Hoyer Vehemently Rejects Passing Senate China Package

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who is a key decisionmaker on what to bring to the House floor, rejected out of hand the Senate minority leader's proposal to bring the Senate China competition bill up for a vote, since negotiations between the House of Representatives and the Senate have stalled.

He said that if the House just accepts the Senate's bill, there might as well not be a House at all. He described Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell's message as: "To Hell with the House." Hoyer argued that because large states and small states have the same representation in the Senate, it's not majority representation, and the filibuster compounds that tendency.

"To think we would just take it or leave it on the House side is not a reasonable thing. We need to reach agreement" and pass the bill, he said during a reporters roundtable at the Capitol July 13. "We need to do that before August 1."

He noted that Congress only has two and a half weeks to go before that deadline and that the two chambers are "pretty close to a deal, but for [Sen. Mitch] McConnell's statement."

He said the support for semiconductor manufacturers in both bills is one of the most important vehicles Congress has to address inflation and to make sure that America from "a national security standpoint and from a competitive standpoint is in good shape."

When asked if the proposal is critical to national security, why not give in, since negotiations have stopped, "McConnell only has all the cards because he's not thinking of America first," Hoyer complained.

"There are certainly some things that we did that the Senate can agree with, And there are things they can't agree with. I understand that. And I don't expect them to take exactly what the House did. But I do expect -- I've been at this a long time -- that there be compromise."

He expressed hope that the other 18 Republican senators would keep working on a compromise, because they want a bill passed. But when reminded that it's the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act they want passed, and so the House voting for it would achieve their goal, Hoyer responded, "I understand that. That's their demand. I think it's an arrogant, more unreasonable demand."

He added, "I don't believe that there aren't ten [Republican] senators who can agree on some of the additions we made in the House bill, which we think will improve it. I understand they think some other things are not acceptable, and we'll have to give that up."

Even if Hoyer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., were to bend to McConnell's ultimatum, and bring USICA up for a vote, it's not clear it would have the votes. Some progressive Democrats would likely vote against USICA because it doesn't advance environmental priorities or help workers who lost their jobs to foreign competition, and a key Republican expressed doubt that he and his colleagues would fill in the gap.

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, is the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. He and all his Republican colleagues on the committee introduced a bill last year that copied the USICA trade title. But he did not endorse the bill as a whole as worthy of his vote.

"I question whether there would be Republican support for that in the House," Brady told our reporter during a phone call with reporters July 13.

He said, "My thought is, always stay at the table try to find common ground on this," but he added, "I have always wondered if a conference committee comprised of 107 members of Congress was designed to succeed."