Political Quotes

“I come to follow my colleague from Texas to talk about the very issue that he brought up, which is where is America going with semiconductor manufacturing, design, and development. On this last point, I am pretty sure we see things differently. I am pretty sure that the majority--probably all of the Democrats would be enthusiastic about supporting both manufacturing in the United States as well as making sure that if Federal dollars are used, prevailing wage should be applied. I am sure we will differ on that point. But I think that we are, at least on our side of the aisle, supportive of this concept that chip fabrication, chip manufacturing in the United States of America is an important sector and that we are facing a chip shortage and that we should do something about it. If you think about it, semiconductors are like the oil of the 21st century. They have become an essential aspect. They can be found in children's toys, in appliances, computers, cell phones, our telecommunications networks, and advanced national security technology, as my colleague was mentioning. They enable healthcare, artificial intelligence applications, financial services, and certainly in the area of defense. They have transformed how we communicate, how we learn, how we socialize. Yet they are so complex and manufacturing so expensive, it can cost anywhere from $5 to almost $20 billion--$20 billion is one number I have heard--just to build these facilities.…”