Fitzgerald Issues Statement on CHIPS Bill Vote

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) issued the following statement after voting “NO” on the CHIPS legislation:

“As a conferee selected by Leader McCarthy to lead in negotiations of China-related legislation, I looked forward to working on comprehensive legislation that better equips the United States to compete against China. It’s critical that part of this package would have policies that bolster our domestic supply chains and in particular, domestic production of semiconductors. However, the legislation was packed with unrelated measures driving its cost to a bloated $280 billion with no offsets, and lacked guardrails which would prevent China from benefitting from it,”  said Rep. Fitzgerald."Despite my support of domestic manufacturing in critical technologies like semiconductors, this legislation potentially creates as many problems as it hopes to fix. And with Sen. Manchin signaling support for much of the Build Back Better framework, which would worsen inflation, I could not vote in favor of it."

BACKGROUND
The CHIPS legislation is a $280 billion package benefitting domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing in the United States with the hopes of increasing competitiveness with China. The bill includes roughly $78 billion, including $52.2 billion in subsidized grants, loan guarantees, and research and development dollars, along with a $24 billion investment tax credit.

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Congressman Scott Fitzgerald was sworn in to the 117th Congress on January 3, 2021 and is proud to represent Wisconsin’s Fifth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.