NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) applauded the passage of their Building Chips in America Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This legislation will accelerate efforts to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to America through commonsense permitting reforms that remove unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles. Hagerty and Kelly, along with Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Todd Young (R-IN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Ted Budd (R-NC), first introduced the bipartisan, bicameral legislation earlier this month.
The Building Chips in America Act augments Hagerty’s legislation enacted during the 117th Congress to cut bureaucratic red tape for key national-security manufacturing operations, like semiconductors, by granting them access to an improved federal permitting program that will also accelerate American development of these critical projects in the competition with adversaries like Communist China.
“Producing semiconductors in America is essential to our economic and national security, and commonsense permitting reform is necessary to advance this important goal,” said Senator Hagerty. “I applaud the passage of the Building Chips in America Act, which will cut through bureaucratic red tape and accelerate our efforts to bring this critical industry back to the United States, and which dovetails nicely with the semiconductor permitting reform I authored and passed last year.”
“By cutting through the red tape to prevent delays of microchip manufacturing projects, this is going to maximize the impact of the CHIPS Act to create good-paying jobs, reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains, and strengthen our national security,” said Senator Kelly. “And it does that while maintaining bedrock environmental protections for clean air and water. We got this passed by working together as Republicans and Democrats to find common ground and get things done. And although there’s still a road ahead of us to get it passed in the House, I am confident that our strong bipartisan coalition will work hand-in-hand with our cosponsors in the House to get the Building Chips in America Act across the finish line.”
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