After the Senate passed the CHIPS and Science Act, intended to bolster U.S. competitiveness and domestic production of microchips, eyes turned to the House, where the bill’s prospects looked good — but not certain. Some on the left appeared skeptical, and it initially looked like it’d take some Republican votes to get the bill across the finish line.
That wasn’t likely to be too big a deal: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy indicated that the GOP wouldn’t pressure members to vote against it.
That is, until Wednesday night, when Republican leaders reversed course and urged rank-and-file GOP lawmakers to reject the bipartisan bill — not on its merits, but as punishment for Senate Democrats negotiating an unrelated measure.
As NBC News reported, it didn’t work.
The House passed a massive package Thursday to boost domestic production of computer chips and keep the U.S. competitive with China. The Senate passed the package, known as “CHIPS-plus,” on Wednesday. It now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
As it turns out, GOP votes weren’t necessary after all: Democrats stuck together, and progressive skeptics decided that a decent bill was better than nothing. Nevertheless, 24 House Republicans ignored their leaders and supported the legislation.
Indeed, Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters ahead of the vote, “Guess who came out today, strongly opposed to the CHIPS bill? The Chinese Communist Party. If you want to know who hates this bill, who lobbies against it, the Chinese Communist Party. Why? Because they know it’ll help us compete against them.”
McCaul certainly didn’t make this explicit connection, but his argument effectively left his party’s leadership — and 187 House Republicans — on the same side as Beijing.
Indeed, the House GOP’s own China task force prepared a report — which McCarthy signed onto — that recommended Congress approve legislation like this. Republican leaders opposed it anyway, in part because they said their feelings were hurt by Senate Democrats trying to advance unrelated legislation. A CNN reporter added that some House Republicans who intended to support the competitiveness bill reversed course as part of a partisan “payback” move. The fact that so many Republicans tried to kill this bipartisan bill makes them look pretty bad. The fact that they failed anyway makes them look a little worse. Postscript: No House Democrats opposed the legislation, but one — Rep. Sara Jacobs of California — voted “present.” She did so because of family connections to the microchip industry, after consultation with the House Ethics Committee.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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