United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Mr. WICKER. Madam President, on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021. This comprehensive legislation includes the Endless Frontier Act as Division B. The Endless Frontier Act will establish a new Directorate of Technology and Innovation at the National Science Foundation, NSF, focused on research and development in 10 key technology focus areas, which include ``biotechnology, medical technology, genomics, and synthetic biology.''
Although the NSF funds minimal research involving human embryos, it is absolutely critical for the proposed new Directorate of Technology and Innovation and the NSF as an institution to protect human life and to prohibit research that would create or destroy human embryos. First enacted in 1996, the Dickey-Wicker amendment incorporated into annual appropriations bills ensures that such protections apply to research funded by the National Institutes of Health, NIH.
The NSF reports that it applies all NIH guidelines, including the Dickey-Wicker amendment, to its research. The Chief of Government Affairs at NSF, Mr. Robert Moller, confirmed this in an email to my staff dated May 16, 2021:
NSF supports very little human embryonic stem cell research. NSF incorporates the NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research through our award Terms and Conditions, which govern, among other things, the allowable uses for NSF funds. Those NIH guidelines clearly address the Dickey Wicker amendment in Section V. As NSF incorporates this guidance, it also incorporates the Dickey-Wicker amendment and its restrictions.
It is clear from NSF's response and a review of the research terms and conditions that are binding on awardees that NIH guidelines, including Dickey-Wickery protections, apply to NSF-funded research. Since nothing in the Endless Frontier Act or the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act modifies these legal protections, it is therefore the clear intent of the Senate that the protections for human life afforded by the Dickey-Wicker amendment continue to apply to the NSF.
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