Building Chips in America Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2228, the Building Chips in America Act, the Senate version of bipartisan legislation I introduced last year to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States.

Last year, 120 Members of Congress signed a letter to House and Senate leadership urging its inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act.

Semiconductors go in everything from cell phones to innovative technologies that support American energy, powerful new AI tools, key weapons systems keeping Americans safe at home and abroad, and the list goes on. Despite this, the U.S. is home to only 10 percent of global semiconductor production.

Thankfully, the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act authorized nearly $40 billion in grant funding to reshore this critical manufacturing capability for which we have historically relied almost entirely on China.

This monumental investment in our domestic industry has spurred companies up and down the semiconductor supply chain to start bringing new manufacturing projects to our shores.

However, existing requirements by the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, threaten to delay semiconductor projects already underway and discourage future investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

A recent study from Georgetown University found the United States builds semiconductor fabs at a slower rate than the rest of the world.

To put it simply, we cannot allow Federal bureaucracy to hold up critical CHIPS Act projects while the Chinese Communist Party spends billions of dollars to become the world's leading producer of advanced semiconductors.

One of the greatest national security threats we face today is China's choke hold on our defense industrial base. We must be able to produce these components critical to our economy and national security here on American soil.

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting Silicon Valley with the House Armed Services Committee. We did a field hearing there, and we heard time and time again the importance of expediting the process for building semiconductor chips here domestically. This was an ask from that defense industry in the Silicon Valley.

The Building Chips in America Act would address this issue by clarifying how NEPA applies to projects that receive funding from the CHIPS Act.

This bipartisan bill would ensure these projects can move forward in a timely fashion while still obtaining all necessary permits and requiring projects to undergo necessary environmental reviews at the State and local level.

This approach streamlines our domestic semiconductor manufacturing without changing the environmental requirements and standards these projects need to meet.

Mr. Speaker, I represent coastal southeast Virginia, which is one of the heaviest military congressional districts in the country. We know how to be good stewards of the environment without sacrificing our economy or our national security.

If we want to ensure American economic and national security in today's dangerous world, we must reduce our dangerous reliance on Chinese supply chains and increase our domestic production of these critical technologies.

Our military men and women need secure, reliable electronics to carry out their missions safely. Relying on adversarial nations that directly seek to undermine our national security is not an option.

I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation and allow our country to restore chip manufacturing on American soil, which we can do while maintaining our basic environmental laws. We cannot afford to lose this race with China.

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