US lawmakers back US$100 billion science push to compete with China
- The Endless Frontier Act represents a significant effort to boost private sector and university research in advanced technologies with federal funding
- The bipartisan measure would also authorise another US$10 billion to designate regional technology hubs and create a supply chain crisis response programme
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Wednesday introduced legislation calling for US$100 billion in government spending over five years on basic and advanced technology research and science in the face of rising competitive pressure from China.
The measure, sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Republican Senator Todd Young and others, would also authorise another US$10 billion to designate at least 10 regional technology hubs and create a supply chain crisis response programme.
The bill, called the “Endless Frontier Act”, represents a significant effort by the government to shore up private sector and university research efforts in advanced technologies with federal funding.
“There is a bipartisan consensus that the United States must invest in the technologies of the future to out-compete China,” Schumer said, adding “whichever nation develops new technologies first – be they democratic or authoritarian – will set the terms for their use.”
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Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, another sponsor, said US superiority in science and technology “is at risk. The Chinese Communist Party has used decades of intellectual property theft and industrial espionage to close this technological gap in a way that threatens not only our economic security, but also our way of life.”