Rep. Frank Lucas turns against research bill he worked on for years

After working for three years on a bill to boost scientific research in the United States, Rep. Frank Lucas voted against the legislation on Thursday and blamed a Democratic budget deal reached in the Senate this week that will raise corporate taxes to fund climate and health initiatives.

“What we need right now is policy to make our economy stronger and more competitive, not backroom deals that increase taxes on businesses and raise government spending. … I owe it to my constituents to vote in their best interests and today that means voting against the legislation I have long supported,” Lucas, R-Cheyenne, said on the House floor.

Lucas said in an interview that he couldn’t support the $280 billion legislation knowing that it would now be followed by a major tax, climate and health bill.

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The chips and research legislation, a package of bills that includes $52 billion to help private companies make computer chips and a range of initiatives to spur scientific research, passed the House 243 to 187, with 24 Republicans joining nearly all Democrats in support.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, was the only one of the five Oklahoma members in the House to back the bill. He praised it as “a step in the right direction toward keeping Communist China at bay and protecting our nation’s economic and security interests.”

He said, “At a time when China is becoming increasingly aggressive and dangerously trying to command the world order, the Chips and Science Act importantly strengthens America’s global competitiveness by investing in our nation’s semiconductor industry and encouraging manufacturing of those critical pieces of technology domestically.”

The Senate approved the package earlier this week, with both Oklahoma senators in opposition.

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The legislation was a priority for President Joe Biden, who said Thursday it was “exactly what we need to be doing to grow our economy right now. By making more semiconductors in the United States, this bill will increase domestic manufacturing and lower costs for families. And, it will strengthen our national security by making us less dependent on foreign sources of semiconductors.”

Lucas’ change of heart came less than 24 hours after he praised the legislation in the House Rules Committee and said he planned to vote for it.

“We have a once-in-a-generation chance to set the direction for American scientific and technological development and to ensure that our values of openness and fairness underpin critical technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) and quantum science,” Lucas said at the Rules Committee hearing.

Lucas said writing legislation on science and technology research had been his top priority since taking over as top Republican on the Science, Space and Technology Committee in 2019.

That part of the legislation approved Thursday focuses on public research at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and universities, while also including initiatives for applied research in the private sector.

“The chips policy will build factories now,” Lucas said Wednesday. “The research policy will build decades of scientific innovation and economic growth.”

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Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, is also a member of the Science committee and also voted against the bill.

Lucas said the deal struck by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, on raising taxes to pay for climate and health policies raised the question for him and some other Republicans about whether they should essentially endorse "bad conduct" in the legislative process. They decided they could not, he said.

He emphasized the bipartisan work done by the Science committee but said it had then been taken over by Democratic leaders. Also, he said, many Republicans had agreed to back the science bill because they didn’t think another major package was on the table.

Manchin has said that his agreement would actually reduce deficit spending, since it would raise more money from a corporate tax than it would spend.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Rep. Frank Lucas reverses course on research bill he helped write