Senate Tees Up Initial Chips Vote, Expects Broad Support

The Senate planned to vote Tuesday evening on moving forward with a chips package that has broad bipartisan support. Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, helped negotiate with Republicans, and House leadership and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo remained in close contact with negotiators, members of Congress said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked Young to secure at least 15 Republican votes for a “skinny” chips package Young negotiated with Portman, Young told reporters. “I think we’re there,” Young told us Tuesday. “Won’t know for sure until this evening, but I feel good about it.” Schumer said “if we can bring him 15 Republican votes for my proposed scope of plus language, it’s included,” he told reporters. “That’s a fair request.”

“We’re going to vote on that later today, and my expectation is it’ll be more than 60 votes,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters. “I’ll be voting yes. This is a slimmed down version of what we’ve already voted for with USICA, so I don’t see anything particularly controversial,” he said, referring to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Both Raimondo and the House have been a part of the discussion, said Cornyn: The most important part of the bill is the chips provision, but “I’m supportive of the larger package.”

“I’m supportive of as big as the bill can get that the market will bear” and get broad enough Republican support, said Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, D-Va. Asked if it’s possible to pre-conference with the House, he said the 140-member conference probably isn’t the right approach to passage. There's “close communication” about the vehicle coming out of the Senate with House leadership on both sides, he said: “I think there will be a lot of House Republicans who will vote for what we pass hopefully this week.” The expectation is for a quick, four-corner negotiation to pass the bill in both chambers, he said.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters he expects the measure the Senate would consider after the motion to proceed would be a “bigger package, probably,” with the full contours “depending on” the “size” of the margin of votes in favor of moving forward. “That’s the problem of voting to proceed before you know what’s in the bill,” said Thune, who’s also Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member.

Both sides worked on the final details over the span of 24 hours, Schumer said on the Senate floor: “We’ll see if members can come to an agreement on adding other provisions to the bill, but the bottom line is that we must come up with a package that is capable of passing this chamber without delay.” If the U.S. doesn’t match manufacturing efforts in Asia and Europe, the “consequences could be dire and long-lasting,” he said.

The version Young negotiated with Portman includes $52 billion in Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act funding, the Commerce Department title, Portman’s research security provisions and a permitting provision, which passed by unanimous consent and would shorten the time to build a fabrication plant from six to seven years to about 18 months, Young said. Asked if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., supports the package, Young told reporters: “He supports allowing the process to work.” He said he would prefer to have the bill language in place before Tuesday’s procedural vote, but it isn’t necessary. “It would be a lot tidier if I could get a commitment from Sen. Schumer” that when he files the substitute amendment, which should be Wednesday, it will include this language, he said.