US lawmakers voted Friday to greenlight a multibillion-dollar bill aimed at jumpstarting high-tech research and manufacturing, countering China's growing influence and easing a global shortage of computer chips.

The House Democrats' America Competes bill, their version of the Senate-passed $250-billion US Innovation and Competition Act, was approved in a 222-210 vote in the lower chamber.

The legislative push came after the US Commerce Department warned that companies have an average of less than five days' worth of semiconductor chips on hand, leaving them vulnerable to shutdowns.

President Joe Biden wants to invest $52 billion in domestic research and production and, after sitting on the bill since it passed the Senate on a cross-party vote in June, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently listed the $350-billion package as a top priority.

The package would mark a win that Biden would love to be able to trumpet at his State of the Union address on March 1, although it will now need to be reconciled with the Senate version, which could take several weeks.

"The House took a critical vote today for stronger supply chains and lower prices, for more manufacturing -- and good manufacturing jobs -- right here in America, and for outcompeting China and the rest of the world in the 21st century," the president said in a statement.

- 'Predatory trade' -

The White House sees the initiative as the main legislative tool to combat China's growing prowess.

Senior administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, had been pushing the House behind the scenes to move it quickly.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Congress was one step closer to delivering "big, bold, bipartisan action" to boost US jobs and strengthen supply chains so businesses can compete with China, lower costs and "invest in our future."

The 2,900-page House version has been controversial, however, as it includes proposals that are unpopular with Republicans and didn't appear in the Senate text. Only one of their members, Adam Kinzinger, voted with the Democrats.

House Republicans complain that much of the legislation was developed behind closed doors, without public hearings or consultations, and with no committee process.

They say it is weak on China, overly focused on unrelated issues like climate change, human rights and social inequality, and stuffed with Democrat-sponsored trade provisions they reject.

"This partisan bill does nothing to hold China accountable for its predatory trade practices, enforce President (Donald) Trump's historic agreement to stop China's cheating on trade, or counter China's trade aggression around the world," Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement.

He accused Biden of being "content to sit on the sidelines" while foreign countries block US farmers and businesspeople from competing on a level playing field.

- '3,000-page giveaway' -

"Democrats have jammed this nearly 3,000-page giveaway with billions of dollars of new trade assistance welfare and lavish health care subsidies that discourage the jobless from connecting to work," Brady added.

"They hold the world's poorest countries hostage to Green New Deal demands, and make it harder for American manufacturers to qualify for lower tariffs on products needed to compete and win, both here and abroad."

Democrats didn't need House Republican support to pass the bill, but the opposition's emphatic rejection complicates its passage to Biden's desk.

It is destined for a "conference committee" to marry the bills from both chambers, with Senate Republicans especially influential since at least 10 of them will be needed to advance it from the upper chamber.

Raimondo told a telephone news conference after the vote the process should take "weeks, not months."

"I know things don't always move that swiftly and it's a complicated bill, but we just have to get to work and make something happen and find a landing zone quickly," she said.

Republican Todd Young, the senior senator for Indiana, told reporters on Thursday he and his colleagues would send House Republicans "a much better option to vote on in the next couple of months."

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Washington (AFP) Jan 31, 2022
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