McCaul Touts House China Task Force Ideas, Chips for America Act

House China Task Force Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, believed “we can accomplish” many of the all-GOP group’s recent recommendations regardless of whether President Donald Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the Nov. 3 election. He signaled optimism, during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, about prospects for Congress to direct more money toward implementing his Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act. HR-7178/S-3933 is included in both the House and Senate versions of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395/S-4049).

McCaul said the China Task Force was “supposed to be bipartisan,” but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., pulled her party’s support “at the last minute.” The group recommended in September the U.S. form “a new D-10 group of leading democracies to develop and deploy 5G" and subsequent generations, sanction China-based telecom companies “engaged in economic or industrial espionage” and secure “international leadership” on 5G, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other emerging technologies (see 2010010063). Those aren't issues where there's a “Republican-Democrat” divide, McCaul said Tuesday.

The supply chain issues at the heart of HR-7178/3933 are some “of the most bipartisan issues in the Congress,” as shown by the bipartisan support for including the measure’s text in HR-6395/S-4049, McCaul said. HR-7178/S-3933 originally would allocate $10 billion to match state and local incentives to encourage semiconductor manufacturing and direct the Commerce Department to establish a $3 billion grant program. The version included in S-4049 significantly cut the proposed funding, but “I think there are enough supporters” of the larger allocation that “there can be enough pressure applied” to fully restore it, perhaps via the appropriations process, McCaul said. That’s “always a cliffhanger” but could be easier to accomplish during the post-election lame-duck session.

McCaul praised DOD for its deal with the FCC to sell commercial use of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2008100038), saying it would help the U.S. become “competitive” against China in the 5G race. “We are in a close competition” with China and tech manufacturer Huawei “that some would argue we are not winning,” he said.