Underwood-Backed Legislation to Strengthen U.S. Economic Competitiveness Passes House

[WASHINGTON] – Today, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) voted to pass the America COMPETES Act, a transformative legislative package to supercharge American production of semiconductor chips, strengthen U.S. supply chains and strengthen American manufacturing, advance U.S. scientific excellence and research, and position American interest and values to win on the world stage. The legislation also includes an Underwood-led amendment that ensures STEM education is accessible in rural communities through collaborative 4H and STEM summer and afterschool programs.  This package aims to fix our supply chains, start making more critical products here in America, turbocharge American scientific and technological leadership, and strengthen America's global competitiveness.

"By passing the America COMPETES Act, the United States continued its commitment to strengthening the American economy and expanding opportunities for working families," said Underwood. "This legislation along with my amendment will ensure that families in rural communities can advance without barriers – ensuring that all Americans can access cutting-edge education and jobs in the STEM sector."

The America COMPETES Act includes bold, strategic investments to power the success of America's workers, businesses, and economy – based on bipartisan bills, many of which have already passed the House with bipartisan support – including:

• Supercharging investments in semiconductor chips: with $52 billion to support U.S. production of semiconductors — a key component in consumer electronics, cars, defense systems and other key products — address supply chain disruptions that push up costs for families, bring back chips production to America and ensure that the U.S. leads the way on semiconductor fabrication.
• Strengthening supply chains and manufacturing at home: with $45 billion to support the manufacture and acquisition of critical goods or industrial equipment that are essential for national security and economic vitality – including public health and biological preparedness, information and communications technology, the energy and transportation sector's industrial base, and agricultural commodities and food product supply chains.  COMPETES reduces our reliance on critical goods from countries of concern and encourages the relocation of manufacturing facilities out of these countries.
• Advancing American scientific research and innovation excellence: ensure that we lead the technologies of the future with a suite of bipartisan science, research, and technology bills to turbocharge American innovation, focused squarely on producing solutions and results. COMPETES also maximizes the American talent pool by strengthening and diversifying our nation's STEM workforce.
• Promoting U.S. global leadership: positioning the interests and values of the United States, not China, to win on the world stage, including with strong action to hold the People's Republic of China accountable for its trade abuses, which hurt U.S. workers, and for its human rights violations.