Whip-lash: House GOP moves to oppose CHIPS-Plus bill in rebuke to Manchin deal
by Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks - 07/27/22 11:35 PM ET
House Republican leadership is urging members of its conference to vote against a bill to bolster the domestic chip manufacturing industry and fund scientific research, a reversal from its position earlier in the day that comes hours after Senate Democrats struck a deal on a multibillion-dollar reconciliation package.
In a memo to all House GOP offices Wednesday night, leadership recommended that Republican lawmakers vote against the CHIPS-Plus bill, which passed the Senate in a bipartisan vote earlier in the day.
The announcement came shortly after Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced a $369 billion deal on a climate, taxes and health care package following months of intraparty negotiations — an agreement that appears to be driving House GOP’s opposition to CHIPS-Plus.
“This legislation comes to the House precisely as Senate Democrats have allegedly struck a deal on their partisan reconciliation bill, pairing up a tone-deaf agenda that on one hand gives billions away in corporate handouts, and on the other hand undoes historic tax cuts implemented by Republicans,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office wrote in the memo.
“The partisan Democrat agenda has given us record inflation, and now they are poised to send our country into a crushing recession,” the office added.
Republicans also expressed concerns about the bill’s impact on the deficit and inflation.
In late June, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) threatened to tank the domestic semiconductor bill if Democrats went forward with a reconciliation package, which members of the caucus had been negotiating for months.
Earlier this month, Manchin said he would not support climate spending in a reconciliation package, signaling to many that the highly sought-out legislation had a small chance of crossing the finish line before the November midterm elections.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3577342-whip-lash-house-gop-moves-to-oppose-chips-plus-bill-in-rebuke-to-manchin-deal/
