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Commerce, science and transportation committee, topics included critical mineral supply chains, manufacturing of Semiconductor Chips, workforce shortages and Rural Broadband access. The hearing runs two hours and 40 minutes. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon, the Senate Commerce committee will come to order. I think my colleagues who have been in this room for many hours already today doing double duty today on aviation hearing and very important conversation about the chips in science act, which are committee played a big role in, needless to say are committee has been working diligently on a lot of transformational policy but while we are waiting for our colleague here i think i will thank senator wicker again for his work on chips in science act. People may not remember but this committee, dont know how many were processed. It was in the hundreds. Might have been in the 300s but i definitely believe a regular order process is good for the institution, good for the debate about science and hopefully people will continue in todays hearing to understand that, that much of the debate that maybe wasnt as clear in a public perspective as it was to all of us working behind the scenes daily to try to figure this policy out. We will go ahead and get started and when my colleague gets here, hopefully he will be here soon, we will let him make his Opening Statement but welcome, Gina Raimondo and director sethuraman panchanathan. Thank you for being here with us today. I also want to mention that apparently theres a fema Emergency Alert test so everybody in the room gets an alert message, that is what that is about, dont be concerned about it but Everybody Knows it is going to go off. A little more than a year ago Congress Passed the landmark chips in science act, a clear commitment to americas competitiveness and the idea that we need to innovate in the United States and clearly we were doing a lot of innovation, we were publishing a lot but needed to translate more, patent more, help our Manufacturing Base be competitive for the future. Our two witnesses led on the delivery of those commitments and are here to tell us about their substantial progress their agencies are making during the first year of the implementation of this act. Weve already seen the chips in science acts per 200 billion of private Sector Investment from semiconductors across the country to other investments and the federal Government Role is so important because the commitment to the Chips Program office in the department of congress is generating 500 statement of interest from Companies Looking at new projects and innovations so we will have a chance to ask the secretary about those proposals, building resiliency and longlasting semiconductor ecosystems in the United States. Since we had a chance to discuss this earlier, im pretty sure we are going to hear today about how we are never going to be in this problem as it relates to legacy shifts, that we are going to have a good plan to help on our supply Chain Development that our dod stature is going to continue to be on the cutting edge of chips and i think you re going to tell us that the diversity of applications means that ecosystem we are trying to restore and grow is alive and well. Weve also seen nsf rollout innovation engines, more than 43 million going to planning grants across the country. I love that the director, during our efforts, coined the phrase innovation anywhere, opportunity everywhere. Thats what we were looking for in this legislation both in the spreading of the amount of funding and diversifying a workforce opportunity across the United States. In the state of washington, spokane company reducing energy decarbonization, we all know that innovation and expertise helps us generate jobs and tackle our most pressing problems and we know that what we have to do on this committee besides hearing from these Witnesses Today is push our colleagues to fully fund aspects of chips and science that werent funded. The committee asked two previous attempt at competitive bills fell short, the funding was not realized because we face an economic downturn and the other just in our very first effort on competitiveness, making the mark from the appropriations perspective, foreign adversaries are not waiting, we know that our strategic, also moving ahead. We need to make this investment to what we would say d risk the supply chain and we are innovating and translating our science faster. As we look to the future we need to Work Together to ensure the us remains competitive in the global marketplace on issues like Artificial Intelligence, 5g wireless systems and quantum computing and that will require the United States to do a couple things, the ability of the us to produce chips to support this innovation, that is why the advancement with the applications is so important, second, we need a resilient supply chain that can withstand disruptions like we saw in the past either geopolitical tensions, natural disasters, global pandemic, whatever, we need a more dependent supplychain and a workforce that is well skilled and technical, to the types of technology being produced today. Are blue this is one of the biggest gaps left to be addressed in the chips in science act, we have some money for Semiconductor Training and workforce advancement and some on the science side through nsf but a lot more needs to happen the United States, the jobs of tomorrow are here today but the skill level of the workforce to do them is not. The more that we can take advantage of the job creation that happening by marrying that up, the something the secretary knows from her days as governor, the more we can streamline that and mary that up together, the more this engine is going to rev. Today, us manufacturer only 12 of the worlds semiconductors compared to where we were in the 1990s at 30 so the question today is are we seeing the right level of investment to make a return to the market share we think is important . My guess is we are going to hear from the private sector, and the robust response to the program, were going to hear that the investments want to be in the United States so i think we cant emphasize enough how important it was to bring this manufacturing back, consumers sarkar prices raise as much as 40 , truck manufacturers not able to get semiconductors, were not able to shift products or, supplychain, resiliency created deadlocks for other industries and impacted National Security. So i hope that we will all Work Together on better tools for the future, i have some questions about that in the question and answer period, but the Semiconductor Industry today is facing a gap of 67,000 people by 2030, thats just semiconductors. We in my state related to stem have a gap of 60,000 workers across various sectors, not just semiconductors so clearly we need to make investments in the Scholarship Program and in the stem apprentices and workforce for tomorrow, to realize all this investment thats now being made in the United States of america. Welcome to our witnesses, i will turn it over to senator cruz for his Opening Statement. Thank you for calling this important hearing, and welcome Gina Raimondo, sethuraman panchanathan, for being here today. Semiconductors drive our modern economy. Cell phones in cars and supercomputers and medical devices, these integrated circuits have been integrated into our daily lives. Before 2,020, however, when we suddenly couldnt get enough of them most of us probably didnt realize just how big a role these chips play. It became very quickly apparent that in terms of economic and National Security, just how dependent and vulnerable we are on semiconductors. We rely on these chips for Consumer Electronics in cars but also just about every [beeping] i think your time is up. [laughter] we have an emergency in semiconductors. [laughter] thats a first. In 45 years i think our first witness is a semiconductor. You done . No. [laughter] [beep] [laughter] as i was saying. [laughter] with great trepidation i observe the just about every advanced Weapon System in our military rely on semiconductors and most of them are not made in the United States. Recognizing this, there was a flurry of legislative activity to onshore and nearshore Semiconductor Manufacturing last congress, and aiding in the chips in science act. Parts of this law like the fabs act which are cosponsored and enthusiastically support provided tax credits to incentivize chip investment in the United States which the final bill also included a whopping 52 billion in direct subsidies from taxpayers that in my view would predictably lead to government bureaucrats picking winners and losers. At worst this kind of industrial policy can be right with political interference and waste and at best it is often done poorly and then efficiently. Thats why i alternately voted against the bill displayed containing a number of things i strongly support. We are already seeing a number of these concerns realized. When i speak to companies in texas, many of them bemoan how the Biden Administration has imposed extraneous nonstatutory conditions on receipt of taxpayer support. Commerce isnt just asking if youve got the best technology or the cheapest manufacturing process. Instead, the bureaucrats want to know if you have proper plans to subsidize childcare or to support affordable housing. Adequately engage with labor unions. Are your suppliers sufficiently diverse. None of these topics are critical to the fundamental question of whether you can build the best ship at the lowest price. Maybe these issues are relevant but does anyone think officials in washington know better than the indigenous years and investors behind these projects. Moreover none of these were included in the law. They nonetheless have been attached by the Biden Administration to try to enact by regulation things they dont have the votes to pass through congress. As many Commerce Committee republicans noted in the letter we sent to Gina Raimondo in march, this attempt at backdoor Progressive Social policy will only make thomistic to production more expensive, less competitive and more reliant on taxpayer subsidies over private investments. More recently, an area of major concern has been the environmental requirements, and the potential for this environmental process law to drive up Compliance Costs for manufacturers and significantly slow new construction. That is why senator mark kelly and i let a bipartisan amendment, the National Defense authorization act to exclude the overwhelming majority of chips funded semiconductor projects. I want to thank Gina Raimondo for your support on that effort and for explicitly endorsing our amendment during your house testimony last month. Gina raimondo, weve also had good conversations about the importance of a strong us chip industry. We both want to see americas innovative capacity store and we agree that using taxpayer funds appropriately is immensely challenging. Fortunately, we are seeing a path forward. Texas boasted established ecosystem of innovators, worldclass universities and permissive Regulatory Environment that enables companies to grow and thrive. As a result weve already attracted 61 billion in private new Semiconductor Investments and created 8,000 new jobs making texas the center of us Semiconductor Manufacturing. Texas has a storied history and the invention and production of semiconductors and we are proud to help lead Americas Semiconductor renaissance and i would encourage the Commerce Department to look to the model in texas and see how to make this broader effort more successful. Its worth noting the other half of the chips in science act, director sethuraman panchanathan, the nsf does substantial work subs expanding our scientific knowledge and it is important work but im deeply concerned over what appears to be the politicization of nsf funded science and the feedback loop and scientific stagnation this is created. Im especially disturbed by recent reports that nsf has, the tunes of tens of millions of dollars been funding projects on hunter, quote, populist narratives and socalled, quote, miss and disinformation which seems like little more than funding the pseudoscience of censorship so i look forward to hearing from both our Witnesses Today on how they are implementing this important law. Taxpayers the put a lot of skin in this game will we all owe it to them to get it done. We start now with Gina Raimondo, welcome, cant imagine what a busy time it is for you in the organization that is implanting this act, we appreciate your time being here today. It is my pleasure to be here today, thank you chairwoman and Ranking Member cruz, and how we are implanting this historic legislation and im so pleased to be here with poncho, fantastic nsf director. I want to begin by taking a second to share my condolences with senator feinsteins family. She was a pioneer and role model for so many women like me. I wanted to take a second to say that. Because of your hard work in large part due to you and bipartisan support of the committee, the Commerce Department now has the honor, responsibility to invest 60 billion in our domestic Semiconductor Manufacturing and research and development and i concur its an enormous responsibility and massive amount of taxpayer dollars. We open the application process in february a few months after you passed the bill. We have since received 500 statement of interest from 42 states for manufacturers large and small. They outlined proposals to manufacture chips and the relative equipment and materials here in the United States. Importantly, all of the 500 statement of interest we received over 100 applications or preapplications. In the last two weeks we finalized and put out the guard rail to protect Us Government investment and bolster our National Security and developing our Chips R D Program to meet the unique challenges of building a sustained r d to manufacturing pipeline the centerpiece of these efforts is the Semiconductor Technology center which we expect to launch this fall. A great deal of activity since the bill was passed and all of that research and develop and work we are doing in collaboration with the nsf. The chips in science act also authorized two new programs, the Tech Hub Initiative and recompete which we are administering through epa. We received 400 applications for the tech hub grant. It is unbelievable. I have never seen anything more oversubscribed. Later this fall eda will launch, will make the announcement of the designation and then also invite an opportunity for additional funding for implementation. Similarly we are investing 200 million in the Recompete Pilot Program to spur Economic Activity in geographically diverse and economically distressed communities across the country. Thanks to your work in the chips in science act we are making historically bold and Strategic Investments that will strengthen our national and Economic Security. If we are successful, when we are successful United States will become the premier destination in the world where new chip architectures can be invented in our research labs, designed for applications, manufacturing at scale by welltrained, wellpaid American Workers and packaged in the United States, so it is a tremendous piece of work that we have, great progress since the bill has passed, we will answer any questions related to that, before i close, just to mention, how stressed we were about the possibility of a Government Shutdown and how troubling it was to come within hours of that shut down, so thank you for working hard to make sure that did not happen. It goes without saying china, russia, iran are not shutting down, the work we are doing in the chips act is essential to our National Security and any shutdown would be massively disruptive to our ability to stay in the pace we are on in implementing this important work. With that, i will turn it over to poncho. Director sethuraman panchanathan, thank you for being here. Numbers of the Commerce Committee, its great to be with all of you today particularly with colleague, friend, Gina Raimondo. Before i begin i would like to extend my deepest condolences to all of you for the loss of your colleague senator Dianne Feinstein. Not only was senator feinstein an incredible leader and trailblazer but also a champion for science, and nsf is grateful for her service to the nation. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the National Science foundations implementation of the chips in science act and how the agency is building upon decades of successful investment in science, engineering, and technology, to ensure that the United States remains a Global Leader in innovation. For more than 7 decades, nsf has been critical to powering our economy, transforming our quality of life and securing our National Defense, more to come. Many of the technological advances benefiting the nation today such as Artificial Intelligence, quantum Information Science and biotechnology are rooted in sustained nsf investment. However, we currently face intense global competition in ways to double up these technologies and to train the workforce of the future. The ability to enable scientific breakthroughs is central to our continued Global Leadership. With the passage of the chips in science act of 2022 congress put in place a roadmap for meeting this challenge by supporting challenges across the country. For the past year and with increased appropriation nsf has been able to make significant progress in implementing the chips in science act. The agency has moved quickly to launch new opportunities for innovation, implement security measures, safeguarding taxpayers investments and engage and inspire stem leaders of tomorrow. The nsf Regional Innovation engine will catalyze new businesses and Economic Growth in diverse regions of america. When nsf agents and since program leaves its first funding next year, we receive 700 concept papers from every state and us city of coordination. In may nsf announced the first ever government awards consisting of unique themes spanning specific states. Then, in august, nsf announced team finalists for the first nsf engine. These two tracks, nsf plans to invest 200 million in Regional Innovation throughout our country by end of the calendar year. I cant understate how critical it is to engage every part of the nation in these efforts. Intentionally implement new opportunities and expanding existing initiatives to engage everyone who wants to participate in the stem in every state, drawing the full diversity of our nation, the chips in science act include a requirement that nsf glow its investment over time. Nsf has met and exceeded the target in the chips and science act of fy 23. It is critical to safeguard these investments and take steps to address them while contributing vibrant international measures. Nsf plays a leading role in federal efforts for Research Security and expanding the agencys capabilities to protect taxpayer investment. Ships and science act includes valuable provisions to build the capacity of the Research Community to make this informed decision and strengthen the security of our National Research enterprise. Equally important to the nations competitiveness is the commitment to funding exploratory based research the create new knowledge and feeds the industries of tomorrow. For example, many of the ai advancements making news today, we separate the individual product and the talent that catalyzed by nsfs continual investment over many decades even through a i will winters. Likewise the Technological Advancements of tomorrow will be borne out of todays investments. And just the past three years nsf has established 25 National Ai Research institute in partnership with federal agencies and industries. Half a billion dollar investment reaches into every state supporting cuttingedge research and applying ai to key economic sectors for resident public health. To generate more breakthroughs and innovations and to do so faster than ever before, difficult to keep our country is a Global Leader intact. With the support of this committee and congress and continued implementation of the chips in science act, we are strengthening our national and Economic Security and enabling innovation anywhere, an opportunity everywhere across our nation. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. Thank you, director. We are going to have a couple votes this afternoon. Use your discretion where you are in the queue to go backandforth to maximize time. I will turn it over to my colleague, senator schatz, then go vote and come back to senator cruz after that. Thank you for being here. I want to follow up on the conversation we had earlier this year. You made 6. 5 million available in fiscal year 23 for continued development of a telescope. What are your plans for continuing funding and work in fiscal 24. Thank you. I really enjoyed talking to you and visiting the state of hawaii recently. We launched the telescope in maui, the Worlds Largest solar telescope, very proud that we have it located in maui and doing great. To your specific question im happy to tell you just last week nsf had an award to the giant magellan telescope and 6. 5 million for the International Organization to reduce this on crucial optical and mechanical components. I want to tell you theres a process we take as we embark on this, this includes not only the decade survey, recommendations that came to the scientific community, as well as physical Sciences Directorate making sure we are prioritizing these investments, working with National Science goals and now we are investing in the design, that was the investment so as we move from here to the final Design Review and investments. Talking about 23, what are your plans for 24 . We partnered again to continue with this process and we asked 30 million of investment so we can move these projects forward as the review process happens. At the same time i would like to say in front of congress, the chips in science act, where authorization, not appropriation, in place that we might be the vanguard of innovation and scientific discovery for richins to mentation that is very important as we think about the future. Talk to me about construction fronts for 25, talking about design, where are we on construction and Work Together on that. I understand you have asked roe 2020, the scientific review process, you dont have it squared away on the hawaii side of this but we have to move in parallel paths in case everything since together. Where are you in 25 construction. You are right. We are going through the process we typically go through with instrumentation so we are looking at the 2425 and beyond in terms of positioning for the request to be made for reconstruction projects. Right now we go through the final one and we are working with the state of hawaii to make sure we are positioning the appropriate investment in a way that can be sequenced at the right time so we will keep the budgets for the appropriate time. The final design as we are thinking about moving forward in this process, talking with the National Science as you have always done, keep your staff closely informed and engaged to ensure that you are getting all the answers that you need. Thank you very much, senator cruz. Secretary sethuraman panchanathan, the National Environmental policy act reviews currently required for chips grants and that could lengthen project timelines by two years or more, to start an Environmental Impact statement. Some reports are not completed for 7 years or longer. When asked about hurdles posed by the chips project at a house hearing last month you pointed out, quote, theres currently a bipartisan amendment on the Defense Authorization act which would help a lot. We will do everything we can to streamline and move it as quickly as is prudent but if congress could pass the amendment, it would help us a lot to move faster. The bipartisan amendment passed the senate with overwhelming bipartisan support but still has to pass the house and ultimately be signed into law by the president. Could you briefly describe the benefits the amendment would provide as a word of encouragement to the house and the white house to make it law. Yes, thank you, and thank you for your leadership on that. As you say, each of these projects would be subject to an ifa which could take years. These are National Security imperative project which is why i thank you for your leadership. What we are doing, we built a team on the chips team in the Commerce Department just to focus on permitting to help Companies Help states streamline the process, accelerate the process. Let me be clear, we dont want, Environmental Concerns matter. We are not suggesting we should do anything that hurts the environment, that being said, we do need with your amendment to streamline the process, make the process more efficient and userfriendly. Interestingly i was on the phone with members of the house, on this exact issue encouraging them to do their own, take your lead and pass something in the house. My view is we will do everything we can. We have a team, we are working on it but without the legislation its very difficult. Thats very helpful, thank you. Let me turn to the topic of spectrum, something you and i care a lot about. We know the United States needs more commercial access to spectrum. Recent studies project that us mobile traffic to increase two times over the next 5 years, almost sixfold in the next 10 years. We need a real mid been spectrum pipeline so the us can dominate in 5g and not fall behind our adversaries. Unfortunately, access to big band spectrum has become almost impossible to come by because so much of the nations spectrum is under the control of federal agencies who are resistant to sharing. The Defense Department recently completed its report on opening access to spectrum in the lower 3 gigahertz band and gave it to your department at the end of next week, the report has not been made public but according to leaks, the report does not support sharing let alone allowing full power 5g use. Secretary Gina Raimondo, you and i had a productive call yesterday, you committed to sharing the report with me and briefing me on it. I appreciate that. Do you agree that we need more mid band spectrum to be made available for 5g including full power use and that its not only imperative for our economy but our National Security . I do. Let me say this. I think i would be very happy to have my staff and the dod, we should do it together, to come and go through the reports. Appreciate that. And yes i do. I spoke with secretary austin last week and i said the dod needs the spectrum they need to execute their mission period. Having said that we also need to create and innovate how we share spectrum and how we use spectrum. The truth of the matter is our National Defense depends on, as you say, continued private Sector Innovation and continued innovation in 5g and my point to him and to you and anyone who wants to hear from me is this shouldnt be a 0sum game. We shouldnt think every time the dod shares or give something up they are losing capacity. We have to find creative ways where we can have more sector needs made available in the mid range and also the dod has what they need to do their mission and im committed to working with you and with them to do that. Thank you, madam secretary. Director sethuraman panchanathan. In fiscal 20 one22, there were 70 grant and two contracts totaling over 45 million, focused on both the, quote, science of countering social media miss and disinformation as well as the developments of Digital Tools to track miss were disinformation. One of the projects was called expert voices together and it is to quote the nsf, quote, creating a comprehensive system of care that addresses the harms journalist experience due to online harassment. Its mission is to, quote, support journalists in moments of crisis while helping the Media Industry build resilience longterm. In other words taxpayerfunded therapy for leftwing journalists who find actual facts traumatizing. Im sure people like Taylor Lorenz will be excited about that. But where on earth in the nsfs mandate is there a justification for these sorts of projects and do you believe that venturing into such politicized topics undermines broader support for the nsf . Let me tell you through the hearing you will get to see nsfs brought impact all across our nation for economic vibrancy and National Security objectives being fostered. Trying to package all of that, i hope that will come through clearly, we are doing a lot of work to make sure the challenge everywhere is energized. Answer the question i asked her. Just coming to that. The nsf mission, i want to make sure that is clearly understood also. I want to say one thing categorically, we do not engage in censorship. We do not regulate any content and engage with anybody who also, what we do is, how do the technologies operate and how are they being used and provide public and policymakers the information they need so you can make the decisions about needed regulations and guard rails entry the users, that they have the tools they can safely navigate content. Thats the kind of project, we are not in the business of censorship. We are not in the business of controlling content. I can tell you for example even in the conversation we are having right now, this conversation can be completely altered and presented in a form you and i would say how did this even happens with this conversation is being transformed into something unrecognizable. These kinds of things have happened. We are trying to find how can we build and invest in those projects, how can we invest in tools and techniques that can safeguard. That is all we are doing, we are not censoring, not altering content. When funding others engaged in censorship you are undermining support for your important issues. I am happy to work with any of you to explain what these projects are doing. Happy to take your suggestions. Nsf is a learning agency. We learn constantly. We cannot be an agency that says this is how we do it. We are learning industry. Where if any you find that there is appearing to be as said we are not but happy to have the discussion with you. Senator chester. Thank you, madam chair, appreciate the flex ability. And thank you for being here. I appreciate the work youve done and everything you are doing to bring jobs back to this country and everything youre doing on the National Security front. For decades with outsourced jobs in this country and it hasnt been a good idea. The Chinese Communist party is a threat and you know this, both economically and militarily and they want to take our place on the world stage. I have faith in this country and i have faith in our ability to emerge from a time we outsourced our jobs, a time we can bring the jobs back here again and create what we need in this country to meet the needs of this country, two years ago congress started the chips in science act, i started talking to a group of montanans about Building Technology in montana using the Regional Technology Innovation Hub, that this committee created. The division for this checkup would be to establish montanas wellestablished industry and grow it into a worldclass center that can compete, critical to our Economic Growth and National Security. Madam chair, i am blown away by the effort montanans have put forward in this opportunity. Are best, our brightest that Work Together, the universitys labor group, financial group, State Government have all worked to craft a plan that works for the state most importantly for the country. Like any state, funding for universities is not where it should be. These universities are used to beating the hell out of one another to get the money they needed and the truth is weve watched them Work Together. I come from a state that was built over 100 years ago by people who moved in where there was no grass and built farms and communities and churches and hospitals and now the people in the state of montana to make sure montana can reclaim what we need to have from a technology standpoint, the world leader. My question is this to both of you. When it comes to Rural America, congress has addressed it in several different ways, but you both lead implementation of programs in your respective agencies. How do you address the issue of Rural America in making sure your initiatives will work for Rural America and do not leave them behind . Thank you. I will go first and i will be brief. We, as i said earlier, have been overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of the tech hub applications. As you recall, it was authorized for 10 billion, we received 500 million and we have over 400 applications. It if we come away with nothing else, clearly this is worthy of more funding. We will do a minimum of 20 tech hubs, possibly more and i promise you some will be rural. And i cant promise you will be montana but some will be rural. Im trying to be honest here. I promise we will look at yours and all of yours and there will be rural representation. We are determined to do it, statute requires a, we are doing a huge amount of outreach. I tell my team there is no substitute for showing up, show up in Rural Communities, let them know we are there and help them to put forward a good application. So we are highly conscious of it and doing a lot of outreach. The only thing i would say is if we pick day 20, hypothetically, 20, every one of those would be worthy of one hundred Million Dollar grant to move the needle and create a hub. Thats 2 billion. We have 500 million and you authorize 10 billion. Guarantee your focus on rural, guarantee you you will be pleased with the results and that this program is worthy of more funding. It will take meeting with you and when i spoke to you and i want to reinforce that. Nsfs commitment, energizing talent and ideas everywhere across the nation in true course and actions every day even as we speak but let me address two things about two projects that just got funded recently in terms of unleashing innovation in the state of montana. Montana State University in bozeman they are leading a contingent, awards meant to bring together capacity in every region to see how we can lift them up through partnership and investments that can further be built with a high level of benefit like two awards and partnering with commerce and Regional Technology and Work Together like this, they are not like this anymore and because of our leadership and commitment to working in partnership we are working closely together and dont want anything to fall in between. This project is focused on quantum and supporting technologies in the northern instrument all states like my wyoming and idaho. Another one which is university of montana is focused on advancing proficient forestry which theres much more in place innovation and rangeland technologies. These are awards made a few weeks ago so you can see we are constantly exploring options working with the community to see what we can do in terms of innovation. Thank you, madam chair. Senator wicker. Thank you very much, madam chairman and thanks to our witnesses. I bet neither of you are surprised that weve had questions already about Rural America and so let me ask since you were specific to montana which is a stage i really admire, could you tell us the score part of the legislation, how that is already benefiting researchers in other rural states. Thank you proposing the question. Thank you for hosting me. Thank you. Mississippi was the first stage it was a great launch effort. It was wonderful to meet all the different institutions, Community Colleges, Higher Education institutions coming together with researchers and students. I saw firsthand the talent and they are everywhere. In the state of mississippi we have invested and i will go through a few projects in mississippi. The first to jackson State University focused on advancing security. We have a new senator who is an alum. The next mississippi State University, advancing autonomous technology, we talked about it with the researchers there. Invested almost 1 million in Community College on two projects, with sufficient Energy Technology programs as well as increasing supply and diversity of the workforce in that region. These are projects making a real difference in terms of unearthing talent and ideas, targets that we had a discussion about. You asked me the question, do you think you will meet those targets for fy 23 and going onto fy 29. Im happy to report to you today we not only met but exceeded them and these are mutually beneficial. You may want to supplement your answer further. Let me say i really dont think this legislation would passed so easily had we not been able to include the score provision and i want to thank the chair for help on a bipartisan basis in that regard and madam secretary, you may want to answer on the record about Rural America but let me go ahead and see if i can follow up on something senator cruz mentioned. I understand you and your office have seen the completed report concerning the lower three gigahertz study. We got it at the end of last week, we got it at the end of last week. So do i understand you to say there are areas of the report that you disagree with . Ive not got through it all myself. You cant understand me saying that. What did you say with that regard . What i said is this. We need to do a better job being more creative and figuring out ways to have more of them advance spectrum available for commercial use to power innovation in ways that do not interfere with or degrade the dods mission. I agree with that statement you just made as you said it and to the extent the report coming from the department of defense is more restrictive in that regard i would not have a problem with that. Members of the committee and members of the senate committee. We just received on friday of last week, going through it now, i would be happy to followup and have a briefing scheduled where the dod and ncaa can come over whenever you want. I like the idea of a briefing, less formal and more of a give and take but i think to the extent you say there is room for both sides to benefit and to have a loss, im reluctant to say either department or area of endeavor to have a loss. Thats not necessary. In splitting the blanket in this regard. Thats my point. I think historically the debate has been approached anytime dod gives us anything it is a loss and i think we have to modernize our thinking. There are ways that if we are creative, they can have everything they need and also we must make more available for private innovation. Thats National Security as well. National security benefits, thank you, madam chair. We will take you up on the briefing. Senator klobuchar. Thank you. Good to see both of you. Thank you so much for your visit to bloomington, minnesota, you were a big hit there at normandale Community College and i think you saw we are one of a few states that have a full existing semiconductor supply chain, integrators and producers, packaging, you name it. Could you talk about how the Commerce Department is working to support smaller Companies Looking to get involved in that supply chain . Yes. Thank you for having me. We, of the 39 billion, we have said about 10 will be used for mature legacy and supplychain. 10 will be mature legacy and supply chain and there will be a great amount of money for Small Companies and supply Companies Like the ones we met with. So i can assure you that will happen. And i said earlier weve received 500 statements of weve received 500 statement of interest from 42 states and over 100 applications or preapplications, many of those are Smaller Companies come supplyre chain companies, so ret assured were looking at those opportunities not just the very Biggest Companies we all know about. Thank you. Given you visited a Community College there, normandale, can youeg talk about given that we need 100,000 new semiconductor technicians, another 140,000 people in c the trades to build Semiconductor Manufacturing facilities and i think with a shortfall of about 300,000 engineers, 90,000 skilled u. S. Icians in the could you talk about the importance of Community Colleges and one and to your degrees and all the . One of the most exciting facts i think in time that the bill was signed, between then andee now, we know of at least 0 Community Colleges in 19 states that have announced new programs to American Workers find jobs in the Semiconductor Industry. Thats amazing, just the fact the passage of the bill Community College is are mobilizingmo to say how do we fl the gap of 100,000 100,s that we are currently short . We of course will be establishing the national Semiconductor Technology center, and huge component of that will be workforce and we will do n collaboration with the nsf. I should say everyone has a role to play, high school with career and technical education, Community Collegesdu have huge role to play, fouryear colleges, phd programs up and down the ladder. H. Community colleges in training technicians, cyber technicians, process analyst, et cetera come have a particular multiply and we are already working with them. Thank you. What a great transition quickly to doctor. You mentioned all degrees and i know hes going to be visiting university of minnesota. You met the interim president when youre visiting secretary. Could you talk about i i knowt one ofow the finalists in the nf Regional Innovation program. In your view how can publicprivate partnerships, dr. Panch come help to accelerate innovation . Very, very important topic, in fact, a Regional Innovation program was great with the explicit purpose of how we might bring all of the Component Parts together to ensure the innovation is completely energized and catalyzed. So our t regional program, 44 awards have been made, 46 states and territories are involved in this. Every one of those awards have a number of industry partners, governments partnering and sometimes even ngos being partners. We have of course Community College is, technicalmu college, as well as universities. So this is exceedingly important. Let me give a couple examples to illustrate the point. We earlier a talked about 6g and 5g, the next g let us say. The resilience next Generation System have 35 Companies Participating in the program and the total amount of resources they bring to the table is 50 million in kind and actualab investments. Nsf match that with another 50 million to now not have a very Robust Program looking at how do we build the next generation networks, including Rural Broadband being made t accessibe so that talent and and i dit access to all the content that were generating across our nation. To be committed to college because you asked, i cannot help a tell you about this dignity college, hennepin technical college. Thats in my state. A leading nsf advanced technical education. This program is been going for a long time. Essentially can do to arell invested in new curriculum, model curriculum. Very good. Thank you. We look forward to your visit. I hope youll be wearing a gophers that when youre there just to bother senator fischer with her nebraska team. I also want to thank the chairwoman for her incredible leadership on this bill. We wouldnt be where we are today if it wasnt for senator cantwell. Senator fischer. Thank you, madam chair, and think you to both of our witnesses for being here today. Between your two agencies you receive more than 54 billion in appropriations underer the chips and site at so far. This is an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Earlier this year the Commerce Department Inspector General described the novel challenges facing the application of chips. The ig highlighted the need for new controls and appropriate oversight for this unprecedented influx of funding stating that it quote may require additional monitoring and reporting to ensure project recipients comply with statutes, achieve intended outcomes, and use funds efficiently, close quote. The Inspector General has also noted that contract and grant fraud now account for 65 of the oigs department of commerce cases. Before fiscal 2021 they represented roughly 35 . Secretary raimondo, have you plan to implement any specific oversight measures to respond to this concerning development that werenc seeing . Yes, thank you senator and thank you for the question. Youre absolutely right, this is unprecedented. The department of investment in think of the sites and and e that responsibility incredibly seriously. I have a job to achieve National Security goals and to protect taxpayer money. We aim to do both, to be steward of taxpayerls money. We are building a team since the time the billd, passed, we have built teams about 150 professionals. I would invite you to meet them anytime. They aredi incredibly talented people. And rebuilding a risk team specifically devoted to the issues that you highlight. The risk team is a risk professional to make sure were evaluating all the risk and also after we put the money out to make sure the companies are doing what they said they would do. Also we dont plan to put the money out to these companies in one lump sum. We plan to put out on milestonebased achievement, so some money, see what they do. We are going to be massively transparent, provide notice as we are required to do to congress for investments of 10 million or more, and have were doing an incredible amount of Due Diligence all of which will be documented. And as i said have a whole team devoted to management of risk and compliance to the companies to the promises that they make us in exchange for the money. In this report were there any patterns that emerged . When you see that increase in fraud, whether any s patterns, anything specific that Companies May be doing that would be red flags to be able to help this risk came to be able to identify them at an earlier time . Its a great question and, of course, something we are obsessed with and were trying to get better. No, not particularly. As was said earlier, putting 50 billion of taxpayer money out in partnership with private Sector Companies is a challenge, hence i dont think theres any one answer. I can simply tell you the team we have is built with professionals that have ten, 20, 30 years of experience and track record. We are building newer systems, whole new systems of Due Diligence, compliance, every company, for example, will have to give us a security plan, and r d plan, a Financial Plan, open the books to us can share their finances with us and we will use all of that information to hold them accountable. You mentioned you are putting money out, like first payment, second payment to be able to keep track offi it easier. If you would see anything that was questionable, can you cancel grants pgh yes yes. We could clawback money, depending on the situation. For example, if they violated the china guardrail, or we could, we would not find the nas tranche if they did meet the conditions that were required. I would be negligent if i didnt put a plug in the form nebraska as well since were going down the dahlias here to be able to get a plugin for nebraska and good things that we see. I do have a question on how you define what a region is, and then also, dr. Panch, if you could say nice things about my state. [laughing] look it up. Ready to go. How do you define regions . We have to have several awardees within each of the eda region pixel Economic Development agency has statutorily several regions around the country and we have to have some in each region. Senator, versatile nsf had of this investment first made of chips and sites, and the second 200 million for five years. The science portion of nsf is still an authorization, not an appropriation. We are hoping we will have the investments that is played in the authorizations to come up with appropriations but were not waiting for that to energize the innovation all the consummation, as you heard that i mentioned that. The 200 billion is being used in order to be able to generate 100,000 semiconductor 100,000 semiconductor technicians, workers, researchers that our nation needs very rapidly. Second are talked about 2030 but it is about the fact even beyond 2030 so nsf is working towards that. And in partnership again to the early question publicprivate partnerships with which with consortium of companies, micron, intel, samsung, ericsson and others. The state of nebraska, since you asked, again nsf investment spans all part of our nation, energizing Community Colleges, universities and so on. Let me give a couple examples from nebraska. The universe of nebraska, 21 million for a e period of 20212026. Second quantum revolution by launching an interdisciplinary interdepartmental and Multicampus Research and education clusterlt focused on emergent Quantum Materials and technologies called equate. This is essential to increase the jurisdiction competitiveness in the area of quantum science e and technology, one example under the project again which with an award in nebraska lincoln which is companion to the large collider that is happening. So here we are essential to supporting a cms detector and supporting software being developed at the university of nebraska. So clearly they get ilo want to read the size this, you will be tired of me saying this. Talent and ideas are everywhere and it is our responsibility to find them, nurtured them, motivate them andhe bring them o life. I see only what were going to outcompete other nations. Thank you. That is to place like nebraska. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Senator hickenlooper im going to ask you to chair while i run and vote and then following you will be senator moran. Senator fischer output in a plug for nebraska as well but will have to put in a flight for colorado. Thank you, madam chair. Its great to such a crowd here. I feel aa bit like we are at sunday night football with taylor swift and travis kelsey. I have seen this many people in this room and quite a while, but dr. Panch, i know that you attract a crowd and you really devote yourself to these issues and secretary raimondo, just for your other cinders you should know we overlap as governors and dont think theres another governor that had a strong bipartisan support as she made decisions not from a political perspective but what is the best outcome. She stole our best ideas, we still her best ideas. Thats way governors worker we will start with you, secretary raimondo. As a former governor, appreciate the recognition your department that innovation and Workforce Development try when local communities have an active cecum notches and accuracy but an active seat at the table. Weve been listening to the needs of our keywords and i think colorado position itself as leader and start of creation and supporting entrepreneurs come generating a workforce and a range of Technology Fields that is manufactured, cybersecurity, clean energy, quantum. So i dont have to go on. I think the other senators have done a good job of pitching their states. Lets go on in either of these questions, regional hubs or the Regional Innovation engine for colorado so wellsuited. I would like to ask both of you to describe how the department at nsf, how would you coordinate complementary regional tech hubs and Regional Innovation engines . Senator, let mr. Given for the chips and science act, secretary raimondo before she took office and spoke of her next week and said were going to hyper partner, if there is term like that, and because we believe that this is an interest of our nation of the taxpayers who invest in both our agencies and departments. So we have a chips Steering Committee in the office of the director that works almost on a daily basis and a weekly basis with the secretarys office and their Steering Committee. So every program that the secretary talked about, the national center, the workforce to government activities, the eda activities, Regional Technology hubs come every one of those activities are highly coordinated. In fact, when Regional Technology hubs announcement was being made even the verbiage of the announcement was coordinated between nsf and commerce and vice versa. So thats the love of coronation we have because we believe we dont want to lose any of these innovation, innovators i having having any of these values of debt that we call them. We are making sure they are tightening those gaps so that we can carry the innovation all the way from fundamental research to then into the innovation outcomes that we seek. Just one quick addition to that. I agree and is very, very well said, i viewer knows if you talk to industry and academia, everyone will tell you nsf jobtraining programs are worldclass, the curriculum, the approach. So we want to learn from that and, of course, expanded because we now have all this additional money. But in the nsc see for example, just going to establish this fall,nd nsf is a Founding Member of that. We really trying to bake in the nsf to everything we do and, frankly, leverage all of their great work especially in a workforce training. You are awake at ahead of us and very, very encouraging. Gina, secretary raimondo, the chips and science directs the office of science and Technology Policy to develop the interagency National Science and Technology Strategy to establish National Research goals and a special in terms of. Weve been looking at how researcher standards, new commercial applications in the field of ai are going to transform not just our economy but our Global Competitiveness. So i thought it would be useful to get what priorities does the department see are important in this got a forthcoming strategy to reflect in the field of ai . So we should visit on this when we have more than 19 seconds to talk about it. But nest as you well know is a standardsetting body. They are cut the lead agency in the Administration Work on ai. Imported put at the Risk Management framework which is voluntary risk guides for Developers Developing ai. And the special sauce of nist because her neutral third Party Everyone trust them. So industry will collaborate with them. Universities will collaborate with them, and thats the entity that will be forming the new standard. Candidly, i know im out of time, i think there would be a u. S. Led ecosystem and we need, fai we need to make sure the standards that fuel that are consistent with our democratic values. So we can have a further discussion. No, absolutely. I agree completely. I think nist just or large audience, this is one of the most effective organizations we have in the government. I think theygo do a remarkable b come almost impossible job. Remarkable success but almost impossible job. I will yield body get ask questions later because now im chairing psyche to come back. Senator thune. Mr. Chair, i would yield to my colleague down just to my right, senator moran whos been waiting peacefully, for a patiently to questions for senator moran. Thank you, senator thune, for yielding and thank you to the director and to the secretary for your present with us today youre doing to limit the sites and ships act. I would not take up my time much of my time anyway to reiterate whats been said time and time again in regard to rural and Small Business. Thank you director we might have conversation in theve future about, i please with the score that you met the standard, the goal of the interest in knowing if there are challenges that you will face in beating continued to meet that exceed that goal in the future . Secretary raimondo, could you update the committee on your efforts to ensure rule states and Small Business benefit from the chips and science act, particularly the tech hubs and Chips Program . Yes, thank you senator. As i said we will be putting up the tech hub designations this fall and we will ensure that there will be geographic representation including where much of that is because we have been doing outreach to Rural Communities to let them know the money exists, we want them to apply and to help them apply. As i said before it so oversubscribed that have no doubt there will be rural places we wouldve liked to have invested in that we will not be able to. With the chips part of it, just last week we put out funding opportunity for small and mediumsize supply chain companies. And i promise you we are going to work overtime to have small suppliers, small Chip Companies eligible for the money. You have reassured me that of a 16 times and unthankful and a still true today. Would you describe, secretary, the process for evaluating tech, applications, and in particular what role does the eda regional offices play in the process . So the eda, it is as a said before itc. Is a meritbased process. We of National Security goals we need to achieve and those our primary. Another thing we could unwitnessed likelihood of success, how strong isof a partnership, is there full buyin from the community . The decisions are going to be made by a committee in d. C. With advice in consultation from the local offices. Regional offices . Regional offices, yes. Could you tell me, secretary, if there is value in application for a tech of that originates by a state . The tech application originates by a state as compared to an entity, a different entity . I dont think theres no preference either way. We are open. The timeline for tech hub announcements, tech hub designees and Development Grant awards . This fall, as soon as possible. Then expect to see Chips Program awards at what point in time . Also this fall. Let me say this. I am of the ss as i can, but its more important to get it right then the fast and it depends on Companies Applying and having good applications. Having said that, i hope tech hubs will be in the coming weeks, and i hope well have some chips from the announcements this fall. Thank you for the explanation and its one with which i agree. Finally, i want to talk about huawei. Export control of Ai Technology details about what they seem to have compass, what huawei has chips come what huawei passing to accomplished details of that remain unclear. We have a particular interest in appropriations process in the bureau of industry and security within your department with significantly boost in fy 2022. Im sorry, 2023. I want to get to my question in the next few seconds that i have. What gaps remain in u. S. Technology export restrictions that may have allowed a targeted company to manufacture and advanced semiconductor . Okay. This is a critical thing and we should visit when we have more time. Let me just say the reports about huawei are incredibly disturbing and although i cant comment on any investigations, i promise you we take every credible threat seriously and investigate to the fullest a whatever we think there is some credible allegation that a company has done and in run around her export controls. We are, we need different tools that unsupportive of the guard act which would, and to restrict act, which would codify ict as authorities. We need that two of the comprehensive approach to go after connected apps. We would need resources additionally to do that. I think we need Additional Resources around enforcement to do exactly what youre talking about. Candidly, the threat is different today. The threat from chinafe in 2023s different than the cold war threats of decades ago. It is technology. It is a eye it is moving fast, and so i would welcome a broader discussion with you around how we modernize what we do and have properly fund what w we do. Theres been lots of wakeup calls. While weight is one that stands out, received significant attention and i would welcome the chance for your direction, suggestion on how we either as appropriate or authorizes would be helpful inor closing this opportunity for china. Technologies that. We will do it. I am proud of the fact under my watch we opposed imposet fight ever in history, 300 million fight against the Company Called seagate for violating controls, selling to huawei. El we are as tough as we need to be but more resources would be helpful. Was the fine collected . Yes. Good. Thank you. [inaudible] thank you, chair cantwell. Thank you to recommend for this important hearing. Secretary, thanks for beingng here. Director, thanks of vineyard. Secretary raimondo, one thing i wanted to share with you and also chair cantwell is to show support for Ranking Member question to the secretary on midband spectrum and coronation between the department of commerce and defense to ensure more midband spectrum is available for 5g wireless i dont have a question at this time. I only wanted to show support for the request from senator cruz and the commitment from the secretary to brief congress on the study that the department of defense submitted last week. So thank you very much for that. As you know i am proud of new mexicos long history of connecting scientific innovatio innovation, National Security, Global Competitiveness and for over 75 years our department of Energy National labs have certainly nation with their International Leadership and scientific discovery and innovation. Created their chips and sides, the nsf innovation engines are designed to greatre regional sce Innovation Ecosystems across the nation to accelerate the development of critical technologies. These innovation engine will provide another opportunity for states like new mexico to support the nation by driving the scientific innovation needed to maintain International Leadership. Director, i was pleased to chessmen acknowledged the fact we all know too well. The Economic Prosperity produced for scientific innovation has not been shared equally across our nation. My question, director, yes or no, do you expect the choice of Regional Innovation inches will provide Economic Opportunities to those communities that are too often overlooked . Yes, and i can give many examples. I appreciate that very much, will submit something to get the specific responses as well. I was happy to see that one of the 16 innovation in the june finalist is a new Mexico Space Valley Coalition which is dedicated to grow in the nations commercial spaceth industry. The new Mexico Space Valley Coalition includes the city of albuquerque, leaderse from the private industry,si universities across the state of new mexico including navajo technical university. Director, as you know the coalition in new mexico is an incredibly talented group that represents the diversity of my state and the United States of america. By all measures the new mexico valley appears to be prolix r the innovation engine decision. The chips ands science act established the Technology Innovation and Partnership Director of the National Science foundation. Of those three words, technology, innovation andin partnerships, partnership is very important. By expanding authorities for not just the National Science but also the departments of energy and commerce, the chips and science act makes clear no Civil Department or agency can do it alone. The scientific challenges we face are too big. A time like to meet the challenges is too short and International Competition is too strong. I was pleased that nsf and department of energy cited m. O. U. To partner on finding solutions to many of these challenges. Director, yes or no, for the National Science foundation to success with the put the new authorities provided by chips and science, will the Agency Partners like the department of energy . Mr yes, and we do that a large measure with the m. O. U. There are many examples again at that. Can to share some of those examples you to shared through that m. O. U. As well but others that show that connection and a partnership with the department of energy . Will be happy to do that, yes. Now, secretary raimondo, thank you for your leadership and leading the department of commerce. Especially in thehe space whereo many of the challenges that we face as a country will fall under your leadership and the jurisdiction of the department of commerce and your team. We just heard from the director how nsf is partnering with the department of energy. Can you share with the command how the department of commerce is engaging the department of energy and the National Labs into the bidding chips and sciences progress yes, thank you. Also have an excellent cooperation with the department of energy at a particular in the National Science, Technology Center stand up this fall . They along with an a civil be one of the founding entities. And so they will have a real role to play in establishing the center, defining the priorities and we plan to rely on their expertise very heavily. I i appreciate that very muc. Madam chair, as i yield back, i just want to note for the record the concern i have, which is look at the aggressive posture from the administrations solely for the National Science Foundation Top line. I have a concern when a look at the compared to department of Energy Office of science, and if in congress and the administration can expand funny for both nsf and office of science at similarnd rates if ae going to work to make sure chips true succeeds as well. So with that i thank you and i you back. Thank you. Senatork. Thune. Thank you, madam chair. Secretary raimondo, thank you for being here today. I have and work with members of the both sides of the help to develop a light touch framework for oversight of Artificial Intelligence. As im sure youre aware that i is a major focus for the senate. In your written testimony you indicated the chips and science act will help enable us to be the Global Leader in emerging technologies and you specificallyfofo referenced thew national Semiconductor Technologyer center. I am focused on ensuring the senate puts in a nesser guardrails while also ensuring any legislation encourages and that stifles innovation in ai. Could you explainyo in more detl how the national Semiconductor Technology center of the chips and science act more broadly is encouraging innovation in Artificial Intelligence . Thank you. I agree with you strongly. United states has Competitive Edge in the world right now. We are leading the world in ai and we need to preserve that lead and extend that lead. We have to preserve our Competitive Edge. Having said that, we have to balance the opportunity with guardrails that make sure that we protect ourselves from the downsides. So nist part of the department of commerce has put out a Risk Management framework which is voluntary to developers for safeguards they should use as they develop new ai algorithms. Similarr to the voluntary commitments that the president and administration have extracted from the biggest ai developers. With respect to the nftc, that will be research and development. So whether it is new material, new ways to develop, new Semiconductor Chips, all ais going to be powered by i chips were again we lead the world. Think the nftc what collaboration with universities and companies to lead the next wave of research and velvet and startups so we continue to maintain our ai lead. Thanks. This administration continues to push for Public Utilities stop relation on the internet. Usda has tried to insert socalled Net Neutrality rules in this reconnect program ntia has thrown in a number of strange requirements. Just last week the sec announced it will be restating the obama era title ii regulation on the internette sec. Dont ask meul why. You would want to regulate the internet as a depression era monopoly, but they seem to be headed back down that road. With respect to the beat program i find it troubling that the administrator were put over 40 billion in broadband funding atcc risk just to accomplish a campaign talking point. What i would argue is instead we should be establishing efficient be rules that incentivize the participation of companies that spent years building a Reliable Networks to some of the most remote parts of the country. Will you commit to not require states to include specific price points for broadband offerings in their bead plans, yes or no . Yes, we do not require that. I want to be clear we are not rate regulating the we are not pacesetting and when not required states to do that. Furthermore, we want all providers large and small to participate in the program or the way were doing is every state, your state, your governor would create a plan that they think that meet the needs of your state and that our job would be to evaluate that before we found the plan. All right. You would commit ntia would give states discretion how to implement . Yes. Lowcost, metaclass, affordability requirements. In 2022, i introduced the Quantum Network infrastructure and Workforce Development act with senator hassan which was ultimately enacted as part of the chips and science act and among other things theie bill as to build on the expertise of nist to improve existing research on Quantum Network and encryption. Potential protect privacy while bolstering u. S. Leadership andan competitiveness in the development of these technologies. Could you describe how the department has worked to promote u. S. Competitiveness and innovationhe in development and standardization of Quantum Technologies including through the implementation of this bill . I would be happy and i will follow up with the doctor who runs nist but i can tell quantum, quantum, ai and chips are areas where we are exceedingly focused to develop standards and to focus our investments. All right. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you turks or peter. Thank you, madam chair. And toward witnesses, quebec is good to see both of your today and thank you for all the great work that you do. Secretary raimondo, i believe in order too be a a great countrt you actually have to make things, has to be our focus for you and i have talked about that before and one of the primary goals of the chips and science act was to increase Domestic Production of mature Semiconductor Chips to address the crisis that we saw in the automotive supply chain. The crisis that was prevent consumers from being able to purchase vehicles and resulted in furloughs of autoworkers due to the shortage of matured chips. Like we had parking lots full of automobiles and takebi up trucks that needed aru chip or two befe they could head off to the dealer. Your department has pledged to spend 10 billion in the chips funding to fix that and certainly would love to have an update on that but hope your commitment will stand through the full expenditure of the necessary investment in that industry. But in addition to making more mature chips here in america we must also use the chips and science act to invest in the future of the Automotive Industry. That means research and development. Michigan stakeholders have mobilized to meet that challenge and one example is the Star Initiative to establish a Semiconductor Center of excellence in michigan, led by the internationally Renowned Research center come Semiconductor Equipment manufacture kla, university of michigan and washington Pressure Washing off committee calls forc our nation focus on advanced micro Electronic Research for Vehicle Electrification and autonomous automotive solutions. These Innovative Solutions will help seemed the United States leadership not only in the future of semiconductors but also in the future of the Automotive Industry. So my question for you, secretary raimondo, as you disseminate chips r d funding in the coming months with you commit to considering a cross over impacts of semiconductor r d projects can have on other Industries Like the Automotive Industry as atr way to maximize the impact of these funds . I will but let me say this. As you know the statute as you well know,tu statute requires 2 billion set aside for the mature note chips. We have said we believe we will invest close to 10 billion and supply chain mature and current node chips. That is still our plan. We think thats what necessary to get the job done. With respect to your other question, early in the new year we will be getting the funding opportunity out for the r d portion. And and i will commit certaino work with you between now and then as we designed that application before putting out early in the new year. But i do want to be clear that said this allhi along, the point of the Chips Program isnt just to incentivize a few new fads and n call it a date. Its not, thats not enough. That is not success. That is necessary but insufficient. The point is to do exactly as you say. It is his twominute research and development pickett is to stimulate job training and to have a whole ecosystem that no longer, that we need to deepen in the United States, including applications like any other industry. We are in violent agreement on this, and i look forward to working with you. Very good. I look for to that as well. Raisin of the issue related to semiconductor raise another issue. Advanced packaging which a significant part of the chip supply chain as you well know that i believe need significant focus as part of our onshore in efforts to bring this back to the United States because of its importance both from a National Security perspective and for American Workers and consumers. Calumet electronics with the help of incredible engineers from the Michigan Technological University up in houghton is doing incredible work on advanced packaging, particularly by making very advanced printedp Circuit Board for Defense Applications and their expanding the capacity. My question for you is, as we trywe to ensure the supply chain is important, can you speak to advanced packaging will be prioritized in funding Going Forward . Yes. This fall we will be putting out a strategy paper on our packaging strategy, our plan. So you will be able to see that soon. That me to your district right that we dont put into advanced packaging in the United States. It is a huge problem doesnt get much attention. Even if we make the chips in the United States and then ship them to asia to be packaged, that doesnt secure the interNational Security goals. We are deeply committed at the end of this implementation to have advanced packaging on our shores. And as i say later this year we will put out more details on the strategy. Senator t blackburn. Thank you, madam chairman. Let me say with this issue on the fabs, and i looked at your notice of funding opportunity when you were y talking about we could have as many steps as we want, how we have to move forward on this with the supply chain. So my questionn for you is looking at the investment tax credit. And should Congress Look at harmonizing the investment tax credit in 48d to a line with the program that you are running to ensure that the law allows for manufacturing for the facilities that you claim are going to be necessary and for being able to resure much of that activity, and then how are you working with secretary yellen on this . So i will leave it to congress to decide if and how you might want to amend legislation. The legislation is currently crafted, has a tax credit beig more restrictive than the chips act. Excuse me, and the grant. So it is intended by statute that the tax credit is more restricted than the grant program. Yes. I question is should we harmonize that . Once i have to think about that to be very honest. If you want to get back to the of that, i think your insight on this is something that is important. Okay. Dr. Panch, again we almost got you into a a ut jersey whn you were there in tennessee and will get you back. Lets talk a little bit about microelectronics and ultraviolet lithography. And the work that is being done there. What are you doing to make certain that we dont have several different agencies that are working onhi this but we are not harmonizing that work . Senator, its great to be with you and univision tennessee in knoxville when we announced the Regional Innovation engine which i keep talking about. Thats a focus on transportation electrification and digitization. Specifically to yourif question, we have very tight partnerships with all of the agencies in areas that bring us together. For example, we have an m. O. U. With speedy so youre watching the duplication . Absolutely. Perfect. Thats what i wanted to another people in tennessee wanted to know that. Secretary, i wanted to talk about your trip to china. Did you think it was a success . It was a productive trip, certainly. Were you able to hold them to account . I was clear that there would be no negotiation on anything related to National Security or export control. And did you call them out about committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslims . I did. And their response . I didnt get much of a response. Okay. And that he visited taiwan . I have not. Any reason for that . I have had no reason to visit taiwan. No reason to visit taiwan . And even though they are our primary supply of a lot of chips. Do you consider taiwan a country . The administrations policy is clear on taiwan, and speedy so youre not going to deviate from that . Absolutely not. Okay. All right. I think that we all very concerned about continuing to bolster our leadership, whether it is going to do with semiconductors, broadband, ai, quantum, the microelectronics that we were just discussing. And we cannot afford to fall behind the ccp. We just cant and is going to take holding them to account. And in my opinion it is going to take supporting taiwan and the work they are doing. And, of course, you know, weve got to make certain that the ccp controlled entities dont benefit as we move forward implementing chips. I thinkor its also, madam chairman, one of theso reasons weve got to get busy with the mq ia and make certain that we get that reauthorized this year. I read article in the hill with a mention quantum computing capabilities are things a chinese come this party is going to use to bolster their surveillance and their satellite movements. As you look at this, it is imperative that we not give them one g inch. I think that sending that message that yes, indeed i want is someone can work with and their want of our business for something thats important. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you. Senator welch. I would just ask we on a tight timeframe with our witnesses and we dont want what to get threat but is to just keep to y your time if you can. Senator welch. I will. Secretary raimondo, first of all i think youre doing a great job and were excited in vermont about the chipsr act and if ity calling todd young who played such an instrument role in getting the past. We have a production of chips printed on silicon chips and that the new technology that is providing greater power. Global foundry chips are very Large Company in vermont is a leader in this. I want to give you an opportunity to explain what the department is doing to continue to identify the development and manufacture of mature legacy node Semiconductor Technology . Yes, thank you senator. Nice to see you. As i said the statute requires that we invest at least 2 billion in grants and legacy nodes. We believe that we will invest an ethically more than that because these are the chips that are essential. I will say we also executed and m. O. U. With the department of defense whereby they can share information with us around their needs for the Defense Industrial base. Much if not most of the Defense Industrial base needs these existing node, return note and legacy chips so that is another reason why we are so focused on making sure we have enough supply in the United States. Thank you. Another question of real interest to us in vermont are the regional tech habs program that of course as you know was part of chips and science. We have got applicants. Is her commitment from the department of commerce to follow the requirements in that program around Rural Vermont would be among them . Yes, of course,. And the deadline for phase one solicitations was august 15, and theres a lot of interest in knowing when were going to hear. I dont know if you can comment on that, but it would be good to have some visibility and when we can expect an answer. Yes, senator. As i said earlier we are working as fast as a kindred we received over 400 applications from nearly every state. I hope to be able to have news in the next month or so. Okay. Thank thank you very much. Wanted to ask dr. Panch, a few questions. We really appreciate all you are doing to help Clean Energy Innovators from the Development Way throughe commercialization. At all of us are little bit blue about how we develop s investede also got significant Clean Energy Portfolios as well. As an example the vermont startup which earth llc is aiming to leverage its Clean Energy Technologies while in the course of optimizing Wastewater Treatment for nutrient and water recovery. So the results so theres a number of those activities that his that is focused on clean energy and sustainable energy. Okay, thank you. I want toblo be one. Thank you. My job isat to protect the taxpayer money and in order to do that these companies have to be able toav meet their mission and in order to do that they need to have a Trained Work Force and the going to work within to make sure that happens. I dont think diversity thank you, madam chair. I appreciate it. Thank you for holding this import hearing. Secretary raimondo, director panchanathan, thank you for your testimony today. Really appreciate it. I want to take a moment to recognizeay the work that secretary raimondo and director panchanathan, have done to sciencet the chips and act. You pass bills as to have gone above and gone to quickly and efficiently roll out these programs so we can strengthen our stem workforce and bring goodpaying jobs right here at home. Two of you once point come thats what. So lot about advanced manufacturing. Of course it past the chips and science. We wantt to bring manufacturing back to america to want to create those goodpaying jobs here and as we do this again everyone is talking about creating the workforce, the training and skills that are necessary. Im proud to support that built and im proud that it included language that i drafted with senator blackburn to provide funding, workforce education, training and developing, and advanced manufacturing. And this commission was based on my bipartisan manufacturing jobs in america act. So director, can you please provide us an update on the application of the workforce provision, then secretary raimondo, can you talk a little bit after that how we include our Smaller Community and our Rural Communities in being sure that they can group out advanced manufacturing . Thank you very much, senator. Again i want to say it was a pleasure being in reno, nevada, announcing the Regional Innovation engine and have come to that and a moment. To answer your question and a separate 200 million over five years to establish the Workforce Development plan focused on microelectronics. But as you know nsf is the stem workforce Development Agency for the country in all aspects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in terms of the broadbased mandate which focus on k12 as well as university Community Colleges and beyond. So this 25 25 million invt in fy 23 and fy 24 is focused on bringing up as i said earlier upwardsli of 100,000 new practitioners, and educators for a key need in the Semiconductor Industry. Used primarily in the partnership we have had as well as the future of semiconductor programs as well as Computer Science for u. S. Programs and specifically focused on microelectronic development. Im happy to talk more about this in the interest of time i want to make sure that im respectful of the overall time constraints the chair talked about but im main to say that in reno, nevada, we are involving the Community College move twargd lithium mining processing as well as recycling, thank you. Thats great. A lot to talk about this and we love our Community Colleges in nevada. Just thank you, senator. Just to briefly add on. Last friday we put out an additional funding application for small suppliers, additionally, as i said earlier today, we are committed to investing in or providing grants to small, medium and large semiconductor companies. In fact, as weve talked about, you know, the United States lost about 25 of its small manufacturers in the past 25 years, many of them are Specialty Chemical Companies or Material Companies and so, we are very much interested to partner with these companies in the Chips Program, to build out the entire supply chain all over the United States. Well, secretary raimondo. And i wanted to talk about the Senate Armed Services committee and talking about the National Security implications of the supply chains and the minerals are in the ground in rural, nevada. Its important were the nations leader in hard rock mining and battery recycling, so, talking about our work force. Talking about all the things we can do, what more can congress do to bolster our Critical Minerals work force. Strengthen our supply chain for us, is going to help our small and Rural Communities in nevada. I think we need to continue to focus on it. We need a National Plan as relates to Critical Minerals for vehicles and semiconductors. We at the Commerce Department are trying to build and have asked for, i think, 20 Million Dollars to set up a supply chain office in the Commerce Department, so we can be proactive, not just reactive and in identifying all of our holds. Thank you, i look forward to working on that. And i made it just about on time. Thank you so much. Thank you. Senator schmidt. Thank you, madam chair, welcome, good to see you. I want to get to just two or three topics, ill go kind of quickly. As you know, the dod is in the process of evaluating commercial 5g use, madam secretary and use in the lower throw three. Its my understanding theyve talked about it and theyve shared with you, also the nci, theres a lot of hesitancy, i think, from the variety of other agencies, for a variety of reasons for making additional spectrum available for commercial use. Its finite, so i think the collaboration is really important and you play an Important Role in advising the president on this, as you know. And understanding what our nations spectrum strategy ought to be and what additional federal spectrum available for commercial use, whether its license shared, licensed, unlicensed, what that ought to be. So i think its critical, i serve on the Armed Services committee, too, on this committee. Theres a balancing act not just National Security, but Economic Security. What are you doing specifically to have or evaluate a strategy here and what would you do tomorrow if dod says the lower three are off limits entirely . I think that would be deeply problematic. As we said earlier. We received a report at the end of last week, and we should arrange a briefing for the dod and ntia to come to provide that briefing on what that report said. It is a balance, but economic competitiveness is National Security. And making sure we have enough spectrum available for private Sector Innovation and 5g expansion is National Security and there are ways, if were innovative, this shouldnt be a zero sum game. We should make more spectrum available and also not take anything away from the dod that they need to fulfill their mission. Madam secretary, in august, you visited china. Shortly after it was revealed that the prc had hacked your email account. And they were privy to all of your emails. In an interview with cnn state of the union you argued that youre firm and direct with the chinese hack, do you view it as a sign of weakness . I do not. Are you aware of additional cabinet members that you were emailing with that they were able to access your emails from . As you know, senator, this is an active investigation, so i dont want to go into that in this public forum. Obviously, this is concerning, right . No doubt. The hack was concerning, it was unacceptable, i brought it up when i was there and its more than concerning. Okay. I just want to switch things up a little bit with the remaining time that i have as program, and ask a couple of questions in that regard. What does Climate Change have to do with broadband . Climate change has to do with everything. Tell me your exact question. Well, ill be happy to. You asked you have Climate Change requirements and that the states eligible entities must account not only for current climate related risk, but also how the frequency, severity and nature of these extreme events may evolve as our Climate Changes over the coming decades. Can you tell me anywhere, madam secretary, where congress has put into law that you would require them to mitigate Climate Change . Can you point to that section . Congress requires us to be good stewards of taxpayer money. Thats not my question. Therefore. Where are you drawing authority from. Projects that will be successful, otherwise well waste money. I understand upping its important, joe biden thinks its important and you want projects to be successful and if climate ments how does deploying broadband in branson, missouri have anything to do with your climate agenda . Ill give awe great example for example, senator i talk to people all the time and including in rural places who tell me that due to climate events, their Current Technology doesnt work, like they dont have the internet when theres a storm so climate very definitely affects the effectiveness of certain technology. I can tell you having just been elected by a state with a large rural population, theyre interested in their kids being able to access the internet for homework and theyre not interested in your social experiment. Okay . So, just in the line of senator vances question about injecting identity into your applications, how about we deploy the access. 1. 7 billion and r for your state and your governor with a plan how he feels it should be invested. Senator markey. Thank you. Thank you. And you have two of my alltime favorite witnesses here so i can see you, madam secretary, and panch. You know youre someone with one name, beyonce, cher or bono. With the explosive growth over the past two decades, the Semiconductor Industry is a large contributor to the Climate Crisis releasing the equivalent annual emissions 1. 4 million cars on the roads of the United States. Carbon emissions and production of the most advanced chips as the Commerce Department prepares to issue 50 billion for chip manufacturing in r d we cannot ignore the Environmental Impact of this investment. Secretary raimondo, i was pleased to see the department is requiring responsibility plans in the chip act funds. So madam secretary, i understand that youre committing to ensuring that Companies Make good on their environmental commits. Yes, it isnt social policy, its Good Business. Every ceo of every American Company will tell you they have to manage risk and theres risk associated with climate events. If we dont plan for those climate events, then they could insert risk into these projects, whether its broadband or chips, so, this is companies ought to Design Projects to minimize adverse impacts to the project from climate and the environment. And this is just Good Business and good taxpayer protection, it has nothing to do with a social agenda. Great. So major manufacturing activities, including chips manufacturing can also lead to significant Environmental Justice concerns for communities surrounding the manufacturing plants, developing chips is an incredibly water, energy and chemically intensive process. The chemicals currently used in semiconductor to workers and familys technologies and needed to manufacture semiconductors without these risks. So can you tell us how youre prioritizing that research thats truly green and clean in the Semiconductor Technology. Yes, so in addition to Companies Applying for taxpayer money, they have to show us a Financial Plan and r d plan, a security plan and we want to see a sustainability plan that we can evaluate to make sure that theyre serious about these commitments. So were going to open the federal taxpayers wallets to private Sector Companies, but we cant do so and close our eyes to the potential environmental harm to the communities where theyre going to be located. We can do both at the same time. Now, i want to move to the Environmental Impact of chip manufacture to the impact of chip use. So, big data, Machine Learning and ai all require huge numbers of chip cutting Edge Semiconductors and create a significant Environmental Impact, a study from the university of massachusetts amhurst estimated that the energy for developing one advance ai algorithm out of millions of potential models of algorithms would admit as much co2 as five cars over the algorithms lifetime and that could be millions of algorithms that are out there. So, these data centers are using scarce Water Supplies across our country for cooling these chips and while ai proponents argue that ai will solve most of our pressing problems, the Energy Required to power the technologies contributing to the biggest problem of them all, Climate Change. So, can you talk about how youre integrating your thinking at commerce on these issues as one solution to a set of problems could actually exacerbate another even larger set of problems . It is such an excellent question and as you think about ai and the compute power thats going to be required for trading these large models, its much greater than any of us thought. One area of innovation in chips is making chips that consume less energy and the research and Development Money that we will spend and nstc i suspect much of it will go to this innovation, which is to say high compute chips that are much more Energy Efficient because otherwise this wont be sustainable if you think what we need to do match up what we need to do with the sustainability and innovations. I wish my mother could hear a Rhodes Scholar could tell me that i asked a good question. So, and just finally, on the labor front, the good jobs that were trying to create so that these families can thrive, have good wages, health care benefits, and the Commerce Department is going to be providing billions of these companies and my feeling is they should be required to maintain strong labor standards for their workers and nonunion companies, must provide workers a free and fair chance to join a union, is that the goal . Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Madam secretary, good to have you here, doctor, good to have you. Its important that my colleagues have an opportunity to ask the probing questions, as pertains to the implementation of chips and science, consistent with congressional will and that we have effective administration. So, thank you for being here. In your testimony, madam secretary, you highlight the importance of being a good steward of taxpayer dollars, can you tell the committee in summary fashion, how youve worked hard to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars as pertains to implementation of chips and science and then advise members who may be listening, because they ask me, how they can track in an ongoing basis of chips and science dollars, these investments . Okay, so, as i said earlier, we built a team of over 100 people to analyze each of these applications. Every company in order to receive money, has to show us a Financial Plan, has to show us their books of their company, their research and development plan, their National Security plan, their work force plan, and as you said earlier, this has nothing to do with social policy, this is ensuring that these companies can get the job done. I dont want my taxpayer money given to a company that doesnt have a work force plan and therefore cant get the job done. All of those requirements are designed to do that. Furthermore, once we give the grant or structure the grant, therell be like an agreement, a contract, a compliance agreement. Theyre going to receive the money contingent upon them doing certain things and well tranche those out milestones. Ive had some with the beginning and worked with you and members of your team implementing and i know youve hired on incredibly talent with wall street experience. People who understand how much is needed for the stake holders and therefore, much of your work is focused on making sure we dont overstep so that we have more resources to spend more effectively and can advance national and Economic Security. With respect to the program, parts of chips and science and hub program, youve spoken to this already, madam secretary, and state of indiana, weve submitted an application called heartland bioworks and if designated, this would help cement indianas position as a very important biotech, med tech, geonomics and bioinnovation. Secretary, congress is only appropriated a portion of the Tech Hubs Program funding. What opportunities are we missing, especially in regards to leveraging private Sector Investments by not prioritizing full funding of this program . Yes, first i want to thank you because youre a warrior to make sure that the 500 million was in there. And its authorized at 10 billion. Were missing massive opportunities. We have 400 applications from over 40 states and well only be well only be able to make maybe five or six sizable grants. As i said earlier, well designate, say, 20 tech hubs, plus or minus, every one of them is probably worthy of maybe 100 million. That right there is 2 billion. So, i think every bit of the 10 billion we could put to work to stimulate high quality tech hubs. Your application is amazing, but then again, so are many of the others. And we will be really missing out. Dr. Panch, relatedly, senator hinrich and i with the Artificial Intelligence resource for the development of Artificial Intelligence and help to harness techs amazing potential. Are you supportive of this create ai act . Yes or no, sir . Strongly supportive, yes, yes. Thank you. I have limited time, but if you could expand on the importance of federally funded research, including the National Science foundations national Artificial Intelligence research institutes, id appreciate that and then the importance of appropriating the chips and science acts. Research authorization and i would know at a time of Artificial Intelligence and importance to this for the National Security. The National Security commission on ai has recommended funding at 32 billion per year, beginning in fiscal year, Artificial Intelligence so that is part of your sponsor. Ai was made possible because of investments as i said earlier, to ai over several decade. Here we are right now and we have a competitor thats outinvesting. And this is not the time to hold back. This is not the time to discuss and debate. This is a time to actually invest, outinvest, outcompete in every aspect of ai and what we cannot have, and i want to make this very clear, is a situation that we have in semiconductors today. Theyre trying to get it back into what it needs to work. We cannot loose that advantage in ai, quantum or advanced, biotechnology and you name it and im extremely concerned that we are not moving fast enough because our competitors are outpacing us and yes, we have a strategic advantage, we will not and we should not and must not lose it. Thank you. Thank you for this. Senator baldwin. Thank you, madam chair and welcome to both of our Witnesses Today. Secretary raimondo, i want to thank you for your leadership in executing the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub program. This committee worked very hard to craft that program and the Appropriations Committee on which i also sit provided the initial funding to get this program up and running and ive heard you loudly and clearly that we need to follow through with significant additional funding in the years to come. As you know, wisconsin worked hard to submit one sole application focused on biohealth and personalized Medicine Technology with a significant private Sector Partnership and investment. As you also know, we have a rich history of innovation, worldclass Research Institutions and robust manufacturing, as well as a very strong work force and work ethic. Wisconsin is poised to become a growth sector in this cutting edge and valuable industry. I do not envy your teams task as you look through multiple applications, but i would have been remiss if i had not also highlighted our application as many of my colleagues have today. Now, shifting a bit, but not much, one of the fundamental issues that the chips and science act aims to address is the two common occurrence of our American Companies doing Cutting Edge Research and development in the United States and then manufacturing their product elsewhere. That is the story of the semiconductor in a nutshell. And part of why the chips act was necessary in the first place. Now, current law requires inventions that stem from federally funded research to be manufactured in the United States, but that requirement is often waived and literally approved with just a rubber stamp. For example, 2022, investigative report found that breakthrough Battery Technology invented in a federal lab and paid for with taxpayer dollars was licensed by the department of energy to a department to a Chinese Company and manufactured in china. Now, i know you are not hear from the department of energy, but the department of commercial has an incredibly Important Role to play in the solution. Now, earlier this summer, President Biden signed the invent it here, make it here executive order. It bears a straching resemblance to legislation i introduced earlier this year with senator vance, which we called the invent here, make here act. Great minds think alike, thats what ill say. Our legislation goes a little further than the executive order. It actually forbids licenses from being granted to countries of concern as defined in chips and science to include the prc among others. So, given your role in carrying out the executive order and the duties Congress Granted you in the chips and science act over commercialization, im interested to know your thoughts on the issue and the need for legislative action in this arena. Thank you. So first of all, i fully agree with you that thats what happened with semiconductors, right . We use today make them in america in search of cheap labor it fled our shores and look where we are now. So i strongly support, you know, what youre trying to do. I also assure you, there is no rubber stamping in these waivers. We have to be practice cal. Not everything is in made in america and not everything could be made in america. However, we had a fantastic visit in kenosha, a perfect example because we at the Commerce Department holding the feet to the fire of those companies, we say were not going to give you a waiver, we dont believe we need to and they found a way to manufacture in your state. I want to make the distinction buy america policies, we build out broadband as you announced in kenosha, wisconsin that we cant necessarily sort, from nokia, its not going to make it here, but you with the buy america language persuaded them to bring those jobs and that technology to the u. S. But here were talking about new inventions funded by taxpayer dollars, and that, i feel, we have a special obligation as steward of our tax dollars to keep the manufacturing here. Absolutely, no, no, i agree. Senator capito. Thank you, madam chair. And thank you for being here, kind after long average. Secretary raimondo and dr. Panch, i guess i can call you that. I did vote for this bill, its critical. Secretary raimondo, thank you for all youve done for broadband, and rolling this out. You know how important it is to me and not just the rest of the country. Ive been interested to hear that your agency, the department of commerce has run into an unexpected hurdle in implementing chip and thats the need for process. Im on the Epw Committee the Ranking Member and this is an issue, doesnt matter if its chip manufacturing, broadband development, transmission, energy, exploration, everything is being held up by the need for process, the permitting process and the ensuing litigation delays that come forward. So, then i heard that theres a i mean, senator cruz has an amendment with senator kelly to except the need for process for the fab, for this particular bill, that would exempt the need for process. Is that correct . And you spoke in favor of that. Yes. How does this administration, with you as their representative, actually square excepting one industry over another when it holding up progress in all in the National Security, Energy Security, communication, everything . Why would that be a good idea and how can this administration think thats a good idea . I can only speak to chips and what i said earlier was, you know, sometimes these processes could take 10 years. Right. And each of these would be for chips, is the National Security imperative. So, what we are doing but of course, i want to be crystal clear, we have to maintain and basic environmental protections as we will as we build out the manufacturing facilities. We are not looking to get rid of environmental protections. Weust looking to have more streamlined process. We agree on that. Im not into eliminating environmental protections. But the length of all of these projects, i would say to you, Energy Security is just as important as chip security. I would say transmission in this country is just as important as something that does manufacturing chips and then if youre going to manufacture the chips youve got to mine them and recover them and that means you have to permit the mine. If you look at arsenic which is used in chips, 97 of that is from china. Look at cobalt. 70 of that is from china. Rare earth elements, 60 from china, 10 from the United States. Titanium, 86 from japan. Noble gases from russia and ukraine, but we had these resources in this country we cant get the mines to permit. How are you going to go from permitting to fab when you cant get the materials permitted . Theres a disconnect here and you know, i would be fine to try to work this disconnect out because as i said at the beginning, i think this is exceedingly important for our future. As you say, this is complicated and there is a balance. I know that the chair in a bipartisan way has worked on an amendment in the ndaa as relates to chips. Im no way saying that these other issues arent also important and they merit further discussion. Well, i mean, i just think its rare ironic that administration would actually rather ironic that they would make an exception for something they consider a marquee plan for them, albeit in the best interest of the country when theres other things that i think politically are more difficult to touch, that they wouldnt look for these steamlining of permitting, which should be fair and even across the board, without giving up any environmental control. I sit on the committee that does this. Ive been very strong on air and water all the way through, but theres a better way to do it. Let me ask you one quick question and then you can respond. I think youve been requested this before, but i do obviously have my West Virginia tech hub application in and were all putting our foot on the scale for our own projects. I had the Program Requires one third of tech hub grants and designations must significantly benefit a small and rural community. So that means one out of the three hub designations under phase two would be awarded to Rural Communities. Is that a safe statement . One that yes. Okay. Yeah, one third. Right, one third statutory requirement is one third in rural or small communities. So thats still the plan. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you. Senator sinema. Thank you. Thank you, chair cantwell. Hurry if we can, thank you so much. Well, thank you for our witnesses joining us today and im proud to have played a central role in ensuring the historic chips and science act was signed into law. The positive impact a year later is clear. In arizona weve led with chips since the 1940s and well help with the chips and science act. I was delighted to see they selected arizona hub as the first and large allocation of the law to continue great work accelerating and that air hair has led semiconductor, from intel, mtsc. These investments are essential, but the leading Semiconductor Manufacturing system is built on humps of Companies Working at all phases of the manufacturing life cycles, as well as the academic institutions and Work Force Training program and Small Businesses that make it possible and thats why it was important to address Semiconductor Manufacturing holistically. There was a time when it looked like the development portion of the law would fall victim to parts and thankfully, senator young and myself and other members worked across the aisle to make sure that that didnt happen. Turning to our witnesses, i want to first start by welcoming and recognizing my friend and fellow arizonian panch and the amazing work at msm. And i got to see your work advancing science, innovation firsthand at asu and a seniorry advisory role in our State Government and now i see the same dedicated insight implementing this at the federal level. Thank you, panch. My first question for you, work provisions for the law, including the chip force Education Fund are essential to building a healthy economy and fueling rewarding careers. Can you previously comment how the ntf funding along with private partnerships will help get the resources where theyre needed specifically in arizona . Thank you very much, senator cinema. Its truly a pleasure to hear from you and youre just taking me back to the years in arizona by what you said and so its always a pleasure. The work force investments that they are making for the chips and science act is total, this year, its 25 million. And we are focusing on ensuring that that pairing up with the investments for intel and micron as our partners who are coinvesting with us, are being deployed in ensuring that we are training the work force not only in terms of what we do with Community Colleges and universities, but also training the trainers, namely the teachers in the institutions so we have a pipeline of talent ensured for times to come. So we are working on all of those Component Parts as youre thinking about deploying the resources and also working on projects, which is focused on with industry, as well as making sure that rescaling efforts are invested in. Its a comprehensive investment of what were doing with chips and science, as well as the Main Investments of nfs and the technologies, and were happy and looking forward to the outcomes, which is very important at this time when theres so much of a need for trained, skilled Technical Work force and semiconductors pointed out for that. Thank you so much for your support and championship of the chips and science act. Well, thanks so much. Secretary raimondo, i appreciate the vision you outlined today for the economic and National Security priorities at the hearts of the chips and science act. To keep pace for the large scale clusters of leading edges, supply Chain Resilience and robust American Work force. The chips project must be funded to be workable. Unfortunately, the need for reviews currently required for chips could slow down for grantees and actual construction by two years or more from the department at the Environmental Impact. This is a huge area of bringing capacity online with the urgency required. Thankfully i worked this summer to include our bipartisan positions in the nda that would streamline federal review while keeping the environmental protections in place and you talked previously before the house science committee, and i want to check with you, do you still support it . Yes. Great. Madam chair, i have questions that i will send over to the secretary and to panch. In the interest of time ill yield back to another member. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair, secretary raimondo, thank you for being here, and thank you both for being here. The Commerce Department has a lot of important rollout responsibilities with the chips and science act and the broadband equity access or the bead program. Weve talked a lot about that here today. So i hope that you would agree that your Department Needs to carefully adhere to Congress Intent in both of the laws. Unfortunately, serious concerns are coming to light about this administrations handling of 65 billion dollars going to broadband. Over the summer, the Commerce Departments Inspector General issued an alert stating that commerce is failing to do basic checks resultening potential unlawful duplication. Recently the wall street journal reported that commerce funded broadband will cost more to bring broadband to a home than the assessed value of that home. Thats wall street journal. And two weeks ago after months of letters from my colleagues and i with concerns that have been ignored, we released a report that found this administration is unlikely to reach all connected americans with broadband. Now, this is due in large part to this administrations extreme bias against nonfiber technology, fixed wireless and satellite broadband and allocating to parts of the country that already have high Speed Broadband like right here in washington d. C. , unfortunately. And as the report went on to uncover, the department of commerce allocated washington d. C. More than 547,000 per unserved location. 33 of those locations are at the national zoo. This is a waste of taxpayer money. I think that most taxpayers would be horrified by the prospect of spending upwards of 100,000 or 200,000 to connect a single location, especially when many of these homes could be connected by alternative or Innovative Technologies at exponentially lower cost to taxpayers. So question, would it be better for taxpayers to spend 200,000 on a fiber connection to a single home thats worth 50,000, thats 200,000 to connect it, thats a connection fee in costs, to a home worth 50,000 or spend 500 connecting that house to a high speed satellite . Thank you, senator for your question. First, i want to say, the statute provides for lets just go back. Thank you for elaboration, i know its end of the day if you could answer, better to spended 200,000 on a 50,000 house or better to spend 500 connecting to satellite . Depends on the quality. So youre saying it might be worth 200,000 of everyones taxpayer money to connect to a 50,000 house when you could do it for 500 . Did i hear that correctly, madam. First of all, this isnt my decision. Your governor in your state will provide a plan. Our job after that plan, every single north carolinian regardless where they live, have high quality affordable internet. , but i dont think that spending 200,000. Here is whats happening. Let me get to the point. Thank you, madam. Would it be worthwhile. Here is whats actually happening, would it be worthwhile to spended 200,000 on a mansion thats worth 5 million . Nobody says fiber has to be used. And i doubt the there seems to be a bias towards fiber, thats whats happening. Its happening right now because the Biden Administration, he has it has shunned wireless and satellite alternatives. Further, bidens rules allow taxpayers subsidies to building fiber to mansions and vacation homes. These rules prohibit states from funding noncyber projects nonfiber projects except extreme situations, unless they get a waiver, a waiver from the federal government to do the alternative. So i urge you to eliminate tech bias from your rules and put in sensible limits that would stop subsidiing millionaires. In my remaining time, madam chair, id like to mention the report put out by the Ranking Member. The red light report which is to stop waste, fraud and abuse in federal broadband funding and like to submit it to the recordment without action. Thank you, ill yield back. I dont see senator sullivan. I know he want today ask questions and i dont see him on the screen. Ill ask a few and wrap it up so you can get on to the meetings that you both have. Secretary raimondo. Supply chain resiliency depends on security and a lot of discussion in the last several months how to best get that particularly when it could be back door attempts to information and Communication Technology and data that could be used for surveillance are espionage, various things. We have looked at this issue and suggested and been suggested to us, Something Like the guard act, which would give congress when we think about the Information Age and technology and export and import controls, one thing is clear, we need a little better tool on the control of flow of what could be a back door of information, or information thats just used in a way for purposes not friendly to our country. Like illegal foreign surveillance. So were concerned about targeting of military members, their families, immigrants. What do you think we should do about this . And what do you think about the guard act proposal . Im very supportive of the guard act proposal. Im often asked should we outlaw tik tok. This is bigger than tik tok, certainly tik tok poses security risks to be clear, but we need to update. The threats are different today than 10 years ago so the right way to do this is empower us with a statutory set of tools, to have a comprehensive approach to the connected acts that pose a National Security risks you say. Tik tok and others and so im supportive of attacking it in a comprehensive statutory way. So, appreciate that. Director panch, were oversubscribed on the nsf side. I suggest that we have more conversation about this, but how do we, from a scientific side tell appropriations side that we have shortfalls that could ive loved all of these questions about both where we go and obviously, the bill is about creating a distributed generation of r d and we already are pretty distributed, competitive and way better than a topdown model of other countries, but i always say that two guys named bill created our economies. Bill bowling and bill gates. You never know where the next bill is going to come from and so thats why we want a more distributed generation of r d. What are we going to do about the shortfall with our appropriators that theres so much in the pipeline that could be effective . At so many levels im so glad, youve been a strong supporter and a champion of the chips and science act and i know how hard you work, so thank you very much. On behalf of the science and technology community. Gratitude and support of this. I want to say that let me take the basic research paradigm. 50,000 proposals and we fund 11,000 of them. 20,000 are told we should fund them, highly meritorious, were leaving them on chopping floor, a huge loss and companies are taking advantage of that. On the Regional Innovation and Technology Apps that the secretary talked about, there are proposals, and then we have the proposals in type two not being able to fund the top quality proposals invested in. These are left behind. Here is what i suggest, that we get an answer from the scientific community. Yes. About the science necessary on these proposals. Like, yes, you get an a on your paper. Its definitely where we should be investing, but we dont have the resources, thats what i think we need not that we want failing grades on the proposals. But were prioritizing. This hearing will remain open for the record, will remain open for four weeks until november 1st 2023. Any senators liking to submit questions for the record could do so two weeks by october 18th and we ask that responses to this be done by november 1st. Thank you to the witnesses, thank you to our colleagues. We kind of had a double feature today on the committee, but had very good attendance at both which i show, i think it shows the interest of members, particularly to this afternoon and this very important legislation. Thank you both for your tremendous leadership on americas competitiveness, were adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] coming up live today on the cspan networks. At 10 a. M. Eastern, on cspan, a conversation about antitrust enforcementith federal trade Commission Chair lena conn and attorney geral. 4 p. M. Live coverage for memoal service for senator Dianne Feinstein of california. And friend andancy pelosi is expected to speak as well as vicepresident Kamala Harris and majority leader chuck schumer. And former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for honorable awards for womens rights and global security. Yocan watch these live on the cspan now video app or online at cspan. Org. Watch cspan this saturday at 8 p. M. Eastern for an exclusive interview with colleen showgun the 11th archivist of the United States. Step inside her historic washington d. C. Office as she talks about her stewardship as National Archives and controversy of white house records over the donald trump era to the current debates under joe biden. Under the law, after the National Archives does a search and determines what records would be responsive to the specific request from, for example, chairman of the committee, then we have to notify the president of whose administration, those records come from, as well as the current president , the incumbent president. In this case, president obama, that would be for vicePresident Bidens records and then of course, President Biden himself is the incumbent president and then there is at least a 30day period in which they have time to review those records and then enter a period in which were able to hopefully provide access and requests to the chairman of the committee or whoever has asked for them under a special access request. Watch our exclusive interview with colleen showgun saturday, 8 p. M. Eastern, cspan, cspan now, our video app or cspan. Org. The resolution is adopted, without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The office of speaker of the house of the United States house of representatives is hereby declared vacant. Stay with cspan as the battle over house speakership continues. Follow every moment as this historic election

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