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House passes bill to provide incentives for semiconductor chip manufacturing

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calf., speaks during an a ceremony unveiling a statue of Amelia Earhart on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. The House Thursday voted to pass a bill providing incentives to manufacture semiconductor chips in the United States. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calf., speaks during an a ceremony unveiling a statue of Amelia Earhart on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. The House Thursday voted to pass a bill providing incentives to manufacture semiconductor chips in the United States. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

July 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. House on Thursday passed a $280 billion bill to provide incentives for production of semiconductors and other investments in science and technology.

The Chips and Science Act passed the House by a vote of 243-187, with 24 Republicans breaking with party leadership to approve the legislation and Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., whose family owns QualComm, voting present.

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President Joe Biden got word that the House had passed the bill during his meeting with business leaders on the economy.

Commerce Sec. Gina Raimando congratulated him on the bill's passage.

"Congratulations. That is huge," she said, "The president has been amazing in his leadership on this, so thank you."

The bill passed the Senate Wednesday on a 64-33 vote. It goes now to President Biden's desk to be signed into law.

The $280 billion Chips and Science Act will subsidize domestic semiconductor manufacturing while also investing billions of dollars in science and tech innovation.

It provides $52 billion in federal grants for semiconductors manufacturing and research. Roughly $100 billion is provided over five years for regional tech hubs to support start-up companies.

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The bill is expected to make the chip supply chain more resilient after having experienced shortages that adversely impacted the economy.

House Republican leaders urged members to vote against the bill, reversing their earlier support for it.

In a memo urging the suddenly changed position, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise made it clear that urging a no vote was retribution against Democrats for striking a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin to move forward on a $369 billion deal addressing climate change, taxes and healthcare.

"This legislation comes to the House precisely as Senate Democrats have allegedly struck a deal on their partisan reconciliation bill, pairing up a tone-deaf agenda that on one hand gives billions away in corporate handouts, and on the other hand undoes historic tax cuts implemented by Republicans," Scalise's office wrote in the memo.

The bill Scalise's office referred to -- The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 -- includes a 15% minimum tax on corporations and closes a tax loophole for people making more than $400,000 a year.

That bill invests $369 billion in energy and climate change spending over 10 years while raising an estimated $313 billion from the corporate minimum tax and $124 billion through IRS enforcement of reformed tax code.

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It raises another $14 billion in revenue by closing the carried interest loophole for high income individuals. The result is a deficit reduction of more than $300 billion.

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