Federal government offering grants to U.S. businesses in effort to reshore manufacturing
DALLAS - The federal government is investing millions of dollars to grow technology investments in Texas and across the U.S.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) spoke at a summit in Dallas. Hays the issue is a matter of national security.
The United States relies on other countries to supply many of the products we use on a daily basis, including medication.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is offering grants to try and minimize our reliance overseas.
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Strained relations with communist China, increased cooperation between Iran, Russia and North Korea and the ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are a huge concern for the U.S. government.
At the 2024 Venture Dallas Summit held Wednesday, Cornyn said the Senate Intelligence Committee is worried about America’s heavy reliance on products made overseas.
"COVID sort of raised that issue first with things like manufacturing in China, for things like PPE," he said. "And you begin to wonder, so what else is out there that we're dependent on?"
The unsettling answer, he said, is practically everything.
Cornyn says China makes most of the active ingredients found in many medications Americans take on a regular basis. Semiconductor chips are another trouble spot.
"I realized that another pandemic or a military conflict or some natural disaster could potentially disrupt that and drive us into a depression and make it impossible for us to defend the nation and keep the peace," he said.
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To combat future supply chain shortages, the U.S. government is incentivizing the private sector to invest and reshore manufacturing in the U.S.
The Department of Commerce is giving competitive grants to companies to increase manufacturing capabilities in the U.S.
Cornyn says it’s working, pointing to Samsung, located in Central Texas, building a $40 billion manufacturing chip facility. Cornyn is hopeful other companies will follow.
"It's a very dangerous world, which has really gotten my attention, as you might imagine," he said.
Sen. Cornyn noted that China also has a hold on critical mineral processing. He says about 90% of the world's critical minerals come from China. So there are many other vulnerabilities out there.