The name of the bill — the “United States Innovation and Competition Act” (USICA), though it’s gone by a few different titles — probably makes it sound boring, but it’s proving to be one of the most contentious legislative disputes of the current Congress.

At issue is a bill that lawmakers in both parties and both chambers have been working on for nearly a year. The point of USICA is relatively straightforward: It intends to bolster American competitiveness and counter China, in large part by addressing domestic semiconductor shortages. It’s not the sexiest of political fights, but it relates to everything from manufacturing to jobs, trade to national security.

With this in mind, the House and Senate already passed versions of the bill, sending the matter to a conference committee that began work in April on merging the competing measures into one final package. The plan has been to pass USICA before the fall elections.

Those plans were largely on track, right up until last week, when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested he’d kill the bill unless Democrats gave up on an unrelated piece of legislation that Republicans don’t like. Yesterday, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas published a tweet suggesting he’s on board with McConnell hostage strategy.

“Looks like [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer giving up on USICA, including shoring up the vulnerable supply chain for high end semiconductors. Major chip makers will likely abandon their plans to build manufacturing facilities in the US. Body blow to US national security, economy, and well paying jobs.”

The Biden White House was not pleased, and when Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against the Texan’s missive, Cornyn responded, “You people in the Biden administration are very confused.”

Perhaps. The GOP’s legislative strategies can get somewhat confusing. That said, perhaps I can help disambiguate the details.

Schumer is not “giving up on” the competitiveness bill. On the contrary, he and Senate Democratic leaders are enthusiastic proponents of USICA. They’re also working, meanwhile, on a separate budget reconciliation package, which is currently focused on lowering the cost of prescription medications.

Senate Republicans lack the wherewithal to stop the reconciliation bill — as a procedural matter, it cannot be filibustered — but they can derail the USICA legislation, which they ostensibly support, because it can be filibustered.

In other words, GOP leaders are effectively telling the Democratic majority, “Stop trying to make medication more affordable, or we’ll side with China on semiconductor shortages.”

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Or to borrow Cornyn’s phrasing, Republicans don’t want to deliver a “body blow to US national security, economy, and well paying jobs,” but GOP senators will do this anyway unless Democrats abandon work on an unrelated bill.

Ironically, it was McConnell who declared last summer, “The president cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process.” Almost exactly a year later, McConnell and his allies are now effectively saying, “The president must let congressional Republicans hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process.”

For his part, President Joe Biden is unimpressed with the hostage strategy, telling a union audience in Cleveland yesterday, in reference to the Republicans’ threats, “Folks, this is not right. This is not right.”

At this point, it’s not at all clear how, or whether, this standoff will be resolved. That said, the Democratic majority has a few options, one of which is simply passing the Senate’s version of USICA through the House. It’s also possible Democrats could try to add USICA provisions to their reconciliation package, circumventing Republican tactics.

Watch this space.