Austin News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) released a statement following the announcement that bipartisan legislation he co-authored with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) to expedite semiconductor manufacturing plant construction will receive a vote on the House floor next week. The Kelly-Cruz bill has already passed the Senate.

“My number-one priority fighting for Texas has always been jobs, jobs, jobs,” said Sen. Cruz. “I am thrilled that the House has scheduled the Kelly-Cruz legislation for a vote next week. I’ve teamed up with Democrat Senator Mark Kelly to pass landmark legislation streamlining environmental permitting rules for new semiconductor factories. When passed, Kelly-Cruz will help bring tens of thousands of jobs to Texas and hundreds of billions in new investments. It will also advance our national security significantly by making us much less dependent on China for advanced semiconductors. Our bipartisan legislation passed the Senate unanimously, and I urge our House colleagues to likewise swiftly pass it into law.”

During the week of September 23rd, the House will vote on S. 2228, the “Building Chips in America Act,” under suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority of House members for passage. S.2228 was modified with substitute text authored by Sens. Cruz and Kelly (Senate Amendment 1378).

In December, the Senate unanimously passed Sens. Cruz and Kelly’s bipartisan chips permitting bill, which was cosponsored by Sens. Todd Young (R-IN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). This legislation had also previously passed the Senate in July 2023 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In October 2023, Sens. Cruz and Kelly led a bipartisan, bicameral letter with over 100 signers in support of passing these permitting reforms.

In January, Sen. Cruz toured the Samsung facility in Taylor, Texas and reiterated the importance of his CHIPS/National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) legislation. He also hosted a roundtable event in Round Rock, Texas to discuss regulatory hurdles facing the semiconductor industry and engaged with many Texas-based semiconductor companies about how federal environmental requirements are driving up compliance costs for chip manufacturers.

In April, Sen. Cruz discussed chips permitting reform at a roundtable hosted by Southern Methodist University after it was designated as lead agency for this federally funded economic development initiative aimed at bolstering semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.

Background on Sen. Cruz’s efforts:

During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on ‘CHIPS and Science Implementation and Oversight,’ Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo endorsed Sens. Cruz and Mark Kelly’s CHIPS/NEPA proposal.

Senator Cruz helped enact historic tax reform in 2017 that reduced taxes on small businesses, farmers, ranchers, and job producers.

He has been leading efforts against federal government regulations.

For his support to Texas innovators large and small, Sen. Cruz received U.S Chamber of Commerce’s “Spirit of Enterprise” award.

He authored CREATE JOBS Act to vitally reform business expensing in tax code.

Cruz championed FABS Act incentivizing U.S manufacturing through tax credits now law.

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