Kelly, Colleagues Applaud House Passage of Bipartisan Bill to Accelerate U.S. Microchip Manufacturing Projects
Bipartisan legislation to expedite microchip plant construction now heads to President’s desk
Today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and his Senate colleagues applauded the House of Representatives passage of his bipartisan Building Chips in America Act, which will streamline federal permitting processes for microchip manufacturing projects while maintaining bedrock protections for clean air and clean water. The bill, which had previously passed the Senate twice—first as part of the Senate NDAA and again as a standalone legislation—now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
This legislation is supported by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Todd Young (R-IN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
“This is a major step forward for our economy and national security,” said Kelly. “By preventing unnecessary delays in the construction of microchip manufacturing facilities, this bill will help maximize our efforts to bring this industry back to America, creating thousands of good-paying jobs and strengthening our supply chains. I’m grateful to my colleagues in both chambers for their bipartisan work to get this done, and I look forward to seeing it signed into law.”
“My number one priority in the Senate is delivering jobs for Texans. When soon signed into law, the Kelly-Cruz legislation will mean tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and hundreds of billions in new investments for the Lone Star State. I’m proud to have led this effort with Senator Mark Kelly to streamline environmental permitting for semiconductor factories, a crucial step in onshoring jobs and making our country less dependent on China for semiconductors critical to national defense. It took months of hard work to move this bill across the finish line and I’m grateful to Sen. Kelly and others who were part of our broad, bipartisan coalition to help make the United States safer and more prosperous,” said Cruz.
“The CHIPS and Science Act included manufacturing incentives vital to increasing domestic chip production here in the U.S. and protecting our national security interests. As implementation continues, unnecessary regulatory burdens are threatening to slow down these critical investments in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and pause construction that has already begun,” said Young. “Our bill will cut red tape and solidify our nation’s ability to successfully onshore chip production as quickly as possible. I’m pleased to see this important piece of legislation pass Congress and urge the President to sign it into law.”
“This legislation will help prevent delays to the semiconductor manufacturing projects the CHIPS Act made possible and will encourage future investments in American manufacturing. This is critical to Intel’s project in Licking County, Ohio, and to ensure that we can outcompete China – I’m glad the House finally passed it and encourage the President to sign it into law immediately,” said Brown.
“Our nation’s economic and national security requires that we bring back—as quickly as possible—American production of strategic commodities like semiconductors, which requires eliminating the unnecessary red tape that stands in the way,” said Hagerty. “I am pleased that this commonsense legislation to reform the permitting process and speed up these crucial American projects is headed to the President’s desk.”
