House Passes Senate GOP Bill to Fast-Track New US Semi-Conductor Factories

A Republican senator’s bill designed to speed up official approvals for building new U.S. semi-conductor factories that was approved in January by the Senate is now headed to President Joe Biden for signature after passage Friday by the House of Representatives.

The House vote was 303 to 89 to approve the unusually short, less than one page, and titleless bill (pdf) that was first introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) with co-sponsors Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). The yea votes in the House included 175 Republicans (29 didn’t vote) and 121 Democrats, with only 10 of the latter not voting. All 89 votes in opposition were cast by Democrats.

The Senate unanimously approved the measure on Jan. 14. House approval was temporarily delayed by environmental groups that sought to kill it by protesting its consideration under a suspension of the rules.

The House starts its August recess after today and when it returns in September the 2022 midterm congressional election campaigns will be in full swing. Congress rarely passes major bills between August and November of election years.

The bill amends the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST) of 2015 to include in its Section 41 permitting provisions to cut federal red tape in approving new projects for the production of a host of critical digital national security and consumer products, most notably covering construction of new factories to make semiconductors in the U.S.

Hagerty estimates that his bill would reduce the regulatory approval process that presently can take up to five years to about 18 months.

“I ran for the Senate to increase opportunity and prosperity for American families and to ensure that America wins the competition with the Chinese Communist Party that will define this century,” Hagerty told The Epoch Times following the House vote.

“We must end