Ranking Member Lofgren Opening Statement for Hearing with Commerce Secretary Raimondo to Review the CHIPS and Science Act
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is holding a full Committee hearing titled, "Chips on the Table: A One Year Review of the CHIPS and Science Act."
Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren's (D-CA) opening statement as prepared for the record is below.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing and welcome Secretary Raimondo. As Secretary of the Department of Commerce, your presence here before the Science, Space, and Technology Committee reflects just how much our nation’s economic competitiveness is tied to our leadership in science, technology, and innovation.
In a few years time, we will know whether the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act last year was truly the turning point that we all hope and believe it to be. The fate of that Act, and all of its promise, is not about luck or circumstances out of our control. It’s not about regulatory hurdles or lack of human capital. It is very much about the choices we make in the next few months and years. We are having a remarkable debate in this body right now about taking a sledgehammer to our Federal budget rather than meeting the call of the CHIPS and Science Act to invest in our nation’s future competitiveness, well-being, and national security.
I know that many of my Republican colleagues truly understand the critical importance of these investments. I hope that we can find the will to come together not simply to fund our government- which is a pretty basic requirement of our job – but to make the necessary investments in fusion, in AI, in quantum, and across the full range of scientific and engineering fields that will drive solutions to our nation’s and globe’s most pressing problems and cement U.S. global leadership.
Today, Secretary Raimondo, you were asked to focus your testimony on the CHIPS part of CHIPS and Science. That is the one part of the bill that received an actual appropriation, not just an authorization. And it does truly represent a historic investment in reshoring our semiconductor manufacturing and innovation capacity. I appreciate what a monumental task you and your staff have been asked to take on. Your staff have been transparent and responsive to the Committee in our oversight efforts to date. I thank you for that, and for appearing before the Committee today. This Committee’s job is to help you succeed through our oversight work. To that end, I anticipate many thoughtful questions today as we continue to receive feedback from a diverse array of stakeholders and have our own questions about the details of implementation.
I personally have been particularly concerned about the health and safety of workers in semiconductor fabrication facilities, and what steps the CHIPS program office is taking to ensure that companies receiving CHIPS funding implement the highest standards for handling of toxic chemicals. I come from Silicon Valley, where we have seen first-hand both the tremendous benefits of the semiconductor industry but also the dark environmental legacy of chips production. This includes terrible effects to pregnant women who worked in this industry and experienced miscarriages and birth defects as a result of exposures to toxic materials. It is essential that we learn from our past mistakes and prioritize the health of our semiconductor workforce and their families.
I look forward to today’s discussion about this and other important issues related to implementation of the CHIPS Act. Thank you again for being here today, Madam Secretary.
I yield back.
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