Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY. Madam President, the CHIPS for America Act uses innovative funding tools to incentivize private companies to construct, modernize, or expand advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States. Properly structured, these incentives can encourage companies to build more facilities, faster, than without Federal support. In order to maximize this opportunity to bring chip manufacturing back to the United States, we can't allow redundant regulations to delay projects already underway.

The benefit of Federal funding has influenced the pace of investment in the U.S. At the same time, Federal funding doesn't control the outcome of projects that are currently being constructed. The role of the Department of Commerce under the CHIPS for America Act is to determine whether the project is worthy of investing taxpayer dollars.

The enactment of the CHIPS for America Act has greatly accelerated the pace of investment in the U.S., but a Federal grant will not create control over the outcome of project plans that are already being implemented. Notably, Arizona has four new leading-edge semiconductor fabs under construction. These were announced after the CHIPS for America Act was enacted and with the hope for potential Federal support, but companies aren't going to walk away from the multi-billion investment they have already made into these ongoing projects.

The change to the definition of ``major Federal action'' included in section 111 of H.R. 3746, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, will ensure that certain projects that would not otherwise be subject to the National Environmental Policy Act--NEPA--do not in fact trigger NEPA simply by receiving a Federal incentive investment through programs, like the CHIPS for America Act, where the provision of Federal funds does not control the outcome of the project. It is important to note that privately funded semiconductor manufacturing facilities undergo significant environmental reviews.

I am grateful that H.R. 3746 clarifies the scope of NEPA as it applies to this narrow subset of projects where Federal agencies do not control the outcome of a project.

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