Congressman Blake Moore's Statement on the CHIPS+ Act
WASINGTON -- Today, Congressman Blake Moore issued the following statement on his vote on the CHIPS+ Act:
"Today I voted no on the Chips and Science bill, or the CHIPS+ Act. This $250 billion package adds $60 billion to our federal mandatory spending budget at a time when we need to be reducing mandatory spending. As House Republicans look for ways to reverse our historic debt-to-GDP ratio and uncontrollable inflation, I could not support yet another spending measure, particularly given that Senators Manchin and Schumer announced last night that they would move forward with another massive spending package.
This is no different than last year’s biggest legislative drama. In November, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer tied the bipartisan infrastructure bill to their reckless and polarizing tax-and-spend reconciliation package, leaving me guessing at just how much money these votes would add to our federal debt. Luckily, only the infrastructure bill became law when Senator Manchin announced he would not support Build Back Better because of his concerns around inflation. But yesterday, just four hours after the CHIPS+ Act passed the Senate, Senate Democrats announced a deal on their sequel to Build Back Better, a bill that will raise taxes and cut jobs for hardworking American families, spend billions on “Green New Deal” initiatives, reduce lifesaving cures, and more. In this context, I simply cannot support spending $250 billion on the CHIPS+ Act.
I agree that we must counter the serious threat posed by China and shore up our semiconductor industry, and if the Senate and House could negotiate transparently in good faith, I would support a package to incentivize semiconductor investment and research and development. But the guessing games and sequence of these secret, closed-door spending deals do no favors to the Utah families struggling to pay for everyday expenses from gas to groceries.
As the House Armed Services representative on the China legislation conference committee, I am additionally disappointed that our negotiations were cut short as we were working toward progress on guardrails that prevent companies from using incentives funded by the American taxpayer on manufacturing operations in China; inserting strong intellectual property safeguards; and securing American supply chains."
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