July 30 (UPI) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday signed the enrollment to send the $280 billion computer chip manufacturing bill to President Joe Biden‘s desk to be signed into law.
The Chips and Science Act, which would provide incentives for production of semiconductors and other investments in science and technology, passed the House by a vote of 243-187 on Thursday and was signed by Pelosi on Friday during a ceremony attended by House Democrats.An enrolled bill is the final copy of a bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers of the U.S. Congress in identical form and has been signed by the appropriate Senate and House officials and submitted to the president to be signed into law.
“Today, our nation takes a monumental step toward equipping our nation to meet and beat the challenges of the 21st Century,” Pelosi said during the ceremony.
“With our CHIPS and Science Act, we send to President Biden bold new investments to lower costs for America’s families, while protecting their financial future. We return America to world leader status in semiconductor production and power American science and research for generations to come,” Pelosi said.
A joint statement from Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy praised the passage.
“Governors applaud Congress in supporting American innovation and global competitiveness by passing bipartisan legislation accelerating research and development in semiconductor production,” it says.
“The $52 billion in federal investments for domestic semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing are absolutely critical to our national security and will allow us to address gaps and vulnerabilities in the U.S. supply chain.”
Biden got word Thursday that the House had passed the bill during his meeting with business leaders on the economy and is expected to sign the bill into law. The bill passed the Senate Wednesday on a 64-33 vote.
“As we send this bill to the President’s desk, we do so with great pride, because we passed it on the Floor with 100 percent Democratic vote and at the same time, a strong, bipartisan vote,” Pelosi said.
“And here we send to the president, as we do so Democrats will continue to lower costs, more jobs for America’s future, we will always put people over politics.”
The National Governors Association has since urged Biden “to swiftly sign this package into law.”
After it is signed, the law will subsidize domestic semiconductor manufacturing while also investing billions of dollars in science and tech innovation.
The bill is expected to make the chip supply chain more resilient after having experienced shortages that adversely impacted the economy.
House Republican leaders urged members to vote against the bill, reversing their earlier support for it.
