DC Officials Say Partisanship Continues To Slow Action

In what is shaping up to be a very partisan election year, one of the clearer remaining opportunities for Congress to demonstrate bipartisanship — and one of the Biden administration‘s highest priorities -– is passage of legislation to boost domestic microchip production and strengthen the supply chain.

The U.S. House and Senate have each passed bills aimed at bolstering semiconductor manufacturing — the America COMPETES Act and the Bipartisan Innovation Act, respectively. It’s now, officials say, a matter of having conferees work out the differences and moving the end product to the president’s desk.

"Congress needs to get this bill to my desk as quickly as possible," said President Biden during a visit to North Carolina last week. In an interview Wednesday, Biden's Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves reinforced those sentiments.

"It’s absolutely crucial for us, for our national security and for our economic security," said Graves via Zoom, "to be investing in getting more of these chips built in the U.S."

Graves said the pandemic exposed America's weakness in this part of the supply chain. Just 12 percent of microchips, he said, are currently manufactured in the United States and none of the most advanced chips.

"That is a huge problem for us," Graves continued. "It means that we don’t control our destiny, so to speak, we don’t have a resilient supply chain."

And that's meant shortages and higher prices for all that microchips power -- from cell phones to cars, appliances to gaming consoles.

"We know Americans today are facing huge challenges as it relates to increased prices that are a direct result of the lack of microchips," Graves said, "so if we can get this legislation passed and to the president's desk so he can sign it, we'll be able to start making the types of investments that will be a game-changer for the United States and increase significantly our productive capacity for chips."

Businesses like Intel have already stepped up and made commitments, Graves said, to increasing production, but he notes that their competitors in China and elsewhere are getting government support, which makes it critical similar support is provided here.

"We have to be able to respond and provide the types of funding that would encourage more production here in the United States and allow us to not be so reliant on other places around the globe," said Graves.

House and Senate leaders assigned conferees last week and Graves expects they'll be getting to work soon on reconciling the two bills. None of Oklahoma's members voted for either the Senate bill or the House bill.