Charlie Crist announces support for COMPETES Act to fight inflation, help Florida marine life

U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist has announced his support of the America COMPETES Act, legislation aimed at boosting industry domestically.

The bill, Crist said, hopes to fight inflation by promoting domestic innovation and manufacturing. The bill also hopes to maintain American global competitiveness, create good-paying jobs, improve supply chains, beat China and combat the climate crisis.

“To combat inflation and cut rising prices for millions of Floridians, we need to stop relying on China and global supply chains that are vulnerable to delays and disruptions — like a global pandemic,” Crist said in a statement. “The America COMPETES Act is a game changer for American manufacturing and innovation, so we can make more of the things we need right here at home and use American workers to do it. I proudly support this legislation championed by President Biden and congressional Democrats to keep our shelves stocked and prices low. Make American, Buy American.”

In announcing his support for the plan, Crist also outlined provisions within the legislation that address issues impacting Florida.

That includes directing $22 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to investigate the collapse of Champlain Towers South that occurred in Surfside. U.S. Reps. Crist and Debbie Wasserman Schultz secured funding and report language for NIST to investigate building collapses like the one that occurred at Surfside.

The state would also receive another $3 billion to boost domestic solar energy manufacturing to help combat the climate crisis without relying on foreign-made materials.

The act also works to support the state’s marine life, including the record number of manatee deaths that have occurred in Florida over the last year. The act would create the Marine Mammal Health Monitoring and Analysis Platform to collect and report data about marine mammal deaths, facilitate communication and collaboration among stakeholders, and better direct response efforts. This will also help identify patterns in mortality events and improve forecasting of future events.

A new program called the Joseph R. Geraci Marine Mammal Rescue and Rapid Response Fund would also be established under the act to allow local governments and nonprofits to quickly access funding to treat sick and injured marine mammals.

Over the last year, a record number of manatee deaths were reported, largely due to starvation as a result of seagrass die-offs. Both of these provisions would improve response efforts and help protect Florida’s most iconic marine animal.

The America COMPETES Act also has measures to strengthen supply chains and lower the cost of goods, including creating a new office to closely monitor the status of the nation’s supply chain, identify gaps and vulnerabilities that may disrupt the availability of goods, and respond to disruptions.

The act would also allocate $45 billion for Critical Supply Chain Resilience to prevent shortages of goods and boost American manufacturing, $1.5 billion to enhance the medical supply chain and prevent drug shortages and $52 billion to boost domestic manufacturing of semiconductors and maintain America’s technological leadership. Semiconductors are found in thousands of products, including cell phones, home appliances, and medical equipment.

As a member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Crist helped advance several of provisions in the America COMPETES Act, including modernizing and increasing funding for the National Science Foundation and funding research and development in solar energy and other advanced energy solutions.

The act would also improve access to STEM education and career opportunities for women, minorities and underrepresented groups, combat sexual harassment in the sciences and expand and increasing funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program that serves to advance U.S. manufacturing and fuel the economy.

It would also expand the President’s ability to sanction members of authoritarian regimes who commit human rights violations. This authority has been used to hold members of socialist and communist regimes across Latin America accountable, including Cuba and Nicaragua.