Press Releases

Washington D.C. – Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) today voted to pass the America COMPETES Act, a comprehensive, strategic package to advance American innovation and competitiveness. The bill, which passed the House 222-210, includes two amendments that Scanlon offered to help shape the legislation. One provides grants to institutions of higher education to create innovative, research-focused education centers for STEM students. The other allows cities like Philadelphia to compete for investments in the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, which funds jobs and training opportunities in R&D, tech, and manufacturing.

“The America COMPETES Act addresses short and long term supply chain issues, as well as making our economy more competitive and dynamic as we confront the challenges of the 21st century,” said Rep. Scanlon. “The bill makes long-overdue investments in our nation’s leading research and development institutions, laying the groundwork for the United States to lead the world in advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, computing, and biomedical research. The America COMPETES Act policies will help lower inflation, promote domestic manufacturing, encourage businesses to bring jobs back to the United States, and insulate our economy from the supply chain disruptions we’re seeing right now.” 

H.R. 4521, the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength (America COMPETES) Act of 2022, makes transformational new investments in research, innovation, and American manufacturing that will ensure America can outcompete any nation in the world — now and for decades to come. The package will accelerate U.S. production of critical semiconductor chips, strengthen the supply chain to make more goods in America, turbocharge U.S. research capacity to lead the technologies of the future, and advance America’s global competitiveness, while supporting strong labor standards and human rights. 

Key Provisions of the America COMPETES Act

• Creating the CHIPS for America Fund: Includes $52 billion for the CHIPS for America Act, which will support U.S. production of semiconductors — a key component in consumer electronics, cars, defense systems, and other key products — address supply chain disruptions that push up costs for families, bring chip production back to America, and ensure that the U.S. leads the way on semiconductor fabrication.
• Strengthening Supply Chains and American Manufacturing: Authorizes $45 billion to to support the manufacturing and acquisition of critical goods or industrial equipment that are essential for national security and economic vitality — including public health and biological preparedness, information and communications technology, the energy and transportation sector’s industrial base, and agricultural commodities and food product supply chains. America COMPETES reduces our reliance on critical goods from countries of concern and encourages the relocation of manufacturing facilities out of these countries.
• Advancing American Scientific Research, Technology, and Innovation Excellence: Makes major new solutions-driven investments in every aspect of innovation and scientific research, making the kind of investments that will lead to breakthrough discoveries. America COMPETES also maximizes the American talent pool by strengthening and diversifying our nation’s STEM workforce.
• Promoting U.S. Global Leadership: Includes numerous provisions to strengthen and promote America’s leadership around the globe, including in such areas as investing in partnerships and alliances, standing up for America’s values, expanding our investments in diplomacy, and promoting human rights. America COMPETES includes action to hold China accountable for its trade abuses, which hurt U.S. workers, and for its human rights violations, including the genocide against the Uyghurs.

Scanlon-Led Amendments

• Research-Based Education for STEM Students: Requires the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to award competitive grants to institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations to establish five centers that will develop and scale up successful models for providing undergraduate students with hands-on, discovery-based research courses. This type of curriculum has been proven vital for adherence in STEM education. The centers would also look specifically at the barriers minority and low-income students face in accessing STEM education in order to reduce attrition rates among these students and increase diversity in the STEM workforce.
• Clarifying Eligibility for Regional Innovation Hub Program: The America COMPETES Act creates a new initiative — the Regional Innovation Hub Program — that allows the Commerce Secretary to designate cities as tech and innovation hubs, which can then receive a variety of grants to spur research and workforce development programs. However, the original language of the bill would have made any "leading technology cities" ineligible. The vague language could have impacted Philadelphia and other cities like it. Rep. Scanlon’s amendment changes this provision, allowing the Secretary to only make up to five cities ineligible — giving Philadelphia and similarly-positioned cities a better chance at qualifying.

“Our current STEM workforce needs to be larger and more diverse in order to meet the critical challenges we face in human health, cyber security, and climate change — among other areas. The America COMPETES Act will help meet those challenges. Right now, nearly 60% of students who enter college intending to major in a STEM field leave the field before they graduate. I am pleased that my amendment to promote retention of diverse STEM students was included in the bill,” added Rep. Scanlon.

Rep. Scanlon continued: “It’s also important for these students to have opportunities to join the workforce and find robust funding for basic and applied research. That is why I introduced a second amendment to clarify the designation process for the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, authorized in the underlying bill. My amendment will allow the Philadelphia region to be eligible to receive federal grants to spur research and workforce development programs.”

The U.S. Senate passed a similar bill, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, in June. Now, the House and Senate must reconcile differences between the two bills and vote on a final package.

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