ICYMI: Sen. Cruz at SMU Texoma Tech Hub: Urgent Need to Enhance Investment, Jobs, and Opportunity in North Texas

DALLAS, Texas – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) participated in a press conference yesterday to discuss Southern Methodist University’s Tech Hub designation and the growth of the semiconductor industry in North Texas. SMU has been designated the lead agency for this federally funded economic development initiative, aimed at bolstering semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.

Sen. Cruz also participated in a roundtable discussion with SMU Texoma Tech Hub consortium leadership and discussed his CHIPS NEPA legislation. Sen. Cruz’s bill would expedite and streamline Federal environmental reviews on the construction of semiconductor fabrication facilities throughout Texas and across the country, while also cutting down regulatory hurdles placed on the semiconductor industry.

During the press conference, Sen. Cruz said, “America has fallen behind where we need to be when it comes to advanced semiconductors. Right now, we are vastly dependent on foreign manufacturing when it comes to advanced semiconductors that poses an intolerable risk to the United States, both from the perspective of national security and economic vitality. Just about every device we use today, from your cell phone, to your television, to every car or truck or airplane, all of them are using semiconductors. Every weapon in the military just about uses semiconductors and right now far too few of them are made here in the United States.

“… Just in the last three years in the State of Texas, we have seen over $61 billion in direct investment, [and] we've seen about 8,000 new jobs in the last three years. If you look forward another three, five, ten years you are looking at tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of [semiconductor] jobs in North Texas and throughout the state. That is incredibly important.

“I teamed up with Mark Kelly, Democrat from Arizona, … and the two of us drafted bipartisan legislation designed to streamline the regulatory barriers to building new semiconductor manufacturing capacity or expanding manufacturing capacity. … We were able to build a bipartisan coalition to get the support of Republicans and Democrats, and our legislation passed the United States Senate 100 to nothing – an overwhelming victory in the Senate. It's now moved to the House … [and] Mark Kelly and I are working hand in hand with industry and local leaders to make clear to the House the urgency of enhancing investment, enhancing jobs, and expanding opportunity in North Texas.”

BACKGROUND

Sen. Cruz is leading the fight for American innovation:

• Sen. Cruz has led more than 100 other lawmakers in calling on congressional leaders to include the amendment he authored with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) to streamline the chips permitting reform process, removing burdensome hurdles to achieving environmental reviews and permits in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The amendment, which passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support in July of 2023, would provide regulatory certainty and accelerate the construction of semiconductor manufacturing plants. The Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan chips permitting bill for the second time at the end of December 2023.
• Sen. Cruz helped enact historic tax reform in 2017, which gave a tax cut to virtually every taxpayer in America. It reduced taxes on small businesses, farmers, ranchers, and job producers, which has helped bring jobs to Texas and drive innovation.
• Sen. Cruz has been leading the fight against burdensome federal government regulations and EPA overreach.
• For his efforts to support Texas innovators large and small, Sen. Cruz received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s prestigious “Spirit of Enterprise” award.
• Sen. Cruz has successfully advocated for Texas innovators and their work to be included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act and the biannual Coast Guard Authorization Act.
• Sen. Cruz worked with a bipartisan group of Texas legislators to call for the Biden administration to pick Texas as a future site for the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) and National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP).
• Sen. Cruz authored the Cost Recovery and Expensing Acceleration to Transform the Economy and Jumpstart Opportunities for Businesses and Startups (CREATE JOBS) Act, which would vitally reform business expensing in the tax code and help businesses and innovators thrive.
• Sen. Cruz championed the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors (FABS) Act to incentivize manufacturing in the U.S. through tax credits. That legislation is now law.

###