WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to implement his CHIPS for America Act as Congress intended. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“In June of 2020, Senator Warner, the Senior Senator from Virginia, and I introduced the CHIPS for America Act to incentivize chipmakers to build or expand their operations here in America.”

“Six months after it was introduced, the CHIPS for America Act became law, and a year and a half later it was fully funded by the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act.”

“From the beginning of this process, I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with the Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.”

“But I am concerned, and I’ve communicated that to her, about some of the components of the application guidance that the Commerce Department released last month.”

“The Department needs to understand the viability and lasting impact of each of these projects before awarding these financial incentives.”

“That’s how we ensure each project will benefit our national security, which was the main purpose of the legislation. But Commerce laid out additional requirements that have nothing to do with that goal, or the congressional intent. One example is the child care mandate.”

“These requirements were not in the statute. That wasn’t even part of our Congressional debate.”

“This should not be a Trojan horse to pass other policy priorities under the guise of protecting our national security.”

“We don’t want other, perhaps even more concerning requirements to be added, which were not part of the legislation that Congress passed or part of legislative intent. Companies that do not manufacture chips now believe they have a shot at funding as long as they meet the other unrelated requirements.”

“I want to be absolutely clear that that cannot be the case.”

“These decisions to make these grants should not depend on relationships with labor unions or any other unrelated factors. It should be based solely on how each project will strengthen our national security [and] shore up this vulnerable supply chain.”