As it was known back then, usica, in order to shore up u. S. Investment in research, development, and manufacturing of critical technologies. A few names later and unfortunately more than a year later, i rise again before this body to express my strong support for this revised chips legislation that we just cleared an important hurdle for over the last hour and urge my colleagues to pass this bill as quickly as possible so we can get it out of the senate, get it over to the house, and get it to the president s desk. We cannot afford to waste any more time. Because this funding sends a message that the United States is putting a strong downpayment on maintaining our edge in the Global Technology race and preventing Global Supply chains from being weaponized against the United States or for that matter against our allies. Over the past few years, china has continued to increase investments in its domestic industries. Particularly in areas that have longterm strategic influence. This includes the Semiconductor Industry which ive been particularly focused on over the past few years. Now, let me be clear. When i talk about china, i want to be clear. My beef is with the communist party of china and xi zing ping and their approach and its not with the chinese people. When people dont make that distinction, they play exactly in to the ccps agenda that somehow these are antichinese activities. They are not. Theyre activities against the government of china and particularly the communist party of china. The semiconductors often called chips are the backbone of our modern lives. They can be found with literally anything with an on and off switch, from cars and trucks to washers and dryers to smartphones and laptops. Chips are an essential component in so many of the devices we use today. The growth in chips is going to be exthennal exponeial. Devices connected to the internet, autonomous driving would be one example. For every connection, there is a sensor, most of those requiring a semiconductor chip. Unfortunately for looking backwards for many years American SemiconductorCompanies Led the world in both design and manufacturing of this critical technology. But the truth is our leadership has languished. In recent years we continue to lose ground, particularly not just to china but to east asia markets in total. As a country weve gone from 1990 when we produced literally 37 of all the chips in the world, today in the whole field of mike crow to electronics, were down to 5 . China has ramped up investment in chips providing an estimated 200 billion in Financial Support between just 2015 and Going Forward projection up to 2025. Chinese orders for Semiconductor Manufacturing equipment rose 58 in 2021 in the midst of the covid crisis. And china has a goal to produce at least 70 of its usage of semiconductors by 2030. The truth is its not just china. This is global competition. Japan recently passed a 6. 8 billion investment package that will fund innovative chip manufacturing as well as research and development. South korea which has also been one of the great leaders in this Movement Forward has similar type investments. And unfortunately one of the challenges we face, the country or the entity that the country that has evolved some of the fastest has been taiwan were un where unfortunately we rely on the cutting edge, leading edge chips coming out of taiwan. As weve seen with president xis aggressive, at least indications about trying to subjugate taiwan, we think of this in the context of the russianukraine battle, the notion that c can take place, beyond what it would do to the democracy that exists in taiwan, what it would do in terms of that Critical Semiconductor production would cause not a recession but a depression around the world. And its not just south korea, japan, taiwan. India has recently passed legislation investing 30 billion in their Domestic Electronics Manufacturing industry with 10 billion of that dedicated chips manufacturing and display manufacturing. The truth is, and this is one of the things i think was a great irony is that when i spoke about this bill 13 months ago and then i was proud to see the senate with the leadership of the presiding officer and others, we actually passed this bill back in july of last year and our passage of that bill and i think raising the expectation that america was going to really get in the game set off alarm bells not only in terms of whats coming out of asia but from some of our allies in europe. And the truth is, european bureaucrats, particularly out of brussels, are not normally viewed as moving with a great deal of speed. But because we have taken now 12 months to actually get our act together to get this bill to this stage of passage, weve seen european countries, germany, for example, has already selected 32 Semiconductor Projects and put 12 billion in direct investments. And even our friends in france recently announced a major u. S. Global foundry investment in france. This has proven not the lack of investment by the u. S. Has had a huge impact from 2010 to 2020, only 17 Major Semiconductor plants they call them fabs, manufacturing fabs were built in the until. Over that same time weve seen 122 built elsewhere around the world. And the handful of Major Projects announced in the last year of a direct as a direct result of our efforts a year ago to say were going to put our money where our mouth is in terms of these kind of investment, major facilities in ohio, arizona, and elsewhere candidly are very much at risk at this point unless we can get this legislation to the president s desk. Right now truth is the cost of new fabs is 25 to 50 higher in the United States. And thats partially due to the enormous financial incentives offered by our competitive countries. Truth is in a perfect world, we wouldnt want governments subsidizing some of these investments. We dont live in a perfect world. We live in a real world where competitors like china and even allies around the world are making investments candidly that on a per capita basis even make this investment by the United States seem relatively small. Many ask so why is it so important for the United States to make maintain investment in Semiconductor Production when on a lot of accounts, the prc, china, is several generations behind. Because the truth is u. S. Semiconductor firms and firms in the adjacent areas of packaging and meteorology still lead the world. But i can tell you, as chairman of the intelligence committee, i can tell you unequivocally that the communist party of china and the prc is acutely aware of that gap and aggressively are working not just to close it but to eventually leapfrog the United States and our allies to lead in chip production and design. As a matter of fact, just over this past weekend, there was an extraordinary story coming out of bloomberg that indicated that the chinese may have already moved dramatically forward in terms of seven nan meter production. For those aware of if that is true, could have a huge, huge effect. And we should expect that because last year president xi announced a 1. 4 trillion commitment to 2025 to develop advanced technologies not only in chips but in next Generation Wireless Networks and Artificial Intelligence. Technologies that will candidly determine who is not only the economic but the security winner of the 21st century. I firmly believe that this is the time of Technology Competition across a series of dough mains and china has got a plan they articulated in the 2025 document. We in this country are still trying to determine what are those dough mains. The truth is domains. The truth is semiconductors which enable advancements in Artificial Intelligence or High Performance computing or hieber sonics and Everything Else with an on and off switch is arguably the centerpiece of president xis efforts to ultimately control innovation system development. Meanwhile, many of the key ingredients to u. S. Historical success, including federal support for r d, investment in basic research and support for advanced manufacturing have declined over the last 20 years. And why . Well, im focusing on chips and the 5g and beyond here. There is a whole series of components in this legislation we have advanced today that includes beefing up r d advanced manufacturing and other critical areas. Brings me down to my closing comments before i turn it over to my colleague from nevada. Thats why the 52 billion in funding for the chips for america act, a bipartisan effort that my friend senator cornyn and i along with senator schumer and senator cotton, weve been working on this literally for years, way beyond the 13 months when i rose on this topic 13 months ago is so important. And while a parallel effort also in this bill to c the innovation in a resilient ecosystem is so virtually important. I would also note that this simply isnt an economic competitiveness or security issue. We know as we see it play out right now in terms of supply chains, visa advice visavis russia and ukraine, cutting off semiconductors to russia will have a huge effect on russias military capacity. We also know as well this will be a jobs bill in terms of these fabrication facilities and research all across america. And candidly as we know there are literally thousands of cars that is there already been produced by American Auto manufacturers that are sitting, not getting into the market because they dont have the chips to make the cars actually operate over a long haul bringing that supply chain back here will ultimately deal with inflation issues as well. We cannot be held hostage on this critical issue. Now, most of the focus has been on chips as appropriate. But this also bill makes important investments in the future of Wireless Telecommunications. In many ways this issue first came to the forefront not around chips but a few years back, and i say this as a former Wireless Telecom gay, when huawei suddenly started to dominate the market. We raised concerns about huawei. Many of our allies and others said well, thats fine but what is your alternative, what is the western alternative. I think were a little bit slow on making the case, although now virtually every nation that invested in huawei equipment has realized the National Security concerns and are literally in the process of ripping and replacing that equipment. We still have more to do. Were well penetrated some of our markets in the United States. So this bill diswsh that has been called chips also including funding for the bipartisan utilizing Strategic Allied telecommunications act, the usa act, which fosters u. S. Innovation in the race for 5g by providing 1. 5 billion to invest in westernbacked alternatives to, again, chinese equipment providers like huawei, but also zte. This is a bill that i was proud to work with with many intel colleagues, senator burr and rubio, and will stand up a new Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund to spur moments toward open Architecture Software that would allow us to fund innovative, leapahead technologies in the domestic mobile broadband market. That approach plays to u. S. Strengths, Like Software ant Network Virtualization and means well have a wider set of firms, including american firms, with healthier Balance Sheets competing against these statesponsored chinese vendors. Because one thing thats been clear over the past two administrations, our antihuawei message, things have moved, but would have moved quicker with other u. S. And western alternatives. Again, i will close now, but as chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee i see examples every day of how china is doubling down on pursuit of advanced technologies. I think well define the 21st century. In many ways, the United States started to fall behind. Fortunately, its not too late to change that narrative or to change that result. With the right investments, like the ones provided in this legislation, we can unleash the ingenuity of the american people, we can reinvigorate american innovation, and improve our National Security, while setting the country up to lead the way on technologies that will define our future. We need to get this passed as quickly as possible, and then i strongly, strongly urge our colleagues in the house to pass it as well and get it to the president s desk. With that, mr. President , i yield to the floor. I do want to thank my colleague from mive nevada, who has been a leader on this legislation as important whistleblower legislation. Now, on another subject and it is a subject thats