Senate moves forward on bill to boost semiconductor industry in effort to thwart China's rise

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Business Insider

A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday advanced legislation to provide billions in federal support for the semiconductor industry and to expand some federal research grants.

The Senate voted 64-32 to move the legislation, known in Washington, DC, as CHIPS plus, to final passage. The bipartisan vote broke a filibuster, which means that the bill needed 60 votes to advance. Final Senate passage could come soon as today or Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was among the Republicans who voted in favor of advancing the bill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made it clear that her chamber will move to send the bill to President Joe Biden's desk as soon as possible. Passing the legislation into law would mark another bipartisan victory in the Senate that has recently passed gun law reforms and appears poised to change the centuries-old law governing how Congress formally certifies the winner of a presidential election.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-moves-forward-on-bill-to-boost-semiconductor-industry-in-effort-to-thwart-china-s-rise/ar-AAZZAr8

[hibbing]

1. Socialize the costs, privatize the profits? n/t

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Like we do in health care, military research and a bunch

of other stuff.

[paleotn]

20. Have to. Exactly where capitalism breaks down.

Unless there's a quick buck to be made, forget it. American capitalism has an attention span of weeks to months, not years or decades. If left to their devices, everything would gravitate to the low cost producer, safety and national security be damned.

[mathematic]

8. Pretty sure the argument is that there is a social benefit to avoiding Chinese trade

The logic behind the bill is that there is a strategic social importance to ensure the semiconductor industry is not vulnerable to Chinese interference. For this benefit the government is allocating public funds.

Additionally, and this is important to many of the bill's supporters, it will create more chip manufacturing jobs in the US, which will, of course, primarily be a private benefit to the job holder. We're running at historically low unemployment in the US so I don't really think we can create more jobs with a stroke of a pen but, hey, maybe it means we'll start letting more people immigrate to the US.

[yaesu]

2. CBS: Senator Bernie Sanders has called the bill a blank check for the microchip industry

I do remember seeing a headline by Bernie stating he would not vote for it but unsure if there will be amendments to make it more expectable.

[oldsoftie]

3. Do whatever it takes to remove China's boot from our neck. On or off, Bernie.

We & the EU have set ourselves up to be crushed by China & in the EUs case, Russia.
I'd fully support a law preventing ANY critical items from being sourced from China. Preferably move it all HERE, but short of that GET OUT OF CHINA.

[yaesu]

5. China has heavily subsidized its chip industry for decades so I'm not against US boosting the

industry just as long as checks & balances are in place like no stock buybacks with the money. I believe there is a prohibition on using the money for overseas investment.

[oldsoftie]

12. I agree with BOTH those points. This should be strictly to get OUT of China.

[Evolve Dammit]

16. It's the fault of all the corps that left the U.S. for cheap labor. "The giant sucking sound."

[oldsoftie]

18. Just like all the other corps. But we have to do something NOW regardless.

ALL critical mfg should be removed from China. By law or incentive or whatever. This is a national security issue. Thats ALL that matters.

[Evolve Dammit]

22. Not disagreeing, however we become "nationalists" and world trade suffers. The problem is that

this horse left the barn a looong time ago. Inevitable at some point when most industry gets exported. But we have to think of what we do now, and it doesn't present many options.

[oldsoftie]

24. Well, it doesnt ALL have to come back HERE, just get out of China.

Outside of critical & national security items, many other things can still be made in other countries. Just pick ones that aren't trying to take over the world. Toys & furniture can be made in Vietnam. Singapore. etc. China steals intellectual property as a matter of regular business. And they're using our money against us. The EU is guilty as well. We the people are also guilty; insisting on buying the cheapest shit we can when we go to the store. People need to look at labels & write emails. I started doing it. But it takes MILLIONS to make them take notice. Maybe start running ads "Our products are NOT made in China"

[Evolve Dammit]

29. If you have the inclination, check out "The Corporation" a documentary that won 36 int'l awards.

Very good film.
PS I'm old enough to remember Bob Hope and the "Buy America" ads. And Ross Perot describing the mass exodus of companies from the U.S. Romney's Bain Holding dismantling U.S. corporations. Grew up with Depression-era parents who imparted the value of almost anything useful. How time flies and how things have changed.

[comradebillyboy]

15. Sorry Bernie, those Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean chip makers

are just as greedy and profit driven as their American counterparts. And even more heavily subsidized by their own governments. This sort of counterproductive dissent is just one reason why Sanders has little influence in the Senate.

[betsuni]

23. +1

[Demsrule86]

40. +1000

[Demsrule86]

41. Not there won't be any amendment as that would be a poison pill.

[barbaraann]

6. Will the chipmakers put all of their new plants in Red states? n/t

[zeusdogmom]

10. A lot of Dems live in those red states who will also benefit from the jobs

[Demsrule86]

38. My family will benefit...my son has been on layoff of and on and he works in a plant that

makes the big trucks in Indiana...it is worse for the other plants.

[paleotn]

21. They'll need a trained workforce...

Good luck finding that in red states.

[Demsrule86]

37. We will have the people... we already have folks working on electric cars in the midwest.

[Demsrule86]

39. Maybe if those in the rustbelt see Democrats increasing jobs the states will be back turn

blue...there is a big union push going on too...telling folks to retrain and the jobs are not coming back is not a winning message. President Obama won Ohio twice because he save the autos.

[TomDaisy]

7. remind me again who pulled us out of the Trans Pacific Partnership

[Demsrule86]

36. That was a bad deal and allowed countries who manufacture using slavery to join...I am so

happy that it went down in defeat...God knows how many American jobs were saved.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. A payout to Intel????

Congress should have done this long ago like in 1987 when the industry was making about $33 billion. So this is Not a burgeoning new technology. Just a business safe and lucrative technology.

But now when it's making $500 billion they want to step in? Why? Seems like just another handout to the filthy rich because it provides NOTHING for the average American.

The top 3 manufacturers aren't even Chinese. The top 3 are TSMC of Taiwan, Samsung of South Korea, and Intel of the United States.

AND the US is the 3rd largest manufacturer which is quite competitive.

Seems to me this is just a handout to get campaign contributions from Intel. They are buying Intel votes and campaign funds. Moscow Mitch is really happy about this give away.....hmmm

Our tax dollars would be better spent on solar technology.

[oldsoftie]

13. And who controls most of the materials for those solar panels?

CHINA.

[Farmer-Rick]

25. Actually the biggest Solar Panel manufacturer

Is LG out of South Korea. They make about $15 billion more in revenue then all the Chinese manufacturers combined. The US is behind in this area. The 2 major manufacturers are making only about $8 billion combined.

This is a burgeoning business in the US and the US should be supporting it.

South Korea maintains stockpiles of rare earth minerals and recycled their electronics to maintain stockpiles and supply chains.

But the legislation doesn't address stockpiles and recycling.

[oldsoftie]

26. They may be the biggest manufacturer but China controls the rare earth minerals.

And they are also the biggest producer. And even when they don't mine it, they control it. They have agreements in S. America, Congo(the biggest supplier of nickel) and Indonesia; where they're building a huge cobalt & nickel smelting operation. China accounts for over 80% of SK's rare earth magnet imports. SK has some reserves of rare earth materials but they don't have the capability to GET them yet.
Do we have any large reserves of rare earth minerals? Not that I'm aware of. And if we DID find some large reserves they have to be mined. And then here comes the protests against mining.

[Farmer-Rick]

27. I suppose that's true about the rare earth minerals

But how is giving $52 billion to Intel going to resolve that problem?

So, it seems the US has had a stockpile that they have been selling off. And now they want to stockpile again. But this bill doesn't do that. And of course it doesn't address any recycling.

"WASHINGTON — Congress has repeatedly authorized multimillion-dollar sell-offs of the U.S. strategic minerals stockpile over the past several decades, but Washington’s increased anxiety over Chinese domination of resources critical to the defense industrial base has prompted lawmakers to reverse course and shore up the reserve."

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/05/23/congress-and-pentagon-seek-to-shore-up-strategic-mineral-stockpile-dominated-by-china/

[oldsoftie]

28. It'll bring mfg back here but we'll still have to deal with material supply.

But something is better than nothing. We need to look for those materials HERE the way we used to look for oil. Are they recyclable? I don't know that either. And maybe we can put some pressure on these countries who have the resources that are aligning themselves with China to get them to rethink that

And hopefully there are some really great inventors trying to come up with a way to make things out of something ELSE

[Demsrule86]

34. That is a good point.

[Farmer-Rick]

42. Intel does about 75% of its manufacturing in the US

I guess bringing back 25% is good?

But just because the US gives out subsidies to rich corporations doesn't mean they attach any strings to that money. How many times have you heard that a corporation is going to build new factories and bring back jobs and then find out they brought only 200 jobs and cancel all the factory plans?

It's just another giveaway to the filthy rich to buy corporate votes and donations.

Yeah you can recycle chips and tech equipment. South Korea does it.

[oldsoftie]

44. According to others, there are a lot of restrictions on this money.

I guess we'll have to wait and see just what they are.

[Farmer-Rick]

45. That would be really good

For a change.

[Demsrule86]

35. It creates jobs...in fact save two ford plants in Ohio and makes it possible for electric cars to be

made here instead of overseas...also thousands of auto workers are on layoff due to a chip shortage.

[The Jungle 1]

11. What is a riot...

The right keeps telling us how great capitalism is and how horrible socialism.
We are not a capitalist society. That is a lie. The right just does not want any socialism that helps Americans.
We ignore hungry children and the homeless.

[Demsrule86]

33. This bill means jobs which will feed many of our kids.

[comradebillyboy]

14. Good, I'm 100% on board with this legislation.

Biden has done a remarkable job of getting enough republican support to pass some pretty important legislation. Sanders is completely wrong to oppose something so clearly in the national interest.

[Demsrule86]

32. Yes he is...I think he has a grudge against autos. He also voted to allow the auto bankruptcy...

in December of 2008. Bush save the autos until Obama arrived with an amazing package that saved an entire industry.

[Evolve Dammit]

17. China makes most of our drugs too (antibiotics in particular). Roosting time.

[oldsoftie]

19. Seems like THAT could be an EO. Its a terrible security & health issue

Maybe not an EO, but they need to hit that next

[Demsrule86]

31. I read where California will start making pharmaceuticals.

[Evolve Dammit]

43. We (LOL); substitute THE CORPORATIONS need to step up and bring home vital interests. Ya right.

[Demsrule86]

30. Excellent news...this will creat good paying jobs here at home in the rustbelt and other areas.

Two Ford plants will now remain open...and maybe we will actually see a phone or a computer made here and not by slave labor in China. This will mean good-paying middle-class jobs in both tech, autos, and auto parts as well as other industries. It is also a national security issue.

[EndlessWire]

46. I think it's important

to move our critical production back to the US. We should not be dependent on hostile nations for the things that we need to advance. I don't understand all of the ins and outs, but I'm keen on national security, the creation of jobs, and just being well adjusted within our own sphere. Let's trade with those that are friendly and don't particularly want to own the world.

I see this as a nod to independence for chips that we need for various projects. If we make them ourselves, we won't have to deal with whatever China is doing.

In a friendly world, nations could trade with others and fit together like puzzle pieces. But since China and Russia are seeking to dominate the world, we just need to take care of ourselves. Maybe it will hurt for awhile, but we'll get there. Any holes that are in the legislation have to be figured out to prevent the slackers from unduly profiting.

And, I'm not one against companies making profits, and I'm not against other people having money they earned, just as long as they aren't squeezing the rest of us out of the necessities of American life, like we're serfs or something.

[RussBLib]

47. MORE good news!

Things are suddenly looking up all over. I would expect Biden's numbers to rise soon, not that I give a shit about that.

This would be a HUGE win for Biden, the Dems, and the erican people. (And the chip firms)