Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520956
56 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2024 negotiations, the Senate wanted $393 million and the House $618 million. Fiy-four CEOs signed the joint letter from PCBAA and IPC asking Congressional leaders to select a higher number. ey agreed to $587 million, which is a win for America's printed circuit board industry. Congress also directed the Secretary of Defense to use the DPA account to address domestic industrial base shortfalls for printed circuit boards. Our excitement about this year's success has been tempered by what we see in the FY25 bill. e budget for DPA was cut, and now there is zero for advanced packaging and PCBs in the DPA account for FY25. One of our key legis- lative priorities is to restore adequate fund- Some in Washington, D.C. have the misper- ception that the CHIPS Act is all we need to address serious supply chain challenges. Using a baseball analogy, investing only in semicon- ductors would be batting .333, a pretty good average. But this isn't baseball. We need to bat 1.000 through legislation and policies to invest 100% of the technology stack, includ- ing printed circuit boards (PCBs) and IC sub- strates. Created only three years ago, PCBAA has raised awareness in Congress, the Pentagon, the Commerce Department, the news media, and Washington think tanks. For example, working with IPC, we were successful in get- ting robust funding for the Defense Production Act (DPA) in the FY24 defense bill. During Batting .333: Great in Baseball, Not in Microelectronics American Made Advocacy by Travis Kelly, PCBAA