years. You almost have to laugh at that analysis.
Contrast the Democrats' spin with how working Americans are describing our economy. From a grocery store manager in Tennessee:
``It's just not a good situation.'' From a grandmother in Georgia:
``The food, the gas, the bills, and the mortgage, everything. . . . It's a lot on a family.'' Overall, a majority of Americans are concerned their paycheck can't cover the essentials amidst inflation, and a majority disapprove of what President Biden is doing about it.
Clearly, something isn't adding up, but that isn't a new feature of Washington Democrats' one-party control of government. In fact, missing the mark on economic policy has been a hallmark of the Biden administration. Last spring, they misread what it needed after a once-
in-a-century pandemic and flooded the engine with trillions in liberal spending. Then, they missed the warning signs of the runaway inflation that that mistake brought on. Now, they are mounting a panicked campaign to redefine the word ``recession'' before the next quarterly GDP comes out tomorrow.
So Washington Democrats seem to think the real-world effects of their policies--the pain Americans are feeling as they try to balance household budgets--can just be spun away--spun away--with talking points. Well, I can tell you there are millions of working families who wish it were, in fact, that simple, but you know full well that it isn't.
Border Security
Mr. President, now on a different matter, yesterday, I met with members of the Kentucky Narcotics Officers Association to discuss the ongoing substance abuse crisis in my home State. These frontline professionals have watched Kentucky pass some grim milestones in recent years. This is one of the most horrifying consequences of the ongoing breakdown of law and order in our country.
In 2020, overdose deaths in the Commonwealth increased nearly 50 percent from the year prior, reaching an alltime high of 1,964. Then, last year, we broke that record again, recording 2,250 overdose deaths--14.5 percent higher than in 2020.
Remember, as of this past January, 2 years into the pandemic, fentanyl alone had killed more Americans aged 18 to 45 than the coronavirus. That is not even all overdoses; that is just fentanyl alone.
The Kentucky law enforcement officers with whom I got to visit work every day to try to reverse these heart-wrenching trends. They have had some success. Earlier this month, in Louisville, law enforcement seized a full kilogram of fentanyl in Louisville. The experts say that is enough to kill half a million people in Louisville alone. But they are struggling to stem the cascade of narcotics pouring into our streets. The reason for this, they told me, is pretty clear: our unsecured borders.
Already this year, our overwhelmed Customs and Border Patrol agents encountered more than 1.6 million illegal crossers down at the border. That is close to the total number of encounters for the entirety of last year. Some of these individuals were promptly detained and deported, but many of them were booked briefly and then released into the American heartland. Presumably, we will never hear from most of them ever again. These are just the known encounters, to say nothing of the 900,000 ``got-aways'' that DHS officials think have taken place since the beginning of the last fiscal year. Put another way, a group of people larger than the entire population in my hometown broke into our country without interacting with border agents at all.
Alongside this human tide is an ever-increasing flood of illicit drugs, most notably fentanyl. That drug played a role in 72 percent of overdoses in Kentucky last year. CBP officials have seized 5,722 pounds of the stuff this year alone. Imagine how much slipped through their fingers and onto our streets.
Are Democrats admitting this is an emergency? Are they working overtime to put a tourniquet on this crisis? Just the opposite. Secretary Mayorkas jetted to a summit in Aspen earlier this month and pronounced that ``the border is secure.'' That is our Secretary of Homeland Security. Maybe that kind of talk plays well at a ritzy ski resort packed with liberals. It doesn't play very well with law enforcement and first responders in States like Kentucky who have to deal with crime and fatal drug overdoses every single day. The far left throws our borders open for ideological reasons, and it is the most vulnerable communities that end up paying the deadly price.
The president of the National Border Patrol Council has directly contradicted the Biden administration's insistence that our southern border is in great shape. Here is what he had to say. This is the president of the National Border Patrol Council:
[T]he cartels use illegal border crossers to facilitate their higher value contraband, including . . . fentanyl.
In other words, more illegal immigration means more of this illegal poison. But President Biden and Washington Democrats simply won't admit it. Their response to the border crisis has been to issue new internal guidance encouraging border personnel to use more politically correct language when they are referring to criminal aliens. They would rather police language than police the border.
Remember, the Biden administration spent taxpayer dollars going to court, arguing they have a right to end the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy and throw our borders open even wider. President Biden tried to cut funding for ICE in his most recent budget.
Washington liberals say the compassionate policy is to lure desperate people into inhumane conditions, let the drug cartels have open season, and let Americans die as a result. That is not compassion; that is cruelty--an abdication of duty with deadly consequences for the American people.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lujan). Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the Biden border crisis continues to rage. Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 207,416 individuals attempting to cross our southern border illegally, the highest June number ever recorded. And April and May successively set records for the highest numbers for any month ever.
During the 2021 fiscal year, Customs and Border Protection encountered a record number of individuals attempting to cross our southern border illegally--1,734,686, to be precise--a record. We still have 3 months to go for this fiscal year, but we have already exceeded last year's number by more than 11,000. That is right. In just 9 months, we have already exceeded last year's record number of apprehensions.
The situation on our southern border is out of control, although you would never know it to hear the President and his administration. ``The border is secure'' the President's Homeland Security Secretary said just a few days ago. Again, The border is secure. My only question is how he said that with a straight face.
Our southern border is the opposite of secure. It is in crisis. The flood of illegal immigration is so great that huge numbers of Customs and Border Protection officers have been pulled off the border to process migrants. A May article from the Economist reported that:
Around 60 percent of CBP agents have been assigned to process migrants, taking them away from field work.
That, of course, leaves our borders wide open to illegal activity, including the drug trafficking that is flooding our country with fentanyl.
It also means even with all the apprehensions the Border Patrol has made, many more individuals are getting through unstopped. One source reports that so far this fiscal year, there have been more than half a million got-aways--in other words, individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend.
The Economist article I mentioned also noted:
One border expert estimates that less than 20 percent of people trying to cross the border undetected are stopped.
Less than 20 percent--that is a security nightmare.
Our Customs and Border Protection agents are giving this job their all, but there is no way for them to keep up with the flood of illegal immigration, especially when they are being pulled off the border to process migrants.
It is President Biden's job to help stop this border crisis, but when he is not pretending this crisis doesn't exist, he is taking actions that are contributing to this disaster. On his very first day in office, President Biden rescinded the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border. He halted construction of the border wall. He revoked a Trump administration order that called for the government to faithfully execute our immigration laws. And his Department of Homeland Security issued guidelines pausing deportations, except under certain circumstances. That was all, again, on his first day in office.
Needless to say, the effect of all this was to declare to the world that the U.S. borders were effectively open. And even as huge numbers of illegal immigrants pour across our southern border, he has continued to build on those actions. The President sought to significantly limit the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce immigration laws.
Deportations dropped precipitously during fiscal year 2021, as did arrests in the interior of the country. In March of this year, the administration rescinded a 2019 rule expanding expedited removal for individuals here illegally. And, of course, the administration is still attempting to remove title 42 COVID-19 restrictions, with no viable plan to control the resulting surge in illegal immigration.
Illegal immigration, especially the kind of out-of-control illegal immigration we are currently experiencing, has serious consequences. I have already mentioned some of the security risks it presents. With Customs and Border Protection overstretched, it is easier for bad actors to cross the border into our country--gang members, drug traffickers, human smugglers, and the list goes on.
Our country is currently in the midst of a fentanyl crisis. In fact, right now, fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for American adults between the ages of 18 and 45. And where is all this fentanyl coming from? Most of it is being trafficked across our southern border. The current border situation is undoubtedly facilitating that trafficking.
Illegal immigration is financially costly, as well. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is currently running out of money for this year, thanks, in part, to the out-of-control situation at our southern border.
President Biden has talked about wanting to build a ``fair, orderly, and humane'' immigration system. There is nothing--nothing--humane about our current situation. Encouraging illegal immigration, as the President's policies have done, has contributed to a humanitarian crisis that saw 557 migrants die attempting to cross the southern border during fiscal year 2021. Just last month, in an incredibly tragic, horrific story, 53 migrants died in an unair-conditioned tractor-trailer after being smuggled across the border. It was a sober reminder of the human costs of policies that enable illegal immigration.
The President may think that his border policies are compassionate, but, again, he would be wrong. Policies that encourage illegal immigration, that encourage individuals to undertake the often dangerous journey across our southern border often at the mercy of human smugglers are the very opposite of compassionate. I would like to think that the President would wake up to the dangerous situation we are in and take action to help stem the flood of illegal immigration at our southern border, but after a year and a half of his administration's neglecting this crisis, I am not getting my hopes up. I am afraid that, like inflation, out-of-control illegal immigration has become a fact of life in the Biden Presidency. As with inflation, Americans and those vulnerable individuals who are attempting to enter our country, will be left to suffer the consequences.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
H.R. 4346
Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, when it comes to America, I am an optimist--always. You see, I can't help but approach the future with great hope. After all, as Americans, we have never let obstacles stand in our way or accepted that problems can't be solved.
Our citizens are the world's most ingenious; our military, its mightiest; our economy, the strongest; and our innovators, the most creative. The last century was defined by our accomplishments and our ideals and I believe this one will be, too. But I have to say, this path is not guaranteed.
Now as then, America's success depends on unleashing the potential of our people and outcompeting and out-innovating global rivals who don't share our values or our economic interests.
Right now, we are in the middle of a great power competition with an authoritarian regime in Beijing that seeks global primacy and rejects democracy. The Chinese Communist Party is currently investing $1.4 trillion in frontier technologies that will dominate the 21st century--
artificial intelligence, quantum computing, hypersonics, among other key technologies. Its innovators are earning patents and publishing research in AI at greater rates than our own. Its schools are producing four times the STEM graduates as America's. The Chinese Communist Party's computer and science universities are regularly outranking ours.
Its military is making advances in cyber warfare and the development of hypersonic weapons, autonomous vehicles, electronic and cyber warfare, and orbital bombardment systems.
These are the technologies that will dominate the 21st century, economically and militarily.
China's Government is planning on winning the AI race, winning future wars, and winning the future. The truth is, if we are being honest with ourselves, Beijing is well on its way to accomplishing these goals. America is at risk of falling behind economically and technologically to a world power that doesn't value liberty or even human life.
So how should we respond?
For too long, when it comes to Chinese aggression, America has relied on a strategy of deterrence, taking steps like blocking Huawei from doing business in the U.S., tightening export controls, and improving foreign investment rules.
Now, these are important measures, but they are no longer enough. You see, it is time to go on the offensive. And that is exactly what this legislation--which has gone by many names from the Endless Frontier Act to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act to CHIPS+--will do: unleash private sector innovation while significantly boosting Federal national security investments.
Let me highlight a few specifics. First, this bill greatly encourages domestic investment in semiconductor production. Right now, the USA is almost entirely reliant on other nations for high-tech computer chips that power our smartphones, automobiles, household appliances, and military platforms. In fact, the recent shortage of these chips has hobbled our economy; it has hit our pocketbooks.
For example, a shortage of computer chips forced General Motors to idle its assembly plant in Fort Wayne, IN, twice already this year. U.S. semiconductor production, once accounting for nearly 40 percent of the world's supply, has dropped to just 12 percent, while China's production share is increasing rapidly. Ninety percent of the chips used in our military technology are made overseas. Let me say that again. Ninety percent of the chips used in our military technology are made overseas. Most are made in South Korea and Taiwan, but an increasing number are produced in China. This is a very real economic and national security vulnerability.
And this bill will reassert America's place in this industry and take a giant leap towards ensuring that our supply chain and national defense will never be at the mercy of technology produced overseas.
Another important aspect of this bill is critical applied research funding. This legislation reforms and invests in the National Science Foundation to partner with the private sector and universities to develop critical emerging technologies that will transform the global landscape. We know that national success and competitiveness in the 21st century economy will be built on emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
Funding research crucial to keeping America safe is one of the Federal Government's responsibilities, and this legislation will help us not just catch up with but overtake China in these critical areas.
And this bill will establish regional technology hubs across our country, which will become centers for the research, development, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing of new key technologies.
This is incredibly important at a time when too many Americans in the heartland feel left out and too many areas overlooked, when only a handful of cities account for nearly 90 percent of job growth in these advanced sectors.
Simply put, this bill will make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous. And it is desperately needed. How do we know? Because the Chinese Communist Party has actively lobbied against this legislation. They know this bill is bad for China and good for the United States of America.
This bill is about securing our country, giving our people the tools to flourish, and ensuring America continues its global research role.
It has been a long journey to get to this point, but history will show that by passing this CHIPS+ bill, we are confronting the challenges of today and building a prosperous and secure tomorrow for all Americans.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Unanimous Consent Request
Mr. SANDERS. I have heard, time and again, my Republican colleagues and a number of Democrats voice their serious concern about the deficit and our national debt. We are told that because of the deficit that at a time when we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth, we cannot extend the child tax credit to help working parents and substantially reduce childhood poverty.
At a time when over 600,000 Americans are homeless and some 18 million families are spending half of their incomes on the high cost of housing, we are told over and over again that because of the deficit we cannot build the low-income, affordable housing we desperately need.
At a time when millions of senior citizens in this country desperately need help to go to a dentist because their teeth are rotting in their mouths, they can't afford hearing aids, they can't afford eyeglasses, we are told that we cannot afford to expand Medicare because of the deficit.
At a time when the average family in this country is spending $15,000 a year on childcare--an unimaginable amount of money for a working family--we are told that we cannot reform a dysfunctional childcare system because of the deficit.
At a time when some 70 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, we are told that we cannot guarantee healthcare to all Americans as a human right--like virtually every other major country does--because of the deficit.
In other words, despite the fact that half of the people in our country today are living paycheck to paycheck, despite the fact that half of our seniors live on incomes of $25,000 or less, despite the fact that we have more income and wealth inequality today than we have had in 100 years, where three billionaires own more wealth than the bottom half of America, despite all of that, whenever it comes to protecting the needs of low-income or working families, I hear, over and over again, we just cannot afford to do that because of the deficit.
Well, guess what? All of that profound and serious concern about the deficit fades away when it comes to providing a $76 billion blank check to the highly profitable microchip industry with no protections at all for the American taxpayer.
Somehow the deficit is of great concern when it comes to providing help to working families, to low-income Americans, to children, to seniors, but it is not a concern when you provide massive corporate welfare for enormously profitable multinational corporations.
I guess when the semiconductor industry spends $19 million on lobbying this year alone and when Intel spends $100 million on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past 20 years, when that industry says: Jump, the response from Congress is: How high?
That is what a political system dominated by Big Money looks like. The people in this country who desperately need help can't get it. The corporations that are making huge profits and the CEOs who are making exorbitant compensation packages get everything they need--and more.
In other words, it appears that the deep concerns about the deficit are rather selective.
Now, after I finish my remarks, I will give my colleagues a chance to prove me wrong. I will be raising a budget point of order against this bill because it increases the deficit by over $79 billion, with $76 billion of that money going to the microchip industry with no strings attached.
Let me be very clear. There is no doubt that there is a global shortage of microchips and semiconductors, which is making it harder for manufacturers to produce the cars, cell phones, household appliances, and electronic equipment that we need. And that is why I fully support efforts to expand U.S. microchip production.
But the question we should be asking is this: Should American taxpayers provide the microchip industry with a blank check of over $76 billion at a time when semiconductor companies are making tens of billions of dollars in profit right now and paying the head of Intel some $170 million a year in compensation? And I think the answer to that question is a resounding no.
That is why, at the conclusion of my remarks, I will be asking unanimous consent to attach an amendment to this legislation.
This amendment is simple and straightforward. It would prevent microchip companies from receiving grants under this legislation unless they agreed not to buy back their own stock--not complicated.
Now, this is rather amazing. This is really quite incredible and tells you where we are as a nation politically. Over the past decade, semiconductor companies have spent nearly $250 billion--70 percent of their profits--not on research and development, not on building new microchip plants in America--what this bill is presumably about--but on buying back their own stock to enrich their wealthy shareholders.
Let me repeat: The industry that is asking for $76 billion of corporate welfare today, over the past decade spent $250 billion--70 percent of their profits--not on research and development, not on building new microchip plants in America but on buying back their own stock to enrich their wealthy stockholders.
Apparently, they just couldn't find $76 billion of their own money to invest in new plants in America. They need the taxpayers of this country to do it for them.
Do any of my colleagues really believe we should allow microchip companies to receive $76 billion in taxpayer assistance without a ban on stock buybacks?
Under my amendment, microchip companies would not be allowed to receive taxpayer assistance unless they agreed they would not repeal existing collective bargaining agreements and would remain neutral in any union organizing effort.
Do any of my colleagues believe that we should be handing out corporate welfare to profitable corporations who are engaged in busting unions?
Under my agreement, microchip companies would not be able to receive
$76 billion in taxpayer assistance unless they agreed not to outsource jobs overseas.
Now, I heard my colleague from Indiana speak a moment ago about the crisis in the microchip industry, how we are producing a smaller and smaller amount, but he forgot to mention--somehow forgot to mention--
that over the last 20 years, the microchip industry has shut down over 780 manufacturing plants and other establishments in the United States and eliminated 150,000 American jobs while moving most of its production overseas.
In other words, what taxpayers are doing are rebuilding an industry that was destroyed by the industry itself by going abroad in search of more profit.
Under my amendment, microchip companies would be prevented from receiving taxpayer assistance unless they agree to issue warrants or equity stakes to the Federal Government.
Now, I happen to believe in industrial policy. I think it makes sense for the government and private sector to be working together when it is mutually beneficial. If private companies, however, are going to benefit from generous taxpayer subsidies--$76 billion-- the financial gains made by these companies must be shared with the American people, not just wealthy shareholders. Does that sound really unreasonable?
If these guys are going to make huge profits based on this investment, don't you think maybe the taxpayers of this country who gave them the money might be able to get some of those benefits back?
The microchip industry today is worth about $680 billion. By 2030, that market, the market for microchips, is expected to grow to a trillion dollars. Do any of my colleagues really believe that if microchip companies make a profit as a direct result of these Federal grants--which is extremely likely--the taxpayers in this country, taxpayers do not have a right to get a reasonable return on that investment?
And let us be clear, none of this is a radical idea. All of those provisions that I just articulated were included in the CARES Act that passed the Senate by a vote of 96 to 0. In other words, every Senator here has already voted for these provisions.
Now, I have heard recently some of my colleagues who are saying: Don't worry. We have imposed ``strong guardrails'' to this bill.
Well, let me respectfully disagree. These so-called guardrails would do nothing to prevent microchip companies from outsourcing a single job abroad. In fact, these so-called guardrails would not even force Intel to divest all of the money they have put into semiconductor companies in China. These so-called guardrails would do nothing to protect taxpayers or to stop microchip companies from union busting.
Yes, I understand some language has been inserted in this bill that would prohibit microchip companies from using Federal grants to buy back their own stock, but let's be clear, this language is totally meaningless. Under this legislation, companies will still be able to use the enormous profits that they are making to buy back their own stocks.
Bottom line, let us rebuild the U.S. microchip industry. I believe that. But let us do it in a way that benefits all of our society, not just a handful of wealthy, profitable, and powerful corporations.
In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said:
The problem is that we all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor.
I am afraid that what Dr. King said 54 years ago was accurate back then. And as we can see by this legislation today--massive subsidies for the rich and the powerful, while we continue to turn our backs on working families--what King said then is even more accurate now.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up amendment No. 5145, that the amendment be considered and agreed to, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table without intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Point of Order
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that the pending measure violates section 4106 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, H. Con. Res. 71 of the 115th Congress, the Senate pay-as-you-go point of order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive all applicable sections of that act and any other applicable budget points of order for the purpose of the pending bill, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays are ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
CHIPS Act of 2022
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I would like to be recognized to speak on the bill.
We will soon be moving to a vote on the so-called CHIPS legislation. It has had several names during its consideration in the Senate and in the House. I prefer to call it the CHIPS and Science Act. But it is an important bipartisan piece of legislation, and I urge its adoption.
Is my friend from Vermont seeking recognition?
Mr. SANDERS. No.
Mr. WICKER. So I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this legislation. It will expand American semiconductor production, create new opportunities for research into cutting-edge technologies, and enhance our ability to compete with China.
There is no more important competition than the one for technological supremacy between the United States and China. The outcome will shape the global balance of power for decades and will impact the security and prosperity of all Americans.
Regrettably, at this moment, we are not in the driver's seat on a range of important technologies; China is. China and other nations are increasingly dominant in tech innovation, posing a massive threat to not only our economy but to our national security.
But with today's vote, Congress has a chance to move us back in the right direction and put America back into a place to win the game.
This legislation--the CHIPS and Science Act, I will call it--will provide a historic boost to our semiconductor industry, which for too long has played on an uneven global playing field.
Increasing American chip production is absolutely vital, given the importance of chips to our economy, as well as our national defense. The pandemic taught us the hard way that we cannot be dependent on semiconductor production halfway around the globe.
But, of course, chip semiconductors are not the whole ball game. This legislation goes much further, advancing American innovation in quantum computing, advanced robotics, biotechnology, advanced materials, and artificial intelligence--the full suite of technologies that we need to outcompete China.
And instead of limiting those investments to a small handful of institutions in five wealthy States, this bill casts a wide net, enlisting the talent and expertise of STEM researchers nationwide. This legislation will guarantee that EPSCoR, a program designed to stimulate competitive research in 25 predominantly rural States, receives 20 percent of all R&D funding from the National Science Foundation, up from the current 13 percent--13 percent now, 20 percent when it is finally ramped up.
The bill will also reauthorize the National Science Foundation, the gold standard for funding basic research, and it will establish a new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships, called TIP, at NSF to supercharge the process of translating basic research into technology development, and then to the commercial market, enabling us to compete better with China across a vast range of technologies.
This legislation would not be complete without new safeguards against espionage--which we know is taking place right now--against intellectual property theft, for which the Chinese have become notorious. I am pleased we were able to include a number of long-
overdue reforms to protect the fruits of our Nation's R&D investments. Even so, there is more work to be done to protect American research across the whole of government, and I commend my friend Senator Portman from Ohio for moving forward with his initiative, which I hope can be incorporated into the statute at some point.
This moment has been a long time in the making, and I want to issue some bipartisan congratulations and words of thanks.
My dear friend and colleague from the State of Washington, the chair of the Commerce Committee, Senator Cantwell, is on the floor, and I congratulate her and commend her and thank her for her cooperation with me on this issue.
I want to thank Leader Schumer and Senator Young, the original cosponsors of the Endless Frontier Act, as well as Senator Cornyn, Senator Sinema, and many other colleagues who helped make this a better bill.
And I also want to congratulate and commend officials from the previous administration--from the Trump administration--who are also telling Americans about the importance of this legislation.
This is a bill that will be signed by President Joe Biden, but it is also endorsed by Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, President Trump's International Trade Adviser; by Mike Pompeo, President Trump's CIA Director and Secretary of State; and by Robert O'Brien, former National Security Advisor to President Trump. So three distinguished and knowledgeable national defense officials and foreign policy officials are saying this about the bill we will soon vote on.
Ambassador Lighthizer, of the Trump administration, said on Kudlow 2 days ago:
We are in this existential competition with China. The battleground of that competition is technology and chips. That is where we are going to win it or lose it.
And he goes on to point out that the bill, while not perfect, is exactly the bill that we can get done right now, and I don't know of any bill that is ever perfect.
Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, a stalwart in the last administration on national defense, says this:
Congress must pass the CHIPS Act for both our national and economic security. We have to become less dependent on China for critical technologies--and this is how we do it. . . . A bipartisan bill, supporting R&D for semiconductor chip manufacturing, is essential to securing vital technologies for our economy and our military.
That is Mike Pompeo, President Trump's Secretary of State.
And then Robert O'Brien, former National Security Advisor to President Trump, said:
America needs this legislation without delay.
So I want to also say a note of thanks to my own staff--my personal staff and my committee staff--for their tireless efforts over the last year and a half on this issue. This is the culmination of a great deal of work by some very, very talented personnel--countless meetings, a legislative hearing in April, a markup in May, a final vote by the Senate in June after days and days of debate on the floor. All of these staff members worked nights and weekends, considering and helping to manage almost 1,000 amendments through the committee and the floor, and all of them contributed in many ways.
I will single out for recognition my policy director, James Mazol, who was absolutely vital to us in putting it all together, and his entire team.
So thank you very much, Mr. President. I urge a ``yes'' vote. I think the strong 64 votes we had yesterday on cloture was indicative of the support, and I anticipate its passage and look forward to its successful passage in the House of Representatives.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to finish my remarks prior to the scheduled vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the legislation before us and how it is an investment today for jobs tomorrow.
And I want to thank my colleague from Mississippi for his partnership on this legislation. It seems like a century ago that we had a markup in committee and passed this out--the science portion, which we are now voting on--24 to 4, more than a year ago. And yet here we are today, on the product of much negotiation, not just in our committee but in eight other committees--seven other committees.
We are here because we know that innovation is in the DNA of Americans, and we know that it helped us win the world wars; it helped us cure disease. We know it has helped create millions of jobs, and it has helped members of the business community on opposite sides of a phone call or an email connect to each other to get a product or a service.
So this bill embraces American innovation and our tradition of it, and I, too, encourage a ``yes'' vote.
After watching the COVID crisis mangle our supply chain and see semiconductors be a big part of inflation, the shortage of semiconductors has increased the cost of a used car by more than 40 percent, putting it out of reach of many families at a time when they just needed a car to drive to work.
So this bill is about making sure that we face our manufacturing challenges here at home and that we train and skill the scientists and the workers to get that done.
And so thanks start with Senators Schumer and Young for their hard work in introducing this legislation more than 2 years ago. Senator Schumer's great work with Senator Young on this was an eye-opening change in the way that we make investments in R&D. It was a concept novel then, but I think we have a lot of understanding of it now, and that is to move our R&D into faster translation into products and services. Why? Because the rest of the world is doing that and we need to hurry as well.
I also want to just point out that there are lots of contributions from Members in this bill: Senator Peters on AI scholarships, Senator Cortez Masto on national science technology strategy, Senator Rosen on critical minerals, Senator Sinema on our NASA authorization, Senator Warnock on semiconductor supply chains, Senators Brown and Coons on Manufacturing USA Institutes, Senator Ossoff on cyber security education grants, Senator Menendez on supply chain issues. So many, many things in this legislation were contributed by many different Members through a regular order process.
But let's get specific about it. There are about five or six things in this bill that really matter to our Nation at this critical moment.
First is a new mission at the National Science Foundation. That new mission is different because the National Science Foundation has been focused on basic research. So we are creating, for the first time, in a
$20 billion investment over 5 years, the focus for that new mission at NSF to say that they have to focus on translating that science into faster discoveries in products and solutions that will help U.S. manufacturing here at home.
And while the United States has excelled at basic research, we have allowed other countries to excel at translational research, and that needs to stop now.
We need to make the investment in industries from aerospace to pharmaceuticals, to farming, to information technologies that will help increase the pace of innovation here in the United States of America.
Second, we say that NSF is not alone in its mission. We recognize that the Department of Energy also has a key role to play in translational science.
I want to thank the Presiding Officer, Senator Lujan, for his contribution of a $16.9 billion DOE investment that doubles down on the current work in key technology areas that we also have to do faster translational science to scale up in cutting edge energy R&D. This was a very large portion of the energy innovation that was funded in this bill.
This legislation also includes a 5-year, $50 billion, first-ever reauthorization of the Department of Energy Office of Science. And I want to thank Senators Manchin and Barrasso for working on this and its inclusion in this.
Combining these investments will go a long way in reversing the decline in Federal R&D that has dropped three-fold since 1978. We need to improve U.S. competitiveness, but we are only going to do it by investing today for those jobs tomorrow.
Third, the bill also says that we need to be smarter at how we make our investments. Now, I would say I represent a tech hub. It is already in existence. It took 30-plus years to create. There are places like Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco, Boston, and San Diego that you could say are tech hubs. They account for 90 percent of the growth in innovation sectors between the years 2005 and 2017. But is that all we are going to do in the United States of America, allow innovation to just continue to be more and more expensive because it is only produced in those areas?
I am a firm believer in distributed generation, whether that is electricity or whether that is innovation. And the more dispersed the innovation is, you never know where the next Bill Gates or Bill Boeing is going to be from and what innovation they might come up with.
So this bill also has a new mission in the Department of Commerce in technology hubs, where it will focus on trying to foster new collaboration between universities, businesses, labor, and local government to accelerate economic growth and opportunity in innovation. These tech hubs will focus on the key technology areas that are in this bill and help us move faster at innovation.
I want to thank my colleague Senator Tester, from Montana, who is a very big advocate in making sure that there was geographic diversity to the tech hubs. And we know that while we want to grow more technology advancement in the United States, that we also want to see it not just in Seattle, but in places like Spokane or Indianapolis or West Virginia or Wichita.
We also increase in this Act the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships. During the pandemic, we saw that many companies could not survive without supplies that were no longer available to them. And we know that with the manufacturing extension ecosystem, that we have to stay competitive by innovating. This bill delivers $76 billion over 10 years to develop the next generation of chips and to reestablish chip manufacturing in the United States.
Now I know my colleague from Vermont and my colleague from Florida and many others have criticized this part of the legislation. I know that they think that this is somehow--I wish, trust me, I wish that--I would probably agree more with the Senator of Vermont on the prioritization within our budget on the various things that will help American families. But we can't ignore that chip production has gone overseas and that the United States has lost its share of that production to the point that we are now down to as little as 12 percent--or could go to 12 percent, at which point, who wants to manufacture when the ecosystem is somewhere else? We know that just last year alone, chip shortages cost the U.S. economy $240 billion. That is the automobile industry that didn't have chips; that is part of the electronics industry that didn't have chips. You can say it is even in the cost of every product that you buy because we certainly didn't produce the transportation system to even move products throughout the United States in companies like PACCAR that are from the Northwest, because they too did not have chips to put into their trailers to move products across the United States. So we know that with every dollar of chip R&D investment, that increases GDP gains by $16.50.
So I know my colleagues would like us to make other investments, but I would say that chips are just as essential as wheat is in America. People think about our farm investments and with no hesitation say: Let's make sure that we keep wheat production in the United States of America. I guarantee you, chips are no less important. And we have to have an increase in the United States, or we are going to continue to fall behind on national security issues and on economic development issues that are so critical.
We also, in this legislation, make one of the most significant investments in STEM over the last many years. It puts $13 billion into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce development. It creates $2 billion to minority-serving institutions, including Native American institutions, to encourage their research and innovation.
And I want to thank Senator Wicker for his leadership on the F-score provision, probably one of the more hotly debated conversations between our colleagues here in the Senate and in the House. But I would say to my colleagues, this is about innovation everywhere. This is about growing opportunity everywhere. And that is exactly what we are saying with F-score. You never know what the next innovation is going to bring.
So these key provisions, from diversifying our investment in education and job training, from making investments in tech hubs, to the investment in R&D by both DOD and NSF through faster translational science, we are improving the ecosystem that we have in the United States of America. This ecosystem has been built over a long period of time. It represents competing and collaborating organizations. That is what the strength of our R&D is.
So I want to thank Senators Schumer and Young, Senators Cornyn and Kelly, and many other people who helped introduce and move this legislation. I want to thank Senator Warner for his contributions and thank, again, Senator Wicker and his team for the many advances in this legislation. I also would be remiss if I didn't thank retiring Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson and Ranking Member Frank Lucas who worked hard to craft the legislation before us.
I want to thank on my staff: Lila Helms, Melissa Porter, Mary Guenther, Amit Ronen, Stacy Baird, Nikki Teutschel, Christi Barnhart, Jonny Pellish, Rosemary Baize, Erica Holman, and Emma Stohlman for their help; and on Senator Wicker's staff, as he already mentioned, James Mazol and many other people. I want to thank on Senator Schumer's staff Jon Cardinal, Mike Kuiken, and Meghan Taira for their hard work. But no one deserves more focus and attention than Richard-Duane Chambers from my staff, who literally worked on the last COMPETES bill and then worked at DARPA, so clearly knows seriously the challenges that we faced in getting this legislation done and getting it over the goal line.
So I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. We don't know exactly what innovations will come out of this, but we do know this: America will be more competitive because of it. And we do know this: that we will be able to grow our economy for the future because of the investments that we have made today.
I yield the floor.
Amendment Withdrawn
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired, and amendment No. 5136 is withdrawn.
Vote on Motion to Waive
The question is on agreeing to the motion to waive.
The yeas and nays were previously ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 64, nays 33, as follows:
YEAS--64
Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Booker Brown Burr Cantwell Capito Cardin Carper Casey Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Feinstein Gillibrand Graham Hagerty Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly King Klobuchar Lujan Markey McConnell Menendez Merkley Moran Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Portman Reed Romney Rosen Sasse Schatz Schumer Shaheen Sinema Smith Stabenow Sullivan Tester Tillis Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Whitehouse Wicker Wyden Young
NAYS--33
Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Braun Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Daines Ernst Fischer Grassley Hawley Hoeven Hyde-Smith Inhofe Johnson Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall Paul Risch Rounds Rubio Sanders Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shelby Thune Toomey Tuberville
NOT VOTING--3
Leahy Manchin Murkowski
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). On this vote, the yeas are 64, the nays are 33.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative. The motion is agreed to, and the point of order falls.
The majority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent for 3 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this is a very good day for the American people, for American leadership, and for American prosperity in the 21st century. After years of hard work, the Senate is passing the largest investment in science, technology, and advanced manufacturing in decades.
This CHIPS and Science bill is going to create millions of good-
paying jobs down the road. It will alleviate supply chains, it will help lower costs, and it will protect America's national security interests.
All too often, our government and our businesses are accused of being too short term, but this is one of the most significant long-term thinking bills we have passed in a very long time. I told our caucus yesterday that our grandchildren will hold good-paying jobs in industries we can't even imagine because of what we are doing right now.
And we did it together, both sides cooperating in good faith on some truly difficult issues. I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their superb work on this legislation: my colleague Senator Young, with whom I originally authored the Endless Frontier Act, as well as Senator Cantwell, our conference chair, and Senators Wicker and Warner and Cornyn and Kelly. I also want to thank Senators Warnock, Brown, and Sinema for their help and Leader McConnell for his support as well as all members of the conference committee and all the individual Senators--just about every one of us--who helped shape this legislation. These are moments when the Senate is at its very best.
This is going to go down as one of the major bipartisan achievements of this Congress, along with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the recent gun safety law. The American people deserve to see more examples like this, of both sides coming together to do very, very big things that will leave a lasting impact on our country.
And I am confident that future generations will look back on the passage of this bill as a turning point for American leadership in the 21st century. And we are paying attention to all of America. We are making sure tech hubs will be located not just in the big, big megalopolises like San Francisco or New York City or Boston but in places like Buffalo and Syracuse and Rochester and Indianapolis and Omaha--not just major cities.
For decades, it was America's fierce commitment to scientific research, technological growth, and advanced manufacturing that made us the envy of the world. That funding that we put into science created the greatest laboratories, split the atom, spliced the gene, landed a man on the Moon, and unleashed the internet. We generated decades of American prosperity and fostered an innate sense of optimism in the American spirit. And we made the world a safer, more hospitable place for our democratic values.
Today, we face the great task of renewing and strengthening that spirit in this century, in a world of fierce competition and hungry authoritarians. It is no longer the case where we can just leave it up to corporate America. Now there are nation-states and authoritarian governments funding and aiding these corporations to come to their shores. Authoritarian nations are cheering for us to fail, hoping we sit on our hands and fail to adapt to the changes of the 21st century.
We dare not cede the mantle of global leadership on our watch. We dare not permit America to become a middling nation in the middle of this century.
No, we mean for America to lead this century. We mean for America to prosper and grow just as we have done throughout history. It won't happen on its own, but today we are laying the foundation for a bold and thriving future. Today, by passing this CHIPS and Science bill, we are making clear that we believe America's best days are yet to come.
I yield the floor.
Vote on Motion to Concur
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question occurs on agreeing to the motion to concur with amendment No. 5135.
The yeas and nays were previously ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
The result was announced--yeas 64, nays 33, as follows:
YEAS--64
Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Booker Brown Burr Cantwell Capito Cardin Carper Casey Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Daines Duckworth Durbin Feinstein Gillibrand Graham Hagerty Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly King Klobuchar Lujan Markey McConnell Menendez Merkley Moran Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Portman Reed Romney Rosen Sasse Schatz Schumer Shaheen Sinema Smith Stabenow Tester Tillis Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Whitehouse Wicker Wyden Young
NAYS--33
Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Braun Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Ernst Fischer Grassley Hawley Hoeven Hyde-Smith Inhofe Johnson Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall Paul Risch Rounds Rubio Sanders Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shelby Sullivan Thune Toomey Tuberville
NOT VOTING--3
Leahy Manchin Murkowski
The motion was agreed to.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 125
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
Alerts Sign-up