Republicans Reportedly Pull Out Of USICA Conference Negotiations

Philip Athey of the National Journal has reported that Republicans have pulled out of conference negotiations on the USICA/CHIPS Act due to Democrats pursuit of a reconciliation bill.

• An email "from a Republican staffer sent to Democratic colleagues" obtained by the National Journal reads: “We have received instructions from our Leadership to stop conference negotiations. So we will have to cancel our 4-C calls and we cannot participate in any negotiations until further notice."
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threatened to torpedo the CHIPS bills on June 30 when it emerged that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was preparing to advance a rehabilitated version of Build Back Better, which he did yesterday.
• The collapse of USICA will be a blow to the White House and Democrats but various reports had suggested that conference was failing to deliver movement on a resolved bill. Schumer may have calculated that a reconciliation bill was a more sound bet with Senate time running out before the Summer recess.
• If USICA has collapsed, that may free Senate time for Senator Amy Klobuchar's "big tech" antitrust bill. Another bill which has been subject to significant attention from lobby groups.