[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               CHIPS Act

  Madam President, now on the chips bill, last night, the Senate passed 
a critical threshold on our way to passing major legislation to lower 
costs, increase manufacturing, strengthen supply chains, and preserve 
American competitiveness in the 21st century.
  I want everyone to note the final margin of last night's vote: 64 to 
34. That is a clear signal that after a lot of hard work and after a 
lot of compromise from both sides, the path is clear for this chips-
plus bill to reach final passage. This has been bipartisan work in the 
Senate at its best, just as we saw previously with bills ranging from 
gun safety to hate crimes, to infrastructure, to VAWA and so much more.
  I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for voting in favor 
of moving forward on this critical bill.
  For the information of all, today I plan to file cloture on this 
legislation, which after last night's vote includes incentives for 
domestic microchip production, including ITC; support for our wireless 
communication supply chain, ORAN; and the science package, which 
includes many of the provisions I authored in the Endless Frontier Act 
in partnership with Senator Young 2 years ago. It has been a long 
struggle to get these vital pieces of legislation moving forward, and 
now they are.
  I hope we can get this legislation approved as soon as possible 
because now it is clear it has enough support to pass this Chamber.
  For all the many good things the bill does, the most important is 
that this legislation will help our country fight inflation in the long 
run. People are asking about inflation, as they should. This bill will 
help. America's chip shortage, exacerbated by the pandemic, has sent 
tremors across the entire economy and caused prices for all sorts of 
electronic goods to go up and up and up, and not only for electronic 
goods--cars, appliances, phones. But with this bill, we can make 
America a major chip producer once again, which will help ease 
pressures on our supply chains, strengthen our national security, and 
generate another wave of American economic activity for years to come.
  Thanks to last night's robust vote, we will also move forward on the 
science provisions that many of us have worked on very hard to pass 
into law. We will increase funding for the National Science Foundation 
and invest billions to develop new tech hubs around the country in 
areas that haven't had the benefit of new tech employment. This will 
all help America lead the way in developing technologies of tomorrow. 
Many more dollars than ever before are going into the cutting-edge 
technologies--AI, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, quantum 
computing, cyber security, 5G, and so much more. When we invest in the 
science here, we create millions of new, good-paying jobs and ensure 
that America will be the leader in these cutting-edge issues, which 
will dominate the 21st-century economy.
  For the sake of lowering costs, for the sake of American jobs, and 
for the sake of our national security interests, let's pass this bill 
as soon as we can. And that is my intention.