Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. America Competes Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong and enthusiastic support of moving forward to conference the America COMPETES Act of 2022 with the Senate.

For those watching back at home, a conference committee is a joint committee between the House and Senate, a temporary ad hoc configuration to negotiate elements of a bill; and it is, frankly, the best of legislative action; Congress working for the American people, debating through democracy and deliberation to produce an end result.

As a Member of Congress, I often ask myself, I often pose the question, what will drive our economy for the next 10 years, 20 years, 30 years? What is our moonshot of the next 50 years? What can I do today to ensure that my neighbors in southeast Michigan are on a strong path to a successful future? What are the technologies and research investments that we can make today to ensure the success of the Nation for all of us?

The legislation that we are moving to conference today, the America COMPETES Act, tackles those big questions and secures our competitive edge for generations to come. This bill is an investment in our people. It reflects our ability to reach higher, to think deeper, and to invent solutions to not only today's problems but solutions for tomorrow's opportunities.

Americans are known for their hustle, for their ingenuity. My job, our job in Congress is to connect people to the tools to unlock a good life, to connected opportunity for everyone. And, frankly, the tools of the future are in this bill.

The COMPETES Act turbocharges America's scientific research and technological leadership while strengthening America's economic and national security at home and abroad. Even more, this bold investment in innovation ensures our top scientific minds have the tools to rise to the challenge of our climate crisis, from clean energy technologies to emissions measurement.

Not only does this bill look to the future, but it also mends the acute stressors that we are all feeling today due to our years of Federal underinvestment in science and innovation. A conference committee to discuss this, my friends, the America COMPETES Act tackles our supply chain vulnerabilities to make more goods in America and surges production of American-made semiconductors, chips, that which we invented here in this Nation, and in the 1990s were producing 40 percent of a crucial component in everything from cars to computers to medical devices. And the American people are ready; ready for investments that will spur innovative solutions to create jobs across the Nation, support American manufacturing, and build a strong and diverse STEM workforce ready to address the challenges we face as a Nation.

During President Biden's State of the Union Address, he called on Congress to get our innovation package to him for his signature. So we should be proud--I certainly am--to be here as we move to take the next step in this process. There is, frankly, no time to waste in getting the COMPETES Act to the President's desk.

As the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology, I am so proud of the range of bipartisan Science, Space, and Technology Committee provisions that have long been championed that are included in this package.

I am especially proud of the NIST for the Future Act, my legislation. This critical investment in NIST will ensure the agency and its employees have the resources they require to be a key part of bolstering our American technology enterprise: a resilient supply chain, small and midsize manufacturers being brought to the table to deliver for America, and the American workforce that compels them.

Since Michigan's 11th District sent me to Congress, I have been laser-focused on bringing innovation economy solutions not only to folks in southeastern Michigan but also, obviously, all across the United States.

We built a transformative piece of legislation from the ground up. The ranking member is right--bipartisan years of work on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee to do such legislation. We heard from the science community. We heard from industry. We heard from academia. We heard from other stakeholders. They all told us the same thing: Don't leave Americans behind. Don't leave anyone behind based on geography or demographics. Bring the scientific research enterprise to all.

We are here, and we are here with a lot of hardworking people from the Science, Space, and Technology Committee staff. We have not had a conference committee since 2018, albeit for NDAA. Many people have not been able to be privy to such an action, and they deserve our gratitude. These are the folks writing the text late into the night based on our corrections, the Science, Space, and Technology Committee staff who work so hard and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee members.

The United States has long been a beacon of excellence in science and innovation, and it is long overdue that we restore Federal support for these vital initiatives, that we invest now and lead the world.

The House's and Senate's approaches may certainly have some differences, but we seek the same goal: to deliver for this Nation.

I am very confident that we will have a very productive conference process and hope to get the America COMPETES Act to President Biden's desk for signature very soon.

The U.S. has endless potential to compete globally in science and innovation. The America COMPETES Act provides the critical resources and tools we need to achieve that.

I look forward to working with my colleagues throughout conference to invest in America's most valuable resource, the talent of our people.

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, the ranking member, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), has given us a motion to instruct, a negotiation that we will pursue in the conference to come.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oregon for reminding us about the importance of legacy chips and the MTB. I also thank the previous gentlewoman from California for reminding us about Manufacturing USA, which was probably started under the Obama administration.

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, we are lucky to have such a chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs here in the Congress.
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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, as the gentleman from Arkansas reminds us, I am proud that Michigan is the destination where the combustion engine was invented and innovated, and very proud to be the destination where our workers are manifesting and innovating electric vehicles.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer).

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I join the ranking member in being optimistic because we are in a conference committee negotiating the America COMPETES Act, we will get this CHIPS legislation done. Proudly, I have led 29 Democrats and 29 Republicans in endorsing the CHIPS Act legislation, so it will be bipartisan. It will get done for the American people, and we will solve some of our supply chain woes.

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko).

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Michigan for her leadership, along with my colleague from Texas, Congresswoman Johnson, who chairs the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and the many, many committees that have worked on the COMPETES Act.

As an alum of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and a member of the Homeland Security Committee, I could not be more ecstatic for America, for Houstonians, for Texans. To really take the words of President Biden that were said to us in his comment on the COMPETES Act: It is transformational investment in our industrial base as well as research and development. It will help drive not only the American economy, but the global economy. It will, in fact, bring more manufacturing jobs back, and, yes, we will use the terminology, it will reimagine not only the Midwest, but it will reimagine the Southwest, the East, the West, the North, and the South. It will reimagine opportunities for young people.

And the chips we have been waiting for, as indicated by the gentlewoman from Michigan, I know we will have the opportunity to really join in in a bipartisan way in conference for something that nobody disagrees with. In addition, this ugly thing called the supply chain that for a moment clogged the system, raised the prices, which still have not been stabilized, but we will have the opportunity to address that question as well by unclogging the seaways, by investing with the infrastructure bill in ports, and getting products where they need to go.

Let me also suggest that we will be able to build other companies, smaller companies. Small businesses will improve or be able to result in more investment. At the same time, this bipartisan legislation will create opportunities for the next generation and the next generation.

I hope as well that minority businesses, minority scientists, historically Black colleges will have the opportunity to be part of the COMPETES Act, which I know that they will. This idea that we have a distance between us as Republicans and Democrats has to be closed.

This is an American bill. This is a bill to say to China: We are not going to take, sitting down, the unfair competition that you exert on many of the inventions that actually are made right here in the United States. Take the age-old internet and what China has done in many instances.

Madam Speaker, I rise to support the COMPETES Act and it going to conference, and at the same time recognize that any issue dealing with China and the chips dealing with semiconductors will be addressed in conference, and, as well, we will get the job done. It is transformational and we can do no less than to invest in the great mountain of research and development in this Nation.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support the COMPETES Act ultimately, and to work with conference as we go forward on this legislation.
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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close.

We have heard today, Madam Speaker, a commitment to act, a commitment to move into a conference, a commitment to get the America COMPETES Act done for the United States, CHIPS Act funding, investment in scientific research, and more. This is an exciting moment in this Chamber.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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