Sen. Kelly Leads 142 Colleagues Calling on Congressional Leaders to Act on His Plan to Tackle Supply Chain Shortages

Existing legislation includes Kelly’s $52 billion deal passed by both chambers to boost domestic microchip manufacturing 

In a letter to congressional leaders of both parties, today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Mark Warner (D-VA) and U.S. Reps. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) led 142 of their colleagues in urging leaders in the House and Senate to quickly send legislation to President Biden’s desk that includes his $52 billion agreement to fund the Creating Helpful Incentives for the Production of Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act. 

Over the last few months, Kelly successfully worked with House leaders to ensure his $52 billion plan and additional provisions to address supply chain issues were maintained in legislation passed by the House earlier this year. The Kelly-negotiated agreement was also included in legislation passed by the Senate last June and would boost domestic manufacturing of microchip technology, lower costs, and strengthen America’s global competitiveness. 

“[…] we write today to urge you to preserve the full $52 billion included in USICA during the conference process to implement the CHIPS Act. Securing this funding as soon as possible will help address severe shortages in the semiconductor supply chain and reestablish American leadership in global semiconductor manufacturing,” said the lawmakers.

“Our work on this plan to bring back microchip manufacturing jobs to the United States and tackle supply chain issues started over a year ago. Now that the House and Senate have passed our $52 billion plan to boost domestic production of this technology that is critical to our economy and national defense, I am urging leadership in both chambers to get to work and quickly send our legislation to President Biden’s desk so we can alleviate the strain on our supply chains, create high-paying Arizona jobs, and bring down these rising costs,” said Senator Kelly.

Arizona is home to one of the largest microchip industries in the country, with nearly 30,000 jobs, and is poised to grow with investment plans from Intel and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Kelly’s $52 billion plan includes investments that will be critical to boosting Arizona’s position as a leader in microchip manufacturing. Kelly is an original cosponsor of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and one of the lead-negotiators on provisions that ensure the U.S. can outcompete foreign competitors, including China, who are investing heavily to dominate the microchip industry. 

Read the text of the letter led by Kelly and U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Mark Warner (D-VA) and U.S. Reps. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) HERE.