Biden may sign CHIPS permitting reform bill

(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden could sign legislation that would speed up the permitting process for semiconductor facilities.

The United States House of Representatives passed "The Building Chips in America Act of 2023" by a 257-125 vote after originally passing the Senate unanimously.

The effort led by Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and a bipartisan handful of lawmakers is intended to make it easier for the facilities that have been allocated federal funding to get their plants operating sooner.

"I’m proud to have led this effort with Senator Mark Kelly to streamline environmental permitting for semiconductor factories, a crucial step in onshoring jobs and making our country less dependent on China for semiconductors critical to national defense," Cruz said in a statement.

Kelly said it is a "crucial step in onshoring jobs" and decreasing the reliance on China for chips. A significant portion of the semiconductor supply chain is located in the island nation of Taiwan.

Earlier on Tuesday, the White House announced the last allocation of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2021 awards to Polar Semiconductor in Minnesota.

"Today’s announcement that the Department of Commerce has finalized the first commercial CHIPS Incentives award with Polar Semiconductor marks the next phase of the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, and demonstrates how we continue to deliver on the Investing in American agenda," Biden said in a statement.

The Center Square reported that the bill's movement comes as the industry continues to face construction and labor hurdles, including training enough skilled workers to staff the plants.