Congressman Kim Votes to Pass America COMPETES Act, Delivering Jobs and Improving the Ability of American Workers and Companies to Compete Globally

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressman Andy Kim (NJ-03) voted to pass the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act of 2022. Congressman Kim worked to secure historic investments in technology and innovation that will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, address global supply chain issues and inflation, enhance our research capacity to develop next generation technologies, and reinforce America's leadership in the world.

The bill passed the House with bipartisan support and a vote of222-210.

"It's more important than ever that we strengthen the ability of American workers and companies to compete globally," said Congressman Kim. "We are all more connected than ever, and this bill will allow small businesses in Burlington and Ocean Counties to compete internationally. I'm proud to have worked in a bipartisan way to strengthen America's global reach, turbocharge American manufacturing, and invest in cutting-edge research, technology, and innovation. This bill will level the playing field against authoritarian regimes, create good-paying jobs in America, and reduce our reliance on foreign manufacturers."

Congressman Kim helped shape provisions to enhance and expand our diplomatic and economic footprint around the world by voting to pass the EAGLE Act through the House Foreign Affairs Committee in July.

Provisions championed by Congressman Kim include:

Supporting Job Growth, Technology, and Innovation

• Congressman Kim's Fast Track Advanced Apprenticeships Now Act, which would cut bureaucratic red tape to allow apprenticeship programs for emerging occupations to be approved faster.
• $45 billion to improve supply chains for critical goods like vaccines, personal protective equipment (PPE) and microchips to ensure more of these goods are made in the United States.
• Establishing a regional technology and innovation hub program at the Department of Commerce to incentivize partnerships between local governments, colleges and universities, private industry, nonprofits and community organizations to support innovation incubators.
  • In 2021, Congressman Kim helped lead a National Security Innovation Summit with representatives from New Jersey's research institutions, defense industry partnerships, and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
• Authorizing a new competitive grant program for school districts and state education agencies to help expand and improve access to undergraduate STEM and postsecondary STEM programs.
  • This builds on Congressman Kim's effort in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to invest in the GenCyber program, which supports summer camps to expand cyber skills for middle and high school students, and SMART scholarships that help connect university students with cybersecurity job opportunities in the Department of Defense.
• $52 billion to incentivize private-sector investments in semiconductor manufacturing to address supply chain disruptions and reduce our reliance on foreign manufacturers for semiconductors, which help power nearly every sector of our economy.

Maintaining America's Global Leadership and Strengthening Diplomacy

• $10 million for the State Department to promote democracy in Hong Kong and require the State Department to develop a strategy to implement the Young South East Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) to help young leaders build the skills they need to strengthen democracy in their nations.
• Policies to strengthen U.S. leadership worldwide, improve critical alliances in key regions like South East Asia, and invest in a foreign policy that promotes human rights, diplomacy, and democracy. Improving the effectiveness of U.S. Development Finance Corporation loans that are critical to strengthening our alliances and protecting countries against authoritarian regimes seeking to spread global influence through predatory financing.
• Helping allies and developing nations adapt to climate change and mitigate the effects we already see today.
• The Adoptee Citizenship Act, which Congressman Kim cosponsored, to close a loophole and provide U.S. citizenship to international adoptees brought to the U.S. as children who are still without citizenship because they turned 18 before the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 took effect.
• Condemning anti-Asian racism and discrimination and opposing the targeting of Chinese researchers and academics based on race.

The bill also includes Congressman Kim's Protecting Americans from Unsafe Drugs Act to improve America's medical product supply chain by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandatory recall authority for all drugs that could cause serious adverse health consequences or death. Many consumers do not realize that FDA does not have mandatory recall authority for all products– including most prescription and over-the-counter drugs– and relies on the cooperation of manufacturers when dangers are discovered. Congressman Kim introduced this legislation after helping Omni Distributors, a small business In Lakewood, NJ that was almost left without recourse after purchasing a large quantity of hand sanitizer for resale that it discovered did not meet FDA safety standards.

Congressman Kim is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Small Business Committee. The Congressman is also a co-chair of the House Democratic National Security Task Force. Prior to serving in the House, Congressman Kim worked as a career public servant under both Democrats and Republicans. He served at USAID, the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House National Security Council, and in Afghanistan as an advisor to Generals Petraeus and Allen.

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