Stalled China bill could hitch ride on must-pass Pentagon defence measure

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is seeking to break a logjam on a US$250 billion bill aimed at making the US more competitive with China and easing a global shortage in microchips by attaching it to a must-pass Pentagon policy measure that could clear the chamber this week. 

The China bill, which passed the Senate with bipartisan support in June but has languished in the House, would boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing with US$52 billion in help and authorise another US$190 billion for research and development at universities and other institutions and other priorities. 

The semiconductor money, deemed emergency spending, has new urgency as a global shortage of chips has idled US automotive plants and disrupted the production of consumer electronics.

“I have had a number of conversations with senators on both sides of the aisle and there seems to be fairly broad support for doing so,” Schumer wrote in a letter to all Senate Democrats on Sunday. The move, he added, could allow both bills to pass Congress “before the end of the year.”

The massive defence policy measure has been enacted annually for more than 60 years and typically receives strong support in both parties, making it an attractive vehicle for the China bill. A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Schumer’s likely plan to combine both bills.