Endless Frontier Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on a different matter here, for nearly a century, America's national security and economic security has been grounded in our scientific and technological superiority, often supported by smart investments by the Federal Government. But in recent years, countries like China have closed the gap with the United States. If we fail to respond, they will overtake us, with drastic consequences for our workers, businesses, allies, and partners around the world.

It is long past time for the United States to make the next wave of investments to fix dangerous weak spots in our economy and preserve our place as the world leader in science and technology, which then leads to millions of good-paying jobs here in this country.

So, today, I am proud to join with my friend the Republican Senator from Indiana, Senator Young, and several of my colleagues from both sides to reintroduce the Endless Frontier Act. It is a big, bold, and bipartisan initiative to propel American science and technology into the 21st century. Let me stress that last point. This bill is bipartisan.

As Senator Young and I have worked on the bill over the past several months, several Senators from both sides have been added as original cosponsors: six Democrats and six Republicans. That is because there is a bipartisan consensus that the United States must invest in the technologies of the future to outcompete China. Whichever nation develops new technologies first, be they democratic or authoritarian, will set the terms for their use. The stakes for personal privacy and personal liberties, as well as for national security, economic security, and minority rights around the globe, are simply enormous.

So at the center of this legislation is a $100 billion investment in research, commercialization, and workforce training in the kinds of technology that will play an outsized role in the future-- semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and 5G, to name a few.

Another $10 billion would foster the development of technological hubs around the country. We want to see Silicon Valleys across the country, from my home State of New York and upstate to communities in the South, to the Midwest, to other places that rarely get the attention they merit despite the potential of their workforces, their institutions, and their links to the global economy.

Technological growth in jobs should not be limited to a few centers in America, and this bill attempts to spread it to other communities as well. It will also strengthen the critical supply chains in the United States and with global allies and partners. The Endless Frontier Act is exactly what we need to reinvigorate American science and technology, to promote our national security, and to create the jobs of the future.

I have committed to put a bipartisan, competitive-related bill on the floor of the Senate. The Endless Frontier Act will be a central part of that legislation. We will also push for emergency spending to implement the bipartisan semiconductor manufacturing provisions in last year's Defense bill.

Another potential component, led by Senators Menendez and Risch, is being marked up in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. This is exactly what our Republican colleagues have asked for when it comes to regular order.

We are marking up bipartisan bills in committee and considering bipartisan amendments here on the floor. We have just seen this back process play out on the anti-Asian hate crimes bill this week, and next week we are going to follow it up with a water infrastructure bill that is also thoroughly bipartisan.

Our efforts to cement another century of American economic leadership should be no different--thoroughly bipartisan.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source