Brady & Lucas Cautiously Optimistic that Agreement can be Reached on Plan to Strengthen Nation’s Ability to Compete Abroad
WASHINGTON, DC – With the House and Senate trying to reach agreement on legislation that would strengthen America’s ability to innovate and compete against China around the globe, The Ripon Society held a breakfast meeting this past Thursday morning with two Republican leaders who are helping to spearhead the negotiations to get their thoughts on the status of the bill and the prospect that a deal can be reached this year.
The leaders were Kevin Brady, who represents the 8thDistrict of Texas in the House and serves as Ranking Member of the Ways & Means Committee, and Frank Lucas, who represents the 3rdDistrict of Oklahoma and serves as Ranking Member of the Committee on Science, Space & Technology. The pair are part of a group of over 100 lawmakers who are working to reconcile differences between the Senate-passed United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and the House-passed America Creating Opportunities, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act (COMPETES).
“I can’t give you a huge amount of details in what we’ll see when the language comes to the floor,” Lucas said in remarks to open the discussion. “But I will tell you this — the need to make fundamental investments in the capacity to produce the chips, the microprocessors, and the resources we need in this country is important. Many of my Republican colleagues get super-juiced about the national defense angle. That’s entirely right. I’ve been in briefings where they’ve described the number of processors that go into some of the most basic, fundamental weapons systems that we use. It’s incredible what is required to make those things work. And apparently, by popular media reports, the Russians are discovering in a growing fashion that they’re very effective. But you have to have the components to make those work.”
These components, Lucas added, are not just critical to national security and the military. They are also critical to the nation’s economy and the people he represents.
“I’m an ‘Aggie,’” the Oklahoma lawmaker noted. “I’m from an ag district — oil and gas. I can tell you that it’s not just the inability to buy automobiles, farm trucks, or cars and trucks based on these same critical resource shortages. But you also can’t buy a tractor. They’re full of processors, too. You can’t buy anything. So the need is there. How do we get to that point? Our friends in the Senate — I would use a term we used in state legislature — ‘shucked the bill,’ and are building a bill to, in theory, bring back to us in the United States House. It is, in essence, the items from the conference committee and committee work, but it’s in a separate piece of legislation.
“If they are successful in doing that — and the vote by an overwhelming number of senators this week to begin the process is an indication that they have forward momentum – my understanding is the guardrails that we have discussed on protecting the taxpayers’ investments I believe will be there. I believe, as of this moment, the language dealing with funding at the National Science Foundation and NIST and DOE will be there. I believe there are many, many great things, and — if my understanding is correct — enough great things to build both the majority in the House and the Senate.
“But I must tell you as a Ranking Member — I’m waiting for that magic piece of paper that gets filed on the floor in the United States Senate. I’m waiting for the electronic transmission of details so we can verify.”
Brady was also cautiously optimistic, and outlined several areas where he believes common ground can and should be found.
“You start every conference committee with really what are your measurements of success,” he said of the negotiations. “And for us, the Ways and Means Committee, our measurement is — does this counter China’s economic aggression around the world? Does it confront their predatory trade practices? If it does that, it’s a bill we’re supporting. If it doesn’t, we need to rethink, redo, and refocus it.”
“The areas I think of as common ground in trade specifically, it seems to me, include the Miscellaneous Tariff bill. It is long overdue, needs to be done, and is really important for competitiveness among our manufacturers here in America. It has always been a bipartisan effort in the past. We shouldn’t have let it expire. We need to get that done.”
“You know, GSP [the Generalized System of Preferences] is really about helping poor countries sell into the U.S. It’s mostly one way, but it’s a good one-way sale into the United States. Again, it’s important to help lift these countries out of poverty, and eventually we hope it will lead to two-way trade. We think that’s very important and needs to be done yesterday.”
“Another area that I think should be common ground is a smart, timely, modern 301 Exclusion process. In America, no company — large or small — should lose workers or customers or market share simply because they can’t find that input, that piece of equipment, that material, that ingredient, in order to be able to compete and win here at home and around the world. I know that has become a bone of contention. Ambassador Lighthizer feels strongly on the 301 Exclusion process, but I do as well. And I think it’s very important for us to have it.
“It doesn’t have to be exactly the Senate provision, but we do need a timely process. It’s transparent that it works. Our economy has changed so dramatically the last two years. President Trump, to his credit, created the 301-exclusion process with a lot of encouragement from Congress, including our committee. They continued to update it and fine tune it. That’s exactly what we need to have – a 301 Exclusion process that is updated, is timely, and that is weighed for those exclusions.”
According to Brady, finding common ground on these and other areas will not only help Americans here at home, but also help Americans who are looking to compete and do business abroad.
“America needs to be leading on trade,” the veteran legislator declared. “It’s not enough to buy American. You also need to sell American — all around the world. We need to knock down those barriers and those ‘Americans need not apply’ signs around the globe and get that level playing field for ag and for everything.”
To view the remarks of Brady and Lucas before The Ripon Society’s breakfast meeting last Thursday morning, please click on the link below:
The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.