On Friday, the House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act, legislation that would support domestic microchip production and help to strengthen the U.S. supply chain. The bill’s Senate companion passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in June of last year.
In addition to its microchip and supply chain provisions, the House’s America Competes Act incorporates a bill called the SHOP Safe Act which takes aim at e-commerce sites. Chamber of Progress wrote to congressional leaders last year raising concerns that the SHOP Safe Act would harm smaller online marketplaces, and recently joined a letter encouraging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to remove the bill from the larger bill.
“More domestic microchip manufacturing and fixing our nation’s broken supply chain should be a layup for President Biden and the Democrats,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “But a bill focused on U.S. competitiveness can’t hurt our small online sellers in order to help brand names like Louis Vuitton and Prada. As the Senate and House work out their differences, Democrats should focus the bill on what it does best: supporting innovation and jobs here at home.”
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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a new center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future. We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.
Our corporate partners do not have a vote on or veto over our positions. We do not speak for individual partner companies and remain true to our stated principles even when our partners disagree.