The US Senate has postponed a vote on a bill providing more than $200 billion in funds to help American technology companies to take on the competition from China in an intensifying showdown between the two world powers amid a global shortage of microchips
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2021) The US Senate has postponed a vote on a bill providing more than $200 billion in funds to help American technology companies to take on the competition from China in an intensifying showdown between the two world powers amid a global shortage of microchips.
"I ask unanimous consent that ... at a time to be determined on Tuesday, June 8, the Senate resume consideration of S.1260," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he delayed the vote on the mammoth legislation, which currently spans more than 2,400 pages.
The "Innovation and Competition Act of 2021" aims at supporting American chipmakers and science research. It is one of the few bills being negotiated in so-called bipartisan spirit, with both Democrats and Republicans supporting it.
More than $200 billion is committed under the bill, with nearly $120 billion for American science and technology development and some $53 billion for semiconductor chip production and research, among others.
The bill is being debated against the backdrop of a growing US-China tussle for global technology dominance and a crippling shortage of semiconductors that has clobbered American automakers, home appliance manufacturers and phone producers.
The Democrat-dominated House of Representatives is working on its own version of a bill to boost US tech competition against China. Any differences between the two bills would have to be negotiated before both chambers pass a final act to send it to President Biden for his signature.
