Pelosi says House ‘close’ on China competition, chips aid bill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House is close to finishing legislation to bolster U.S. competition with China and aid the U.S. semiconductor industry that can be merged with a similar Senate-passed bill, a crucial step toward eventual passage by Congress.

The House’s package is “very close to being ready to go,” Pelosi said Thursday at her weekly press conference. 

The legislation, which has bipartisan support, is a major priority for the Biden administration, particularly the nearly $52 billion in grants and incentives for the semiconductor industry amid a global chip shortage. But progress has been stalled since the Senate passed its version last June as two House committees approved bills with similar elements but were not packaged together. 

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced in November an agreement to work out differences between their two chambers in order to come up with a single legislative package.

Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and sponsor of provision to strengthen the chip industry, said there is momentum for making the bill part of a the broader government spending package that lawmakers are working to complete as soon as next month.

“There is broad support in both houses of Congress, in the White House, for that, and I know the president himself is reaching out to Speaker Pelosi to make sure that she’s on board with including this in that legislation,” Cornyn said in an interview. “I think that is the most likely vehicle to carry the legislation.”

Cornyn said that if the entire bill couldn’t be passed in the comprehensive spending measure, known as an omnibus, he would like to see at least the $52 billion in semiconductor support included.