America’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned lawmakers about the vast threat of Chinese Communist Party espionage and theft. Despite those warnings, the $280 billion CHIPS Act of 2022 lacks critical guardrails to protect American research and development. 

In fact, the current version is even weaker than the previous Senate-passed bill because Senate Democrats removed important safeguards. 

• “We need to support American production of semiconductors, but we need to do it in a way that benefits our country and our workers. Corporate interests stripped meaningful safeguards from this package and blocked consideration of others. 
• “No one should be surprised when we hear stories of Beijing stealing U.S. technology funded by this bill or companies producing more chips in China even as they receive money from the taxpayers.”  — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) 

Rubio previously introduced three amendments to address critical errors and omissions in the package, including an amendment to require the Department of Commerce to secure congressional approval before altering the definition of “legacy chips.”

 

Because Senate Democrats blocked all amendments, the Biden Administration will now have the authority to allow CHIPS funding recipients to expand higher-tech chip production in China.

 

In May 2021, every Senate Democrat voted to kill Rubio’s amendment to create a counterintelligence screening process to protect America's research and development efforts.