It’s hard enough to get a bill passed in one chamber of Congress but somehow more complicated when two similar, but not identical, bills pass in the House and Senate, necessitating the reconciliation process.
That’s what’s happening now with two bills promising a host of benefits to the public. The House’s America COMPETES Act and the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, known together as the Bipartisan Innovation Act, hope to fix supply chain problems by strengthening the domestic semiconductor chip industry and tackling a myriad of other issues. But the two versions won’t be wed without blood, according to Senate Republicans.
On the one hand, Republicans tend to support the $52 billion investment in the chip industry. It originated in the GOP, with Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Mike McCaul introducing the chip provision as its own bill in their respective chambers. Shortages of these chips underlie more significant supply problems such as delays in cars and computers, and almost complete reliance on importing the “brains” of our technology from Taiwan and Japan potentially poses a national security concern due to meddling from China.
On the other hand, House Democrats saw the Republican leadership’s willingness to pass the chip portions of the bill and took the opportunity to saddle the more comprehensive legislation with climate change, labor, and immigration provisions. With 107 conference members poised to reconcile the two bills when Congress returns from its Easter recess, the board is set for a test of mettle between House Democrats and Senate Republicans.
Do Senate Republicans see the semiconductor chip funding as so necessary that they’d be willing to pass a text that includes House Democrats’ provisions that pander to their base? Conversely, are House Democrats so eager to enact one of President Joe Biden’s last agenda items before the majority possibly flips that they’d be willing to part with their provisions?
The talk from the GOP indicates its senior members are ready with knives in hand to trim the fat from the House version of the bill.
“Without major concessions and changes from House Democrats, this legislation has no chance of becoming law,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Some of the blatantly partisan objectives of the House bill, which was passed along party lines, include $8 billion for developing countries to combat climate change and an easier path for foreign owners of U.S. businesses to obtain visas. Cornyn called them “handouts to their political base.”
“Unfortunately, the House decided to undertake this effort in a purely partisan fashion, which leaves us with very little common ground to work with,” he said earlier this month. “I’m frustrated, and I know that I’m not the only one.”
House Republicans have echoed this frustration. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding the “good ideas hostage by using this 3,000-page bill as a vehicle for her party’s far-left agenda.”
For their part, Democrats are adamant that their additions are just as important as the semiconductor chip provisions that brought lawmakers aboard in the first place.
“With this legislation, we are making investments to build clean energy solutions, address the climate crisis, reinforce our national security, enhance our semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, and so much more,” said the House bill’s sponsor, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat. “In short, we are acting to address the critical needs identified by the scientific community, industry, academia, and other stakeholders as what they need most to succeed in the 21st century.”
That isn’t to say the Senate version is a bastion of Republican ideals. Much of the two bills is already identical, including some seemingly random liberal add-ons. These include a resolution condemning anti-Asian racism that stipulates that the U.S. government “should encourage other foreign governments to use the official and scientific names for the COVID-19 pandemic” and guidance for developing studies on the prevalence of sexual harassment in STEM fields.
Aside from the partisan fights, there’s detailed work to be done. The House version spends $45 billion specifically for supply chain fortification, and the two bills differ on how increased funding for the National Science Foundation should be spent. The Senate version would spend $29 billion over five years to shore up American technology, while the House would spend over $13 billion in the same time frame on the environment and inequality. Both versions call for domestic technology production through regional hubs but differ in the numbers they envision.
The reconciliation process will likely take months, though some technology industry leaders hope for a faster turnaround. The White House would also like an economic victory to tout amid the president’s plummeting approval ratings. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer seems optimistic there will be a deal soon, despite the glowering of his colleagues.
“As the House and Senate begin the conferencing process, Senate conferees will push for swift, good-faith negotiations on behalf of the American people and look forward to passing the final bill very soon,” he said.
