Revised Chips Bill a Key Focus of Senate Confirmation Hearing
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and other lawmakers emphasized the importance of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's role in implementing pending “Chips+” U.S. semiconductor manufacturing incentives and a U.S. competitiveness package, during a Wednesday confirmation hearing for OSTP director nominee Arati Prabhakar. The substitute measure that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed Tuesday as an amendment to shell bill HR-4346, would supplant conference committee negotiations to marry elements of the dueling America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260).
The Chips+ amendment to HR-4346 includes $52 billion in Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act funding, the Commerce Department title, Portman’s research security provisions and a permitting provision to shorten the time to build a semiconductor fabrication plant from six to seven years to about 18 months, as expected (see 2207190069). The Senate voted 64-34 Tuesday on a motion to proceed to the measure.
The Tuesday vote shows the “path is clear for this Chips+ bill to reach final passage,” said Schumer, S-1260's lead sponsor, during a Wednesday floor speech. He welcomed the bill’s incentives on domestic microchip production, support for wireless communication supply chain and the science package.
A final vote on the HR-4346 amendment may be delayed until next week amid expectations that some Senate Republicans will want to “let the clock run” on debate rather than fast-track its passage, said Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, separately echoed that assessment. “We’ll file cloture today, and we’ll finish next week," he told reporters. “We’re all hoping to do it this week,” but there’s no guarantee given procedural hurdles, said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va.
S-1260 lead GOP sponsor Sen. Todd Young of Indiana told reporters he also expects a final vote on the HR-4346 amendment to not happen until next week. He said he's “singularly” focused on passage, deflecting questions on anything other than the HR-4346 amendment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., strongly backed the HR-4346 amendment Wednesday, opening the door to a floor vote on the measure next week. It’s “a major victory for American families and the American economy” and "a bold, bipartisan package that will lower costs for families here at home while reigniting American competitiveness on the world stage,” Pelosi said in a letter to lawmakers.
Prabhakar is “absolutely” the “right person to lead” OSTP and “the right person to work with us on implementing” Chips+ if it’s enacted, Cantwell said during the Senate Commerce hearing, in which most committee members voiced support for the nominee. Prabhakar had a role in providing “advice” to Commerce on the measure, Cantwell said. Warner formally introduced Prabhakar at the hearing and said the HR-4346 amendment “is going to be the most significant this nation has made literally in decades in terms of scientific research,” including on 5G.
Cantwell emphasized OSTP’s proposed role in the legislation to “establish an interagency working group to ensure” federal agencies coordinate on “key technology areas” where it’s “vital the U.S. continue to play a leadership role, including AI and cybersecurity. OSTP will also be tasked with developing “policy guidelines to ensure that fed research agencies improve outreach to minority serving institutions and improve their research and competitiveness,” Cantwell said.
Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., emphasized concerns about the “work culture” at OSTP after the February resignation of former office Director Eric Lander. The former OSTP lead resigned after an administration investigation found he violated the Biden administration’s workplace policy by bullying now-former office General Counsel Rachel Wallace and by disrespectful interactions with other staff (see 2202080083). Prabhakar’s “first job” after confirmation “will be ensuring that everyone at OSTP is treated with fairness and dignity and that workplace standards are met,” Wicker said.
“For many decades, American science and technology has been the most powerful engine for innovation in history,” Prabhakar said. OSTP “is at the heart of making sure that U.S. science and technology leadership endures in this very complex century that we’re living in.” The office’s continued “success will only happen if the great people in this great organization are able to work in a respectful and energized environment,” she said in reference to Lander’s past behavior. Press reports about Lander are “extremely concerning,” Prabhakar said.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., emphasized the role OSTP can play in “working with FCC, NTIA,” USDA and other agencies in improving broadband access, which “can bring us closer to realizing the agency’s mission.” By “investing in these high-speed networks, especially for our anchor institutions across the country, we could see greater participation in science from” communities that currently have no or limited internet access, Rosen said. OSTP “can, in fact, play a very constructive role” in “working with the different parts of government that are responsible for” improving broadband availability, Prabhakar said: “You can’t educate your kids, you can’t operate businesses without that broadband access.”