Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Moving Forward With Legislation To Relieve Supply Chains And Lower Costs

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the need to pass legislation that will help lower costs, relieve U.S. supply chains, and bring manufacturing back to the United States. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

In the first year under President Biden and the Senate Democratic Majority, America saw its strongest economic growth in decades, including increases in wages. Very, very important to the American people who have not seen enough of that over the last two decades.

And this week, Congress is taking a major step to build on that success by advancing legislation that will help lower costs, relieve U.S. supply chains, and bring manufacturing back to the United States.

Over the next two days, the House will debate and vote to pass a companion bill to the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which we approved last summer of course with strong bipartisan support.

I’m pleased the House is taking this important step. I’ve been pushing for months for progress on this legislation to strengthen supply chains and boost our technological competitiveness. Senators from both sides of the aisle want to see a competition and technology bill finally enacted.

After this week, we will hopefully be one step closer to achieving that goal. 

Americans are demanding bold solutions to help lower the cost of living, and businesses from coast to coast need help to relieve supply chains strained by the pandemic.

Legislation along the lines of USICA is just what the doctor ordered: it would provide the long-term help our country needs to lower costs and help businesses grow right here at home. Jobs here in America, not overseas.

One of the best examples of why this bill is needed is our nation’s dangerous chip shortage. This shortage has sent shockwaves across the economy, hamstringing the production of everything from cars, cell phones, refrigerators, medical devices, equipment used by our military. It has increased the cost of all of those items, and American families are paying for those costs. USICA would help relieve them and make sure these supply chain bottlenecks are relieved.

Our proposals would provide $52 billion help relieve those supply chain pressures, and bring production back to America. Instead of relying on other countries for our chips, let’s bring these jobs back home.

Typically, it's America that provides the research, the R&D in cutting-edge chips, but somehow this country has allowed them all to be made, or the vast majority of them, to be made overseas. Let's make them here with good manufacturing jobs, in addition to making sure we stay at the top of the game in terms of research. USICA does both, increases R&D, increases manufacturing jobs, all here in America.

I want to commend my colleagues for pushing this legislation forward. Of course we will have much more work to do to bridge our two proposals together, but the House’s vote this week sets us on the necessary course towards passing these policies into law.

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