Endless Frontier Act Passes Senate with Strong Support from Senator Collins

Press Release

Today, with the strong support of U.S. Senator Susan Collins, the Senate passed legislation that will maintain the United States' position as the unequivocal global leader in scientific and technological ingenuity and innovation.

U.S. competitiveness and national security are being threatened by decades of U.S. underinvestment in research, manufacturing, and workforce development, coupled with foreign competitors like China stealing American intellectual property and aggressively investing in an effort to dominate the key technology fields of today and of the future.

To address this challenge, Senator Collins joined a bipartisan group of colleagues, led by Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), in co-sponsoring the Endless Frontier Act. The bill would implement a bold, bipartisan plan to solidify America's leadership in scientific and technological innovation through increased investments in the discovery, creation, and manufacturing of technology critical to national security and economic competitiveness. The bipartisan legislation further targets support to ensure new research investments translate into American industries and manufacturing and high-tech jobs in regions across the country to become global centers of emerging technology.

"Keeping America at the forefront of science and technology innovation is essential to our economic competitiveness and to our national security," said Senator Collins. "Although the U.S. has long been the clear international leader, China's aggressive and manipulative business practices have the potential to threaten American dominance if we don't take action. This bipartisan bill makes the targeted investments we need to preserve America's leadership while creating American jobs."

The Endless Frontier Act would reinvigorate the U.S. innovation economy, support research and development throughout the country, help lead to the creation of new jobs of the future in America, and keep the U.S. economically competitive against China and other countries. Specifically, the Endless Frontier Act would propose an expansion of the National Science Foundation with the establishment of a new Technology and Innovation Directorate within NSF to advance research and development in 10 key technology focus areas, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced communications, biotechnology, and advanced energy.

In addition to Senator Collins, the Endless Frontier Act was co-sponsored by Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Chris Coons (D-DE), Rob Portman (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Gary Peters (D-MI), Steve Daines (R-MT), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Mitt Romney (R-UT).

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