Mobile Courant

Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) published an op-ed in The American Conservative following his introduction of the CHIPS Improvement Act. This legislation aims to address perceived shortcomings in the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS) and reduce American reliance on China for semiconductor manufacturing.

The CHIPS Act, signed into law in 2022, was intended to relocate the semiconductor manufacturing industry from China to the United States. However, Sen. Tuberville argues that the final version of the act includes extensive regulatory requirements, such as DEI mandates and environmental justice initiatives, which have caused significant delays in its implementation and access to related funding opportunities.

Senator Tuberville's bill proposes two primary corrections: removing provisions from the CHIPS Act that do not directly support domestic manufacturing and eliminating criteria deemed "woke" used to determine a company's eligibility for the program.

In his op-ed, Sen. Tuberville stated: “Technology has drastically changed every aspect of how companies do business. For far too long, American manufacturing has been stuck in the past while our competitors invested in the future. As a result, countries like China have monopolized large parts of the chip and semiconductor industries—resulting in many American companies importing goods and technologies we could be making right here at home."

He further explained: "Two years ago, Congress passed the Chips and Science Act (CHIPS), a bill meant to move the semiconductor manufacturing industry from abroad to America. When first introduced, the bill was intended to allow American companies to apply for funding to support construction of commercial fabrication facilities (fabs), necessary materials, and manufacturing equipment facilities. Unfortunately, as the legislation made its way through Congress, it veered significantly off-track and included poison pills designed to implement Joe Biden’s woke environmental and DEI agenda."

"For example," he continued, "the final bill that was signed into law included billions in taxpayer dollars to support research and development at the National Science Foundation. It also included provision after provision of mandates related to DEI hiring plans, investment in ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘underserved’ populations, and environmental justice efforts in its pursuit of a new semiconductor supply chain."

According to Sen. Tuberville: "All of this red tape has predictably caused significant delays in the implementation of the CHIPS program. In fact, these policies, and subsequent funding eligibility requirements have slowed implementation of the bill to a near halt. In the last six months three of the major chip makers in the world have delayed construction of new fabs in the U.S. due to onerous requirements created by the bill and unnecessary delay of funding. Several companies are saying 2028 is the earliest they will be able to break ground under current legislation."

Senator Tuberville also criticized recent actions by stating: "While the CHIPS Act was meant to shore up domestic manufacturing, the Biden administration recently announced they would use some of the funding to produce semiconductors in Kenya. Per language of this bill Secretary of State is authorized transfer money from CHIPS Act foreign aid accounts within Department State USAID other agencies used vague semiconductor supply-chain purposes determined secretary Essentially CHIPS Act established yet another foreign-aid slush fund used State Department whatever want opposite 'America first' approach.”

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in The United States Senate and is a member of Senate Armed Services Agriculture Veterans Affairs HELP Committees.

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