Building Chips in America Act of 2023

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to S. 2228, the Building Chips in America Act.

I can't begin to tell you how frustrating it is that we are here considering a bill that hasn't had a single hearing or the slightest bit of real scrutiny, but here we are because Speaker Johnson thinks it is a priority.

Now we need to set the record straight for the sake of our communities' health and safety and basic common sense.

Let's talk about the history of semiconductor manufacturing for a second. In 1947, Silicon Valley was the birthplace of the modern semiconductor, the backbone of our tech industry, but that birth left behind some pretty deep scars.

Semiconductor manufacturing has never been clean. It has left behind pollution, toxic waste, and even poisoned workers. Silicon Valley still holds the record for the most Superfund sites in the country. We are talking miscarriages, cancer, and entire communities still dealing with the fallout today. It is serious.

As we work to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S., we must do it right this time. We cannot afford to repeat the devastating mistakes of the past, and we don't need to.

What does this bill want us to do?

It intends to throw all those lessons out the window and bring back the same toxic mess we saw in Silicon Valley, only bigger.

Are we really going to let this disaster play out again in places like Palm Bay, Florida; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Clay, New York; or St. Peters, Missouri?

These are the communities on the line, all home to semiconductor plants getting funding under the CHIPS and Science Act.

Polluting our communities and putting families in harm's way is a policy choice. We have cleaned up a lot of the mess in Silicon Valley, and we have proven that semiconductor manufacturing can be done without hurting workers or the environment.

Democrats worked to pass the CHIPS and Science Act to ensure that when we invest in America's future, we do it the right way.

We made sure these investments benefit all Americans, not just a select few, and we have Secretary Raimondo and the Biden-Harris administration making sure that taxpayer dollars being spent on this are stewarded with care.

So far, those investments are already showing results across the country, and it is just the beginning, but this bill wants to scrap all that progress.

It would wipe out environmental reviews and public input under the National Environmental Policy Act for semiconductor facilities.

That means no guarantees, no checks to make sure companies aren't using our money to harm the very people paying those taxes.

Let me tell you something else: The rush is fake. Republicans keep saying that environmental red tape is slowing down progress, but that is just not true.

Secretary Raimondo has testified that things are moving along just fine. We even made sure the agency got enough funding to handle the workload.

What we are looking at is a dangerous, pointless bill that doesn't solve any real problems. In fact, it creates new ones, ones that could put the health and safety of countless Americans at risk.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand with me in opposing this bill so we can do it the right way.

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Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on S. 2228, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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