Dismantling Ideological Policies for Semiconductors and Science Act
SB 1745, titled the “Dismantling Ideological Policies for Semiconductors and Science Act,” would revise the CHIPS and Science Act and related federal science and education laws to remove or narrow a wide range of diversity, equity, and inclusion-related requirements. The bill repeals or modifies provisions tied to outreach, recruitment, data collection, reporting, and program design across NSF, DOE, NIST, and other federal STEM and research programs. It also changes the stated purpose of certain offices and programs so they focus more narrowly on workforce capacity, domestic talent, and scientific competitiveness rather than DEI objectives.
In addition to the STEM-related changes, the bill would limit federal agencies from imposing certain nonstatutory conditions on recipients of federal funds. Those prohibited conditions include requirements related to DEI hiring plans, childcare, wraparound services, community investment plans, environmental justice, climate mitigation, project labor agreements, and consultation with labor organizations. The bill’s structure is largely repeal-and-conforming-amendment language, meaning it would directly alter existing statutory text rather than create a new standalone program.
If enacted, the bill would amend multiple sections of the CHIPS Act of 2022, the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act, and several related statutes governing federal science, education, and energy programs. It would eliminate or revise statutory references to DEI, diversity data collection, and targeted outreach in federal STEM initiatives, while preserving some support for historically Black colleges and universities and Tribal colleges and universities. It would also constrain executive-branch agencies’ ability to attach certain policy conditions to federal grants and funding opportunities, especially in areas involving workforce, labor, climate, and community-benefit requirements.
The bill’s stated purpose and findings reflect strong opposition to DEI-related federal policies, framing them as discriminatory, bureaucratic, and inconsistent with the original goals of the CHIPS and Science Act. Based on the bill text alone, the measure is presented as a corrective to what its sponsors view as mission drift in federal science and semiconductor policy. No committee transcript or vote record was provided, so there is no recorded bipartisan support or opposition to assess beyond the bill’s own framing.
The main points of contention are the bill’s broad rollback of DEI-related provisions and its restriction on agency-imposed conditions for federal funding. Supporters, as reflected in the text, appear to favor a narrower focus on domestic STEM capacity, semiconductor competitiveness, and race-neutral access to programs. Likely opponents would be stakeholders who support diversity outreach, workforce inclusion, environmental justice, labor standards, childcare and wraparound supports, and community-benefit requirements as legitimate conditions of federal investment. The bill also narrows some references from broader minority-serving institution language to HBCUs and TCUs, which may be seen as preserving some targeted support while eliminating other race-based or diversity-based activities.