Endless Frontier Act--Resumed

Floor Speech

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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, the 21st century will be shaped by the outcome of the strategic competition between the United States and China. Like our Nation's previous contest with the Soviet Union, the outcome of this great contest will help determine the world that our children and our grandchildren live in.

There are only two real possibilities: Either the United States will remain the preeminent global superpower or we will be replaced by China. This truth is recognized on both sides of the aisle in this body. The contest between our two countries will involve every aspect of national life--including military might, diplomatic skill, economic strength, and the deepest values that shape our societies.

The scope and complexity of this challenge calls for bold action, and that is what the Endless Frontier Act is about. This week the Senate has an opportunity to come together on a bipartisan basis and move forward on legislation, now known as the United States Innovation and Competition Act. This will make our Nation more economically competitive, improve protections for U.S. intellectual property and research, and keep us a step ahead of China in this area of high-stakes competition.

This bill does so by increasing research at the National Science Foundation and dramatically increasing R&D at a new National Science Foundation directorate. Other Agencies in the Federal Government will also see dramatic increases in the important research that they perform.

The Endless Frontier Act, as reported by the Commerce Committee, is a major part of this comprehensive legislative effort. Other committees have also been important partners in this legislation. In particular, I congratulate Chairman Menendez and Ranking Member Risch of the Foreign Relations Committee for producing the Strategic Competition Act, which was reported out of their committee on a 21-to-1 vote.

I also commend Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Peters and Ranking Member Portman; Banking Committee Chairman Brown and Ranking Member Toomey; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Murray and Ranking Member Burr; and Judiciary Chair Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley for their importan contributions to the substitute product.

I will focus my remarks on the Commerce Committee's contributions to the Endless Frontier Act. Last week, the Commerce Committee held a markup to consider this legislation. We considered hundreds of amendments and adopted over 100 of them into the reported bill, including over 20 bipartisan, separately introduced bills. The markup at times was challenging, but in the end the bill passed the committee on a bipartisan 24-to-4 vote.

The Endless Frontier Act will enhance U.S. science and technology leadership through key investments in R&D, regional economic development, and manufacturing.

The bill will accomplish these goals in the following ways: First, it will preserve the core basic research mission of the National Science Foundation. The NSF is the world's gold standard for funding basic research, a sector that fuels new waves of innovation across our society. Basic research answers the fundamental questions of scientific inquiry needed to develop major innovations. The internet, GPS, cell phones, and many other breakthrough technologies have their origins in National Science Foundation-funded research. The Endless Frontier Act will authorize funding increases in NSF's core science portfolio to support the most promising research proposals. That is the first thing.

Secondly, this bill will establish a new Directorate of Technology and Innovation at the NSF to drive faster innovation in key technology focus areas, such as artificial intelligence, or AI, and robotics. We included strong coordination measures to ensure that programs at the new Technology Directorate do not duplicate R&D programs of other Federal Agencies, such as the Department of Energy. These provisions are designed to ensure the wise expenditure of taxpayer dollars by preventing bureaucratic turf wars, which can slow down innovation.

Third, this legislation will protect intellectual property and research from foreign governments--most notably, China. The Endless Frontier Act will establish a research security office at the NSF and create a clearinghouse to share information about security risks. It also puts forward policies to protect controlled information, including a plan for background checks on researchers.

In addition, it will take critical steps to guard against Chinese intellectual property theft by prohibiting NSF funds from going to researchers who are part of a Chinese talent program or an institution with formal ties to a Confucius Institute. This is a new and important step.

Fourth, this bill will reduce the geographic concentration of R&D in a handful of States and universities. Put simply, this bill will be a game changer for the R&D geographic diversity that many of us have sought for years, if not decades. America can maintain our leadership over China only with a sustained effort that is national in scope. We should tap into the wide-ranging talents, expertise, and capabilities of Americans across this land, including Nevada and Mississippi.

The Endless Frontier Act will help address these long-standing disparities by increasing funding for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which we have all come to know as EPSCoR. Participation in EPSCoR helps institutions in many States and Territories improve their research capacities and, therefore, compete more effectively for Federal R&D funding. The legislation also invests in minority serving institutions and builds up research capacity in emerging institutions, which have traditionally received a relatively small share of Federal research dollars.

No. 5, this bill will boost regional economic development through the Regional Technology Hub Program.

No. 6, it will support manufacturing programs, in part, by quadrupling the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, which already exists.

No. 7, it will help America win the ``New Space Race'' against China by including the NASA Authorization Act, which the Senate passed unanimously last year. The NASA bill allows Congress to set priorities and guardrails for the space Agency's exploration and research programs.

No. 8, this bill will authorize a number of telecommunication programs to improve our telecom workforce and help get all Americans connected to high-speed and reliable broadband.

This bill also includes several bills that I have championed, including the Rural STEM Education Act, the Advanced Technological Manufacturing Act, the Improving Minority Participation and Careers in Telecommunications Act, and the Telecommunications Supply Chain Diversity Promotion Act--significant legislation and a mouthful, too.

Overall, this is a strong bill, but it can be made better. As I mentioned at the Commerce Committee's markup last week, although the bill reported out of the committee makes important changes to the underlying bill, I regret the rushed process that was followed.

The underlying bill was introduced on April 20, just under a month ago. Only yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Schumer laid down a 1,400- page substitute that not only includes the Endless Frontier Act, but major legislation from the Foreign Relations, Homeland Security, Banking, HELP, and Judiciary Committees. Now known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act--USICA, I suppose--this legislation will make significant changes to our innovation ecosystem and the missions of our Federal Agencies.

A bill of this magnitude would normally take a year to write and involve soliciting input from Members and stakeholders across our country to craft a consensus package. Clearly, the Senate should consider this bill with an open amendment process.

Prematurely shutting down debate on amendments without this open process would send a false signal to China and the American people that we are divided in an area where, actually, we are united and together.

And then, when all is said and done, the effort will have to be paid for and will be subject to appropriations.

I hope the majority's determination to rush this legislation through the Senate is not designed to use a partisan reconciliation bill to appropriate funding for these important initiatives. Science has always been debated in a bipartisan way in this body. Leaving one party on the sidelines in the appropriation process, which I hope will not happen, would have a detrimental consequences for the long-term stability of this legislation.

So on the whole, I am positive and optimistic about this bill and about the process that will get us to the end of both parties' desire.

I thank my colleague, Senator Cantwell, for her work as chair of the Commerce Committee to get this bill on the floor today, and I look forward to working with her to improve the bill in the next step in the process--an open amendment process

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