WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) issued the following statement upon passage of the bipartisan COMPETES Act, a comprehensive package that addresses supply chain issues, promotes American manufacturing (including the production of semiconductors), and invests in American STEM innovation:

“Few things are more important to members of my community right now than shoring up our supply chains and getting inflation under control,” said Houlahan. “The truth is, decades of declining American manufacturing have left our economy vulnerable to global disruptions like this pandemic. I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make this bill stronger, and I was glad to see my specific proposals included. It’s past time that the Congress take action.”

Three of Houlahan’s priorities were included in H.R. 4521, the COMPETES Act.

• Her bipartisan bill, the Strengthening Supply Chains for Servicemembers and Security Act, was adopted via amendment by a vote of 262-168. This bill, which was co-led by Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), will reduce foreign dependence on life-saving drugs for servicemembers.
• Her bipartisan effort with fellow Pennsylvanian, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, was adopted under the same amendment package—262-168. This amendment directs the National Academies to study the feasibility of providing enhanced research security services to further protect the United States research enterprise against foreign interference, theft, and espionage.
• The COMPETES Act fully funds the CHIPS Act, as Houlahan has called for on several occasions to address the semiconductor supply chain shortage. Since 1990, the global share of semiconductor manufacturing in the United States has fallen from 37 to 12 percent.

“While our economy has shown its resilience, gaining back 87% of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic, families are still hurting—getting costs down and goods moving is a top priority of mine,” said Houlahan. “This legislation means vehicles won’t be held up on the assembly line because we are waiting on semiconductors from abroad. It means shorter delivery times on goods because they will be made right here in America and better jobs as we make overdue investments in STEM research in our community.”

Although Houlahan recognizes the need to move this supply chain and competitiveness bill to the President’s desk quickly, her support was not without pause. This week, Houlahan met with Speaker Pelosi to express her concerns in an effort to improve the bill before House passage.

“I represent an incredibly engaged and civic-minded community, and I heard from several groups, including the Chamber of Commerce and the agriculture sector, about their concerns with specific aspects of the COMPETES Act,” added Houlahan. “I was disappointed when some of my efforts to address those specific concerns were blocked from consideration, but I remain committed to working towards a bipartisan compromise with the Senate in conference committee. This bill is too important for Pennsylvania families to cut any corners—we must get it right.”

Major provisions in the COMPETES Act include:

• Making Critically-Needed Semiconductors in America: Over the past 30 years, the United States’ global share of manufacturing semiconductors – an increasingly essential component in everything from computers to cars – has collapsed, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to chip shortages and disruptions abroad that drive up costs of key goods here at home. The America COMPETES Act meets this challenge by appropriating $52 billion for the CHIPS for America Act, critical investments to support continued American technological leadership in semiconductor fabrication, address supply chain disruptions and ensure more semiconductors are produced here at home.
• Fixing the Supply Chain & Strengthening American Manufacturing: The disruption of the pandemic has exposed deeper weaknesses in a supply chain that has increasingly relied on foreign manufacturing, instead of making goods in America with American workers. The America COMPETES Act authorizes $45 billion to fix our broken supply chains by building more critical components in America, strengthening American manufacturing, and protecting our national security with American-made capacity to prevent shortages and disruptions – including public health and biological preparedness, information and communications technology, the energy and transportation sector’s industrial base, and agricultural commodities and food products.
• Turbocharging American Scientific Research, Technology & Innovation Excellence:  To ensure America leads the technologies of the future, the America COMPETES Act of 2022 includes a suite of bipartisan science, research and technology bills to turbocharge American innovation, focusing on solutions instead of chasing buzzwords and maximizing the American talent pool by strengthening and diversifying our nation’s STEM workforce.
• Securing America’s Global Competitiveness & Leadership Through Economic Development; Diplomacy, Human Rights & Alliances: Includes numerous provisions to strengthen and promote America’s leadership around the globe, ensuring that American interests, partnerships and values succeed on the global stage, and that American leadership wins on the key issues our time, including the climate crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, particularly as the PRC and other countries seek to re-write the rules of the road in their favor.  COMPETES takes real, strong action to hold the PRC accountable for its trade abuses and its human rights violations, including the genocide against the Uyghurs.

Read a section-by-section analysis of the bill here.

Houlahan is an Air Force veteran, an engineer, a serial entrepreneur, an educator and a nonprofit leader. She represents Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, which encompasses Chester County and southern Berks County. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Small Business Committee. She is the recipient of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Abraham Lincoln Leadership for America Award which “recognizes members who demonstrate the bipartisan leadership and constructive governing necessary to move our country forward.”

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