The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America or CHIPS Act passed with a vote of 64-32 today. The act would designate $52 billion in subsidies and tax credits to incentivize U.S. manufacturers to produce semiconductor chips. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow both fully back the act, saying that it will lower costs, fight inflation, and bring jobs back to Michigan.

“What we will do is address a major issue that we are facing in our economy right now, which is supply chain issues, but particularly supply chain issues related to semiconductor chips, which are absolutely essential for manufacturing. We can only be a great country when we make things, and manufacturing is absolutely critical to the whole country, but especially to us in Michigan.” Said Senator Peters “We know there are cars now in parking lots across the state that are all fully built but need chips in order to actually be delivered to the dealership. We have to have that production and we have to have it in the United States.”

Alongside the manufacturing of semiconductor chips is the mining of materials for them. Nickel is one essential component that is scarce in the U.S. With a single operating nickel mine in the entire country. That mine is our very own Eagle Mine in Marquette County.

“The U.P., has the only nickel mine in the United States, Which is very much a part of when we’re talking about electric vehicles and the rare earth materials that are needed for batteries and so on this is very, very, important”Said Senator Stabenow “So I would expect, the science provisions, the kinds of efforts going on to move forward around these (battery) technologies, other areas where we’re needing rare earth materials, that this will certainly effect the nickel mine.”

The CHIPS act will need a simple majority in the House of Representatives to pass, where it will then go to President Biden to sign.

Biden has already expressed his approval for the bill, in a statement saying “The House should promptly pass it and send this bill to my desk.”