John Cornyn: “as I was preparing to come to the floor, I was going to say we are going to have a vote tonight to proceed to fill a…”

“as I was preparing to come to the floor, I was going to say we are going to have a vote tonight to proceed to fill a major gap in our national security, although it looks like Mother Nature and the weather may prevent a vote tonight, and it may be tomorrow. But, still, I expect in the next couple of days for us to address a major gap in our national security. More than a year and a half after the original CHIPS Act became law, we are finally approaching the finish line in the race to fund it. You may recall that it was June of 2020 that Senator Warner, the senior Senator, a Democrat from Virginia, and I introduced the CHIPS for America Act to address a frightening supply chain vulnerability when it comes to the most advanced semiconductors in the world, 90 percent of which come from Asia, and 60 percent come from Taiwan. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently wrote a letter to congressional leaders saying that ``funding the CHIPS Act is critical to our national defense,'' and last week, former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo also urged Congress to pass this funding, saying: The cost of compromise on this bill pales in comparison to the costs we will suffer if we allow the Chinese Communist Party to one day own and control access to our most critical technologies. I agree with both of these statements, one by a Democrat appointee, another by a Republican appointee.…”