Commerce Secretary pushes for swift passage of legislation to lower costs for Americans

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Leaders in Congress are working through the fine print of the America Competes and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Acts.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said the pieces of legislation focus on boosting our nation’s productivity on a global scale.

”The reality is our over reliance on foreign manufacturers is not just an economic issue,” said Raimondo. “It’s a national security vulnerability.”

Raimondo is calling on federal lawmakers to work their differences out and take swift action on the bills. She points to the global chip shortage as a reason.

”Twenty years ago, we produced almost 40% of all the world’s semiconductors, but over the years that has declined from that to now we produce only 12%,” said Raimondo.

As a result, Raimondo said Americans are paying higher prices for automobiles, appliances, and other devices when the out of pocket expense could be much cheaper if more goods like semiconductor chips were made in America.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said the pandemic helped to expose our nation’s heavy reliance on other countries for goods.

“We’ve also seen disruptions in our food supply chain especially early in the pandemic, we ran short of things like toilet paper,” said Baldwin.

Baldwin said she wrote two provisions in the America Competes Act. The provisions include the Supply Chain Resiliency Act and parts of her Made in America Act.

Each deal with boosting our country’s competitiveness with China including in manufacturing.

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