WASHINGTON — Republicans won’t back compromise legislation to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing and U.S. competitiveness with China if Democrats continue to negotiate a partisan budget package that can pass without GOP support, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday.
“Let me be perfectly clear: There will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill,” the Kentucky Republican tweeted, using the acronym for the expansive competitiveness measure that passed both chambers in very different forms and is now in conference.
McConnell’s pronouncement significantly complicates Democrats’ summer legislative agenda, which includes trying to pass both the competitiveness bill and the tax and spending package formerly known as “Build Back Better” before the August recess.
