"WASHINGTON — An expansive bill that would pour $120 billion into jump-starting scientific innovation by strengthening research into cutting-edge technologies is barreling through the Senate, amid a rising sense of urgency in Congress to bolster the United States’ ability to compete with China.
At the heart of the sprawling legislation, known as the Endless Frontier Act, is an investment in the nation’s research and development into emerging sciences and manufacturing on a scale that its proponents say has not been seen since the Cold War. The Senate voted 86 to 11 on Monday to advance the bill past a procedural hurdle, with Democrats and Republicans united in support, and a vote to approve, along with a tranche of related China bills, is expected this month.
The nearly 600-page bill has moved swiftly through the Senate, powered by intensifying concerns in both parties about Beijing’s chokehold on critical supply chains. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the risks of China’s dominance, as health care workers have confronted medical supply shortages and a global semiconductor shortage has shut American automobile factories and slowed shipments of consumer electronics.
The bill, led by Senators Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, and Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, is the spine of a package of legislation Mr. Schumer requested in February from the chairmen of key committees, aimed at recalibrating the nation’s relationship with China and shoring up American jobs. Taken together, the array of bipartisan bills would amount to the most significant step Congress has seriously considered in years to enhance the nation’s competitiveness with Beijing.
“If we’re going to win the next century, the United States needs to be the one discovering the next groundbreaking technologies,” Mr. Schumer said. “We have the opportunity now to set our country on a path to outinnovate, outproduce and outcompete the world in emerging industries of the 21st century, with profound consequences for our economic and national security. If we don’t lead in science and innovation, we will fall way behind.” In the main, it is supposed to be about outcompeting, outinnovating, outgrowing Communist China.
The legislation would provide $120 billion to support and expand research into new technologies, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
It would include $10 billion for the creation of 10 technology hubs to connect manufacturing hubs and research universities across the United States in an effort to scatter investments, rather than building onto already established tech behemoths on the two coasts.
The goal is to position the United States to be on the forefront of emerging technologies while strengthening the nation’s manufacturing capacity and building a pipeline of researchers and apprentices to carry it out, an aim that has united universities, industry groups and national laboratories — all of which stand to benefit — around the legislation."
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