Senate GOP sticks to ugly hostage gambit on competitiveness bill

The name of the bill — the “United States Innovation and Competition Act” (USICA), though it’s gone by a few different titles — probably makes it sound boring, but it’s proving to be one of the most contentious legislative disputes of the current Congress.

At issue is a bill that lawmakers in both parties and both chambers have been working on for nearly a year. The point of USICA is relatively straightforward: It intends to bolster American competitiveness and counter China, in large part by addressing domestic semiconductor shortages. It’s not the sexiest of political fights, but it relates to everything from manufacturing to jobs, trade to national security.

With this in mind, the House and Senate already passed versions of the bill, sending the matter to a conference committee that began work in April on merging the competing measures into one final package. The plan has been to pass USICA before the fall elections.