House Passes COMPETES Act

House+Passes+COMPETES+Act

Mary C.

On February 4 2022, the house of representatives passed the COMPETES act which is a bill that aims to increase the U.S. competitiveness with china. This also is to address the country’s shortage of semiconductors by strengthening the country’s supply chain. The act was passed with a 222-210 vote. One republican representative of Illinois voted for the bill, while a democrat representative from Florida voted against it. It would be in the best interest of the United States of America to plan ahead on building and staffing electronic semiconductor manufacturing facilities. This would provide more jobs here in the United States and make us less reliant, if at all, on products from other countries. The vote happened on the same day as the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony. The Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the games in December, citing China’s human rights abused. The U.S. Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, called the legislative package the biggest investment in 50 years. This would boost America’s competitiveness, manufacturing capacity, and research and development. The COMPETES act includes $52 billion to support domestic manufacturing research of semiconductors. It also includes $45 billion to help strengthen the supply chain. It establishes a new directive for science and engineering solutions.