The Senate moved to advance legislation that supports U.S. semiconductor manufacturing by stripping other aspects from a larger China competitiveness bill. Dubbed “CHIPS-plus,” the narrowed proposal still allocates $52 billion in subsidies for chipmakers but had a “hold-this-space” marker for the remainder of the language. The procedural motion required 51 votes to determine if this stripped-down version of the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) could proceed to a final vote even though adjustments would continue to be made before the Senate votes on the finished result. It cleared that hurdle, 64-34.

The Tuesday activity, as described by Roll Call, was “a test vote on a motion to bring up the shell legislative vehicle for the as-yet-unfinished bill.” As U.S. lawmakers feel the pressure from chipmakers threatening to set up fabrication plants elsewhere, there is some urgency to push the plan forward and the final Senate vote could occur over the next few days, with the House expected to act promptly.

The new momentum “comes more than one year after the Senate in a bipartisan vote first approved a $250 billion bill to reinforce U.S. chipmaking and invigorate American research and development,” writes CNBC, noting that “the House never considered that legislation after the Senate cleared it in June 2021. House Democrats drafted their own version of a Chinese competition act, with a gentler national security tone and a greater emphasis on climate change funding.” Republicans opposed that bill.

Heralding “CHIPS-plus on the move,” Politico emphasized the minus aspect of the bill, noting “trade provisions and a sweeping strategy on China designed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee won’t be in the final package.”

On the “plus” side, the Senate is advancing a bill “containing hundreds of pages of science-related provisions that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) agreed to add to a narrower bill focused on semiconductor manufacturing grants and tax incentives,” explained the National Small Business Association. The 1,055-page substitute amendment Schumer filed Tuesday after the procedural vote “is more than 10 times as long as the alternative narrow version that would have been offered had not enough Republicans agreed to proceed to the bill.”

Schumer said because the test vote on the downsized USICA “received more than 60 votes, enough to comfortably overcome a Senate filibuster and advance,” he felt confident adding back the science funding, which includes early-stage research for a swathe of tech sectors such as water systems, behavioral health, agriculture, quantum computing and artificial intelligence, as well as technology education, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It remains unclear whether Senate Democrats can corral 60 votes for the final CHIPS-plus. “Doing so would require support from several Republicans, who have lamented that much of their work to craft provisions to compete with China will likely be tossed,” writes CNBC, adding that “even top Democrats, including Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez of New Jersey, have decried the diluted bill.”

Rob Portman (R-Ohio) issued a detailed statement supporting “bipartisan competitiveness legislation.” But several lawmakers said they felt comfortable moving the CHIPS framework through the procedural phase only because they knew they would get another vote after seeing the final bill.

Related:
Senate Advances Bill to Bolster U.S. Competitiveness with China, The New York Times, 7/20/22
Senators Are Advancing a Computer Chips Bill. They Don’t Know What’s in it Yet, NBC News, 7/19/22
Chipmaking Machines Draw Record Orders for Dutch Tech Firm, The Wall Street Journal, 7/20/22