FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27, 2022
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WIN FOR GEORGIA: After Year-Long Push from Reverend Warnock, Senate Passes Bipartisan CHIPS Bill to Lower Costs, Protect Georgia Jobs
Atlanta, GA – Today, after a year-long push led by Reverend Warnock, the Senate passed the CHIPS and science bill, bipartisan legislation that will boost Georgia’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity, spur scientific innovation, and reduce reliance on foreign nations like China.
Here’s what Georgians are seeing as this groundbreaking legislation moves forward:
Karla Heath-Sands: “Senator Raphael Warnock co-sponsored legislation that could send billions to our state, and one car plant in Georgia is expected to reap some of those benefits.”
Reverend Warnock: “The passage of the bill would be a preventative step towards protecting the Kia plant. “This is an investment in the future of the Georgia economy. This is about jobs, this is about innovation, and I’m so very pleased that this is finally happening.”
Katrice Nolan: “The Kia plant in West Point Georgia not only produces cars, it also manufactures semiconductors or chips that are used in nearly every electronic item you use on a daily basis.”
Stuart Countess, CEO of Kia Georgia: “It’s certainly been growing in everything that we use as a consumer, whether it’s in your iPhone, your laptops, PlayStations, you pick the topic, there are semiconductors in everything.”
Katrice Nolan: “And with growth, comes demand. Therefore, Senator Warnock says he introduced a bipartisan technology bill with one component of helping the Kia plant and production of semiconductors on U.S. soil.”
Reverend Warnock: “This bill will ensure, and invest in the domestic production of CHIPS.”
Katrice Nolan: “Currently only 12% of semiconductors are produced in the U.S., China leads the market. According to Senator Warnock, he saw a need after a recent visit to the plant.”
Reverend Warnock: “I recently visited the Kia plant in West Point, Georgia, a plant that shut down on a couple of occasions, not for a lack of customers, but because of a lack of chips.”
Katrice Nolan: “And leaders at the Kia plant say the bill is needed to make sure the supply chain is not interrupted again.”
Nick Proto: “Meanwhile, the Senate will start working toward the passage of a roughly $50 billion incentive package for the semiconductor industry otherwise known as manufacturing chips. Last night Senator Raphael Warnock spoke about how that package may help The Peach State.”
Reverend Warnock: “We use chips in everything from washers and dryers and automobiles to our high-tech military weapons, and we’re waiting on microchips from Asia to be put in military weapons in the United States of America, that doesn’t make any sense.”.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON REVEREND WARNOCK’S LEADERSHIP
- On July 15th, Reverend Warnock sent a letter calling on Senate leadership to put partisan bickering aside to swiftly pass bipartisan CHIPS legislation to address the semiconductor shortage and other supply chain issues while also boosting American research and innovation.
- In the letter he wrote: “This historic bipartisan legislation is too vital to be used to score political points, and employing tactics to derail this critical and overwhelmingly bipartisan bill is shameful.”
- Reverend Warnock was a lead negotiator on the jobs and competition bill and secured the bill’s provision to increase semiconductor production—bipartisan legislation that would become the CHIPS and Science bill that will protect and save Georgia jobs, lower costs, and reduce reliance on foreign nations like China.
- Last year, the Kia facility in West Point, Georgia, shutdown for two days in the wake of a semiconductor shortage—an issue that Reverend Warnock met with Kia officials about and raised in a Commerce Committee hearing.
- The bill will reduce the nation’s reliance on semiconductors made in other countries like China, and instead manufacture those key materials in the United States, creating jobs and also helping with supply chain issues that have impacted American businesses.
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