The House has narrowly passed the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Preeminence in Technology and Economic Strength) Act, which among many other things, provides $1.5 billion for securing the wireless mobile broadband market supply chain.
The vote was 222-210, with only one Republican voting for the bill, and one Democrat opposing. A Senate version has already passed and will have to be reconciled with the House bill.
The bill was hailed by House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). His committee supplied many elements of the bill including the wireless funding, $45 billion for supply chain resilience.
The bill also has $52 billion in funding to boost domestic semiconductor production, another supply-chain issue that affects network security.
Democrats billed the spending as a way to better compete with China, but Republicans said it would do the opposite.
“This bill is essential to our supply chains, our economy, and our workers, and will unleash the next generation of innovation and manufacturing in the United States,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “I’m urging Congress to move quickly to begin negotiations and work out the differences between the bills, focus on areas of common agreement, and get a final version to President Biden’s desk for his signature.”
“The America COMPETES Act provides a critical boost to America’s technological leadership, economic competitiveness, and national security," said Jason Oxman, president of tech trade association ITI. "Its prioritization of research and development, entrepreneurship, and science will strengthen the national innovation ecosystem. Importantly, its investments in domestic semiconductor production will create a more resilient supply chain in the long-term."
Republicans saw it quite differently.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the ranking member of Energy & Commerce, branded it the “America Concedes Act” and said it was reckless spending that would “surrender” the country’s competitive edge, not sharpen it. “If the Democrats wanted to make America more competitive, they would abandon their destructive agenda and work with us to reform burdensome permitting, licensing, and regulatory regimes,” she said on the House floor in advance of the vote.
She called the bill a massive government handout to benefit political allies, and went so far to say that the Democrats‘ approach actually takes a page out of the Chinese Communist Party of “stealing, cheating and using their centrally controlled economy to pick winners and losers through massive government subsidies.”
One of the issues with the domestic communications supply chain is that it contains technology from Chinese companies that can undercut U.S. competitors because they have been subsidized by the government.
The broadband and chip funding had bipartisan support, but Rodgers said labor restrictions had been added that “are only going to make it harder for us to lead in 5G and next-generation communications.”
"This bill was built on numerous bipartisan elements and on shared bipartisan agreement on the need to act," said President Biden. "If House Republicans are serious about lowering prices, making our economy stronger, and competing with China from a position of strength, then they should come to the table and support this legislation, which does just that."■
