House Republicans move to reject China competition bill after Manchin, Schumer agree to reconciliation deal

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House Republicans are moving in increasing numbers to reject a Senate-passed bill on competition with China, after Sen. Joe Manchin announced a deal for a party-line reconciliation bill Wednesday night. 

Manchin, D-W.Va., appeared to shut down negotiations on a Democrats-only legislative package earlier this month, which made Senate Republicans comfortable advancing the China competition bill, called the CHIPS Act of 2022. However, just hours after that bill cleared the Senate, Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced they indeed had a deal. 

In response, top House Republicans said Wednesday that they will formally whip their members in opposition of the CHIPS Act. Additionally, sources tell Fox News that it is possible fewer than 20 House Republicans could vote for it in all. 

"This legislation comes to the House precisely as Senate Democrats have allegedly struck a deal on their partisan reconciliation bill, pairing up a tone-deaf agenda that on one hand gives billions away in corporate handouts, and on the other hand undoes historic tax cuts implemented by Republicans," House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a whip notice to members late Wednesday. 

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House Republican leadership is pressing members to vote against the Senate-passed China bill, after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., came to a deal on a reconciliation bill. ((AP Photo/Alex Brandon))

Fox News is told that Republican leadership hopes to get the total number of Republican yes votes – which was previously likely to be upwards of 30 – down to approximately 12. With that little GOP support, the vote could become very close, as some House progressives may vote against the bill on the grounds that it's allegedly corporate welfare for semiconductor manufacturers like Intel.

House Republicans who oppose the $250 billion bill are making that same point. 

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"After failed conference negotiations on an American competitiveness package to confront China, the Senate amended H.R. 4346 to send billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies and tax credits to a specific industry that does not need additional government handouts," Scalise also said in his whip notice.

"While acknowledging the threat China poses to American industrial supply chains, this corporate welfare bill will not effectively address that important challenge," he added. 

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Scalise argued that the CHIPS bill, which costs about $250 billion, will increase inflation, and lamented that Schumer and Manchin announced their reconciliation deal just hours after the Senate passed it.