[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 85 (Monday, May 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2533-S2534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SENATE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the Senate will consider three 
important measures this week. Senators will vote on whether to repeal a 
Trump-era rule that made it harder for victims of discrimination in the 
workplace to pursue justice. It is another example of the sheer malice, 
the nastiness of the Trump administration. It actively sought to make 
it harder--harder--for workers to win employment discrimination claims. 
The Senate should reverse the Trump-era rule this week.
  Second, the Senate will also vote on whether to discharge the 
nomination of Ms. Kristen Clarke from the Judiciary Committee. Ms. 
Clarke would be the first Black woman ever to serve as the Assistant 
Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. She is immensely 
qualified, and I look forward to putting her nomination on the floor 
after the Senate takes action this week.
  But first, throughout the week--this is the third thing, very 
important as well--the Senate will debate a very important piece of 
legislation. This evening, the Senate will vote on whether to take up 
the Endless Frontier Act on the Senate floor, a once-in-a-generation 
investment in American science and American technology.
  Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee voted on an overwhelmingly 
bipartisan basis, 24 to 4, to advance the bill. The Endless Frontier 
Act will form the core of what will be a comprehensive bill to boost 
America's ability to compete, innovate, and win the technologies of the 
21st century.
  Over the course of the next week or two, the Senate will debate and 
amend the legislation. I look forward to having another open and 
bipartisan amendment process, just as we did on the Asian hate crimes 
bill and the bipartisan water infrastructure bill. There is no reason--
no reason--the Senate can't finish our work on this important 
legislation by the end of the month.
  Members on both sides of the aisle know that decades of Federal 
underinvestment in science and technology have imperiled America's 
global economic leadership. When we invest in science, it inevitably 
produces millions of good-paying jobs.
  So this comprehensive bill will boost funding for basic scientific 
research, tech development, and manufacturing. It will strengthen our 
alliances and partnerships abroad. It will fortify weak spots in our 
economy, like semiconductors, and will ensure that we hold the Chinese 
Communist Party accountable for its predatory economic practices. It is 
a forward-looking, comprehensive plan to preserve America's competitive 
edge.
  The benefits will be manifold. When we invest in scientific research, 
the effect is diffusive. It helps our universities, our laboratories, 
and our businesses. And, again, it creates new, good-paying jobs--
millions of them--millions of them. So if you are looking for the 
future and our people want to have a brighter future and want to be 
assured that their children will have better paying jobs than they 
have, this is an answer--one of the most important answers we can come 
up with.
  An American workforce will help bring American inventions to the 
global market, and the way we have been No. 1 in the economy for the 
last century will continue on into this one. So I am excited about this 
legislation.
  Holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its years of 
rapacious economic policies and theft of American ingenuity will help 
create a level playing field that American workers have lacked for 
decades.

[[Page S2534]]

  Investing in scientific research also hardens our national security. 
We can either have a world where the Chinese Communist Party determines 
the rules of the road for 5G, AI, and quantum computing or we can make 
sure the United States gets there first--few things that should bring 
this Chamber together faster than securing another century of American 
leadership than this.
  I am proud to have worked with my colleagues Senator Young, 
Chairwoman Cantwell, Ranking Member Wicker, and others to get this bill 
to the floor of the Senate. And I greatly look forward to working with 
all of my colleagues during these next few weeks on amending, 
broadening, and passing this legislation before the month is out.

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