[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3467-S3468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ENDLESS FRONTIER ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Mr. President, on the competition act, the Senate 
today will continue work on the bipartisan U.S. Innovation and 
Competition Act, legislation that will supercharge American innovation 
and preserve our competitive edge, not just for the next few years but 
for generations to come. It will be true that our children and even our 
grandchildren will benefit from this legislation.
  Right now, this legislation doesn't get the big focus of the press--
A, because it is bipartisan; there aren't too many clashes; B, because 
it is positive; and, C, because it is long term. It won't have an 
immediate effect tomorrow, but it will have a profound effect 3, 4, 5 
years from now and generations after.
  So it is really important legislation. I think it is one of the most 
important things this Chamber has done in a very long time. And the 
hallmark of the bill has been its bipartisanship. It pulls together 
bipartisan legislation from no

[[Page S3468]]

fewer than six Senate committees and includes the input of nearly every 
Member of the Senate. The vote tallies you are seeing on this bill are 
from another era, maybe the John Warner era--24 to 4 in the Commerce 
Committee, 21 to 1 in Foreign Relations. The Senate, as a whole, voted 
to proceed to the bill by 86 to 11.
  And the process here on the floor is no less bipartisan. I have heard 
it from Members on both sides of the aisle: Let's try to do regular 
order. Let's get on the floor and do amendments the way we used to.
  Well, we are doing just that. We have already considered 10 
amendments--more than I can remember in a long time--8 of which were 
led by Republicans. So it is hardly that the Democratic majority is 
only doing what we want. Three Republican amendments were adopted by 
voice vote last night. I mean, who would have ever thought that the 
Senate would adopt an amendment from Senator Rand Paul by voice vote? 
We did it.
  So, look, we are moving forward in a very bipartisan way. We will 
consider at least another three amendments of the bill today, and if 
both sides continue in good faith to schedule amendment votes and 
debate, and there are no eleventh-hour decisions to delay or obstruct, 
there is no reason we can't finish this bill by the end of the week. 
That is my intention.
  Taking a step back, the depth of bipartisanship on this bill reveals 
two things. One, Members want to work together if given a chance. This 
bill came through the regular order. Senate committees drove the 
process, and here on the floor, Members have participated in robust 
debate and a robust amendment process. But, second, and maybe even more 
importantly, it reveals that Democrats and Republicans are united in 
our efforts to preserve and maintain American leadership on the world 
stage.
  We all know that investing in sciences, innovation, and technology 
holds the key to our future--the key. It has been one of the great 
hallmarks of America from 1950 on, maybe even earlier, from Thomas 
Edison on, maybe even earlier than that. But today--today--we have let 
that lag. We became far too complacent. The United States commits less 
than 1 percent of its GDP toward basic science research--1 percent. 
That is the fault of government, but it is also the fault of the 
private sector. The world is so competitive, and global competition is 
so severe. Companies feel they can't invest as much in the kind of 
research that might payoff profits 5 or 10 years down the road.
  So while all this is happening, the Chinese Communist Party spends 
nearly 2.5 percent on research and has pledged to the world that they 
will increase scientific investments by 10 percent in the future. If 
that happens unchallenged, the days of America leading the world in 
science and innovation, the days of America being the leading economic 
power of the world will be over, and we will regret it and look back 10 
or 20 years from now and say: Why the heck didn't we do this? It was so 
simple and easy.
  But we have to.
  I heard my friend from Illinois, Senator Durbin, say that in 1990, 
the United States produced 37 percent of the world's semiconductors--a 
technology we invented. Today, we produce less than 12 percent, and it 
is going down. Some have predicted--many have predicted--that at this 
rate, we will produce less than 6 percent of them a few years from now. 
If we don't step up our game right now, we will fall behind the rest of 
the world.
  That is what this legislation is ultimately about--righting the ship, 
investing in science and tech, so we can outinnovate, outproduce, and 
outcompete the world in the industries of the future, some of which we 
know and some of which we don't even know, but we know that scientific 
investment will produce them. And if we are at the forefront of this, 
we will have America continue to be the leader in these new 
technologies yet unimagined.
  Around the globe, authoritarian governments smell blood in the water. 
They believe that squabbling democracies like ours can't come together 
and invest in national priorities the way a top-down, centralized, and 
authoritarian government can. They are rooting for us to fail so they 
can grab the mantle of global economic leadership and own innovations 
that will define the next century. We cannot--we cannot--we must not 
let that happen. I do not believe we will let it happen.
  The bipartisan--the strongly bipartisan--work on this competition 
bill has revealed that in this Chamber we still believe--Democrats and 
Republicans alike, united and moving forward--that another American 
century lies on the horizon.
  Let's move forward. Let's finish our work and pass the U.S. 
Innovation and Competition Act as soon as possible, certainly before 
the end of the month this week.

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