House Will Vote on America COMPETES Act

The U.S. House will vote this week on a legislative package known as the America COMPETES Act. The legislation would provide billions of dollars to support semiconductors, supply chains, scientific research, and other initiatives designed to increase U.S. competitiveness with China.

The legislation would authorize $45 billion across fiscal 2022 through 2027 for a new Supply Chains for Critical Manufacturing Industries Fund, which would be used for a critical supply chain resilience program to promote diversity and security in supply chains through grants, loans, and guarantees that support domestic manufacturing of critical goods, industrial equipment, infrastructure, and new technology.

The bill would establish a Supply Chain Resilience and Crisis Response Office under the Commerce Department to promote U.S. leadership in industries and supply chains that are critical to national and economic security. The legislation authorizes $500 million through fiscal 2027 for the Office to map, monitor, and model supply chains, including conducting stress tests of critical industries and domestic manufacturers and identifying high-priority gaps and vulnerabilities that exist or are anticipated in the future. The Office would produce a report on supply chain resilience and domestic manufacturing to be updated every four years.

The bill also seeks to boost supply chain resilience by establishing a pilot program under the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership program to award funding to centers that provide services to improve the resiliency of domestic supply chains and mitigate cyberattacks, among other initiatives. The bill requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create a National Supply Chain Database through the partnership to track disruptions in the movement of critical products.

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