The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Domestic Manufacturing (Executive Session)” mentioning Chuck Grassley was published in the Senate section on pages S2404-S2405 on May 10.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Domestic Manufacturing
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, this has been a tough year since COVID-
19 became a global pandemic. There are many lessons to be learned from this pandemic. One of them that jumps out at me as being abundantly obvious is the real-world consequences of vulnerable supply chains.
We almost began to believe, because cheap consumer goods could be made in China or someplace overseas, that that was the optimal arrangement. And certainly consumers in America have benefited from low prices when it comes to a number of things that are not made in this country. But some of the things that we depend upon, whether it is for public health or to keep our economy going or for our national security, are dependent on vulnerable supply chains.
Perhaps the easiest one for everybody to identify with was the shortage of personal protective equipment. I remember when I called my Governor in Texas, he said: Two things you can get us--more PPE and more testing.
Well, we produce so much testing capability now you don't hear much about that. But it was true that our hospitals needed masks, gloves, gowns, and ventilators to keep our frontline healthcare workers safe as well as other patients. At one point the situation became so dire, when it came to personal protective equipment, that first responders asked the public to help boost their supplies. They welcomed donations of N-
95 masks from folks who had extra boxes in their garage or gloves from hair salons that had closed their doors. We didn't reach that point because of the lack of preparation by those hospitals or healthcare workers but because of our reliance on other countries to produce that essential medical gear.
China, it will surprise no one, is a major supplier of PPE. And since much of their stock was sent to hot spots in the earliest days of the pandemic, including in Wuhan, we were left to rely on the relatively small number of domestic manufacturers here in the United States.
But I am here today not to talk about PPE but another supply chain breakdown with far-reaching consequences, and this time it is semiconductors. While semiconductors are something that perhaps most people are not intimately familiar with--but let me put it this way: Anything that has an on-off switch involves a semiconductor.
They are the underlying technology in our most used products, things like cell phones, computers, cars, televisions, dishwashers. That is right, just about anything with an on-off switch. These are small integrated circuits that keep getting smaller and smaller and smaller, which means you can put them on a device like this; whereas, in the past, you may recall, Madam President, I remember the first cell phones that came out looked like a brick, but because semiconductors got so much more sophisticated and so much more powerful, you can put hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them on a device like this. These chips are necessary not just for consumer products but for other things as well, like the cell towers that keep us connected and the advanced weapon systems that support our national security. Even ventilators at hospitals require semiconductors.
In short, we need semiconductors for our most prevalent and critical products, but the vast majority of chips are no longer made in the United States. Taiwan dominates semiconductor manufacturing, and one company, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, virtually controls the market. Last month, TSMC accounted for more than half of the total foundry revenues. Foundries are the manufacturing facilities that make semiconductors. Companies in Taiwan control 63 percent of the global market.
Well, you don't have to look very far to see what a supply chain breakdown might look like because currently we are getting a taste of what it is like to not have access to the semiconductors that the U.S. economy needs. Right now, the demand for chips far exceeds supply. There is a global shortage of semiconductors that is creating serious impacts in nearly every industry, from consumer electronics to national security.
Texas is home to companies across a whole range of affected industries, and last week, I was able to sit down with leaders from a few of those companies in Dallas to learn more about the impact of this shortage.
We heard from a Hewlett Packard executive about the difficulties this has created in consumer electronic manufacturing covering a whole gamut of products.
An executive from Raytheon, a national defense company, talked about how a steady supply of chips is important to our national security. These tiny technologies, these tiny circuits help support American warfighters around the globe.
We know now that the auto industry is among the hardest hit, and I heard from leaders last week from General Motors and Toyota about how their companies are coping. Chris Nielsen from Toyota said that when he first started with the company, you could count the number of chips on a given vehicle on two hands. That is certainly not the case today. Think about all the high-tech features in cars these days--navigation devices, Bluetooth, automatic braking, backup cameras, and a variety of sensors. All of those depend on semiconductors, and that is on top of standard features like power steering, electric windows, air-
conditioning, and windshield wipers. This adds up to dozens and dozens of chips for the various components of a single vehicle, and that supply is getting harder and harder to come by.
At the beginning of the pandemic, automaker suppliers predicted a drop in car sales and canceled existing chip orders. Semiconductor manufacturers replaced the auto chip capacity with other in-demand things like personal computers for kids learning at home or more ventilators to use with COVID-19 patients. But Americans kept buying cars at the prepandemic level.
Unfortunately, the shortage of semiconductor manufacturing capacity and the long lead time for chip making has meant a shortage of chips that will likely last through the summer for the auto industry, and it has forced many auto makers to slash production because they simply don't have enough chips, and they are laying workers off. Some have shifted production to focus on the most in-demand models, while others removed some of the tech bells and whistles.
But the impact goes far beyond the options available on a car lot. For every production or assembly line that is cut, there are hard-
working men and women who lose their jobs, as I said. As a reminder, this industry reaches across virtually every business and every national security company in America--automotive, consumer electronics; everything from the F-35, our fifth-generation stealth fighter, down to your cell phone, agriculture. Some of them even power children's toys.
Well, there is a clear problem with this vulnerable supply chain, and the question is, How do we fix it? How do we solve it? When we faced supply chain shortages at the start of the pandemic, companies of all types began to shift their manufacturing to help alleviate some of the strain. Distilleries in Texas and across the country began making hand sanitizer, and everyone, from big clothing manufacturers to entrepreneurial kids, produced cloth face masks. But with semiconductors, it is not that simple. In order to build a single chip, you need a very expensive, highly advanced piece of equipment. You also need skilled workers, and you need a lot of lead time. It can take months to create a single chip.
Building a new foundry, which is a manufacturing facility, is a huge and expensive undertaking. A single foundry can cost upwards of $10 to
$20 billion. Yes, that is with a ``b.'' It is $10 to $20 billion for a single foundry.
During our conversations last week in Dallas, a Qorvo executive talked about how the process of building a new chip fab isn't just expensive, it takes a lot of time. It can take years to receive all of the necessary equipment.
Time is of the essence, and fortunately a solution is not as daunting as it could seem. In part because of the dependency of this vulnerable supply chain, particularly with Taiwan, Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and I introduced the CHIPS for America Act to help bolster our domestic semiconductor manufacturing. When we first introduced this bill, the chip shortage wasn't nearly as pervasive as it is now, but the writing has been on the wall for years.
As our reliance on semiconductors has steadily increased, the U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing has decreased. Since 2000, the United States has dropped from producing roughly a quarter of the world's semiconductors to only 12 percent. And I am sure it comes as no surprise that as our manufacturing capacity has gone down, China's has gone up. In the same period of time, China has gone from manufacturing zero chips to 16 percent of the world's supply, and it plans to invest another $1.4 trillion in semiconductor technologies.
Yes, America has lost ground to our global competitors, and unless we take action, it is estimated that by 2030, 83 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing will be in Asia. This presents a huge risk to both our national security and our global competitiveness, and we need to take action now to reverse the tide.
That is what the CHIPS for America Act will do. The premise of this legislation is straightforward: create a Federal incentive program to encourage chip manufacturing in the United States of America. Rather than relying on foreign manufacturers or competing against other countries for the small supply of chips, let's bolster the supply of American-made semiconductors. This way, we can secure some of our most vulnerable supply chains. We can create thousands of well-paying American jobs and boost our global competitiveness by supplying made-
in-America chips to our friends and allies around the world.
In the 1980s, President Reagan and Congress led the defense budget buildup to counter military-based, geostrategic threats that contributed to the end of the Cold War. This legislation fills a similar purpose by securing our critical supply chain from the ever-
evolving economic and national security challenges ahead.
Other governments have made similar investments in semiconductor manufacturing--not only China but South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Germany, among others, including a more than $100 billion pledge to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the European Union. It is time for the United States not to just follow suit but to lead.
The CHIPS for America Act has received broad bipartisan support both in the House and the Senate, and it became law in January. That is the authorization part, but now we have the important job of backing these programs with funding
Back in February, I spoke to President Biden about the importance of getting this done, and I am glad to say that there is bipartisan, bicameral support, and the administration has made this a priority as well.
Last month, I sent a letter to President Biden urging him to prioritize funding for these initiatives, and more than 70 colleagues, Republicans and Democrats from the House and the Senate, cosigned the letter. If we are looking for something important to do that has broad bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate and is supported by the Biden administration, this is it.
Bolstering domestic semiconductors is good for our economy, our national security, and our global competitiveness. This current shortage is a reminder of how critical it is to take action today so a lean supply of semiconductors does not become the new normal. We have a big opportunity ahead of us, and success is our only option.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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