Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Addressing The Chips Shortage And Continuing To Approve President Biden’s Judicial Nominations
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on legislation to address the microchip shortage and on confirming President Biden’s nominations. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
First, let me thank all of my colleagues for their kind words during my time isolating due to COVID last week. As you can see I have made a full recovery after experiencing only mild symptoms, thank God.
COVID has done incalculable damage to scores of American families, but because I was fortunate enough to be vaccinated and double-boosted my case was not as bad as it could have been.
I urge all Americans who have not been vaccinated yet to talk to their doctors and get the vaccine if possible, and then get boosted when the time is right.
Speaking from personal experience it makes all the difference in the world.
The Senate gavels back in for the second week of an exceedingly busy work period—there is a lot we must do quickly to lower costs and improve the lives of American families.
On the nominations front, we will continue confirming as many of President Biden’s qualified judges and administrative appointees as possible.
Last week the Senate confirmed our 70th Biden-appointed federal judge, on a voice vote, and this week we intend to keep going by confirming Judge Michelle Childs of South Carolina to serve as a Circuit Judge on the very, very important DC Circuit.
Very soon, the Senate must also take swift action to pass the PACT Act for a second time, in order to correct a technical error that arose in the House. This legislation will be the most important health care reform bill that our veterans have seen in years, and there is absolutely no justification—none whatsoever—to delay swift passage of this bill.
And most importantly, the United States Senate must finish work on one of the most urgent priorities facing this chamber: addressing the chip shortage that is hurting American consumers, decimating our supply chains, and endangering our national security.
For the information of all, tomorrow we are going to hold the first procedural vote on legislation to address these critical issues, which both sides have been working on for months. As we speak, Democrats and Republicans are hashing out the final details on a bill so we can move forward with this week.
The chip shortage is not some abstract issue; it’s impacting the daily lives of millions of Americans.
Cars, refrigerators, and other household appliances require chips to function. But supply shortages mean prices have gone up and up and up for those goods, and Americans have to wait months to just to get a hold of them.
If you want help with inflation and get it down, this bill is an important bill to vote for, and we can take a giant step towards fixing this problem if we act now. Last week, the Secretaries of Commerce and Defense told us plainly that “Our economic and national security depends on our ability to invest in the technologies of today and tomorrow.”
So again, we need to move quickly.
Right now, some of the most important manufacturers in our country are weighing where to make their investments for semiconductor production. Many of them are holding off on final decisions to see what Congress does, but they are not going to wait around forever.
As one company told the Wall Street Journal: “Without these incentives [from Congress], the capital investment required for [expanding production] is not economically viable in the United States given other global alternatives.”
Other countries have copied our legislation and they are offering companies huge amounts of money to locate there and that, of course, will endanger our security, both economic and national.
The message is not subtle: if companies do not think it is profitable to make chips here in America, they are going to go somewhere else.
Countless of good paying American jobs are on the line. Billions of dollars in economic activity are on the line.
And as I said, our very national security is at stake.
For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to move forward tomorrow.
Of course, as we work on chips legislation this week, I urge my colleagues on the Conference Committee to continue finalizing the larger jobs and innovation package that both sides have been working on for months.
I want to see this chamber send a compromise bill to the President’s desk because this is so important for the future of our country and for our national security. I’ve worked for more than a year with Republicans to get the competition and innovation bill done, so I strongly support my colleagues as they keep working.
In the meantime, we must take steps to get chips done as soon as we can. This is about lowering costs, increasing manufacturing, and making sure we are competitive with our rivals abroad.
The 21st century will belong to nations willing to invest in the technologies and innovations of tomorrow. I want America to get there first, but to do that, the Senate must act this week.
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