Rep. Lee Votes to Pass the America COMPETES Act, Bolstering U.S. Manufacturing and Combatting Supply Chain Disruptions
WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Susie Lee (NV-03) joined a bipartisan majority in the House in passing the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength (America COMPETES) Act of 2022. This package directs transformational new investments in research, innovation, and American manufacturing to invigorate America's competitiveness in the global economy.
"Every day, my constituents are feeling the impact of rising costs and supply chain disruptions at the grocery store, at shopping malls, and at gas pumps. It's time for real solutions that address these disruptions head on and allow our recovery efforts to accelerate and our economy to reach its full twenty-first century potential," said Rep. Lee. "The COMPETES Act will bolster American manufacturing, combat supply chain disruptions, incentivize American semiconductor fabrication, and allow us to compete with China when it comes to our national security, the economy, and leadership on a global scale. I'm proud to have secured some of my own legislative priorities in the America COMPETES Act, including a provision to expand cybersecurity apprenticeship programs."
The America COMPETES Act includes a wide-ranging package of economic provisions to bolster American leadership and innovation across manufacturing, technology, and other industries. This includes full funding for the CHIPS Act to reduce America's reliance on foreign semiconductors, full funding for Brand USA for travel promotion to the U.S., education and workforce development efforts including the National Apprenticeships Act, improvements to our medical supply chain and pandemic preparedness, and strategic policies to support American energy resilience and independence.
Furthermore, this package includes multiple provisions to lower prices and address supply chain disruptions, including supply chain resilience grants, funds to coordinate Department of Commerce efforts with private sector stakeholders, and the establishment of Supply Chain Resiliency and Crisis Response Office. The America COMPETES Act will help the U.S. compete with China on a global scale by countering China's predatory trade and financial practices, strengthening key diplomatic relationships, and updating trade policy to protect American jobs and support American workers and small businesses.
An amendment to the COMPETES Act offered by Rep. Lee was also passed today. The amendment will pave the way toward widespread adoption and deployment of cutting-edge clean energy technologies by streamlining the process of transferring these new technologies between the Department of Energy and the private and academic sectors. Some projects the Department of Energy is working on include clean hydrogen, carbon capture, grid-scale energy storage, small modular reactors, and more.
Additionally, this bill includes key provisions secured by Rep. Lee that closely mirror her Cyber Ready Workforce Act, introduced earlier this week. In the America COMPETES Act, these provisions will authorize the Department of Labor to award grants to eligible entities to support the creation, implementation, and expansion of apprenticeship programs in high-demand industries, including cybersecurity.
You can read more about the COMPETES Act here.
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