Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Moving Forward With Chips Legislation
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor today ahead of a Senate procedural vote to advance chips. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks.
In a few moments, the Senate will take the first procedural vote on a chips bill that will fight inflation, boost American manufacturing, ease our supply chains, and protect American security interests.
This is one of the important votes that we will take this session, because advancing this bill is crucial for lowering costs, solving our nation’s chip shortage and making sure America remains competitive in the 21st century.
America will fall behind in so many areas if we don’t pass this bill, and we could very well lose our ranking as the number one economy and innovator in the world if we can’t pass this.
Lower costs, more jobs, and a stronger economy: that’s the recipe behind this bill and it spells good news for the American people today and for decades to come.
I want to thank both my Democratic and Republican colleagues for working together for more than a year on these policies. I want to thank Senator Cantwell, our very able, dedicated, and hardworking Committee Chair, as well as Senators Wicker, Cornyn, Warner, Kelly, Sinema, as well as our Conference Members, and as well as the many individual Senators on both sides who contributed to this legislation.
This has been bipartisan work in the Senate at its best, something that we have done on several pieces of legislation this year and I hope we can do more, and do it more often.
Now, on the procedure: members should know this vote will be a test vote, and a favorable outcome will allow the science portion of USICA to be included in this bill.
Let me explain: this vote will be a motion to proceed on a House message, which we will use as a vehicle to pass our chips legislation. It only requires 50 votes to proceed, but if we can get enough votes to comfortably withstand a filibuster, I will amend this CHIPS, ITC, and ORAN bill to include the science provisions that so many of my colleagues, led by Senators Cantwell and Wicker, have worked on so hard to secure.
I want everyone to understand: a yes vote on this motion to proceed indicates members will vote yes on cloture on a package that includes CHIPS, ITC, ORAN, and the science provisions.
As you all know, I am a strong supporter of the science provisions—I was the original author, along with Senator Young, of many of these policies under the Endless Frontier Act. I urge my colleagues to vote YES on this vote and I thank Senator Young for his two-year partnership on this legislation.
However, if this vote doesn’t produce enough votes to comfortably withstand a filibuster, we will move forward with the CHIPS, ORAN and ITC provisions here on the floor.
It is my preference for the Senate to include the science provisions in his bill, because they are so important for the future of our country, and I am very optimistic that we will see a strong bipartisan vote later today.
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