[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 93 (Thursday, May 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3547-S3548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ENDLESS FRONTIER ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the Senate opens this morning after a 
very late night of amendment votes on the U.S. Innovation and 
Competition Act--USICA; those are the initials--five in total, four of 
which of these amendments were sponsored by Republicans. So far on this 
bill, the Senate has held votes on no fewer than 18 amendments, 4 from 
Democrats and 14 from Republicans, and there are more to come.
  As I mentioned yesterday, in a landmark moment for bipartisanship in 
the Senate, we even adopted an amendment from Senator Rand Paul by 
voice vote. Yes, that is right. I said the two words together. Rand 
Paul; voice vote--four words. I said the two concepts together: Rand 
Paul; voice vote--four words.
  Now, the media will tell you that if you are talking process, you are 
losing, but the process was really important here. For years, Senators 
have been clamoring for a more open process and more amendment votes. I 
can't tell you how many speeches I have heard on the floor about the 
virtues of regular order. Well, this competition bill ought to be the 
answer to my colleagues' prayers.
  The bill has moved through regular order, flying through various 
Senate committees with staggering bipartisan votes. The entire Senate 
opted to take up the bill by a vote of 86 to 11.
  Here on the floor, we have held the kind of vigorous, bipartisan, 
open amendment process that Senators have been calling for. Some of 
these votes were tough for our side. In the old days, we would have 
said no. We said yes, we will vote for them, but let's keep moving 
forward, and we are.
  Listen to this. It is only May, roughly 5 months since Democrats took 
the majority in this Chamber, and already more amendments have received 
rollcall votes than during any of the past 4 years. Let me repeat that 
so people hear it from one end of the Capitol to the other, 
particularly on this side of the aisle. In 5 months, more amendments 
have received rollcall votes in this Democrat-led Senate than during 
any of the years in which Donald Trump was President and Senator 
McConnell was majority leader.
  We have considered the competition bill in an exceedingly bipartisan 
way.

[[Page S3548]]

There will be a few final steps to take, a few final amendments to 
consider, but I hope my Republican colleagues have seen our commitment 
to developing, drafting, and perfecting this legislation in total 
concert with the other side of the aisle.
  With cooperation from our Republican colleagues, we can finish the 
bill today, and I hope we do. That is our intention, because despite 
the lack of attention it has garnered from the press, the U.S. 
Innovation and Competition Act will be one of the most significant 
pieces of bipartisan legislation we pass in a very long time. It could 
be a moment in history that future generations look back on as a 
turning point for American leadership in the 21st century.
  Everyone knows the Federal Government's commitment to science and 
technology has been slipping for decades. We have become complacent at 
the top of the global heap, and our position as the world's economic 
leader is teetering. We now spend less than 1 percent of our GDP on 
basic scientific research. The Chinese Communist Party, as a 
percentage, spends more than twice that. We have put ourselves in the 
very precarious position of potentially falling behind the rest of the 
world in technologies and industries that will define the next century. 
If that happens, the days of America leading the world in scientific 
innovation and the days of America being the leading economic and 
military power in the world may be over.
  This is a moment when the U.S. Senate can arrest the decline and lay 
the foundation, instead, for another American century. That is why this 
is a moment in history that future generations could well look back on 
as a turning point for American leadership in the 21st century.
  By investing in science and technology and shoring up critical 
industries like semiconductors, boosting our universities, 
laboratories, and businesses, we can keep America on top and outcompete 
the world in industries of the future. That is just what this 
legislation would do. Our two parties have worked very hard on it. I 
think we have made a number of notable improvements to the bill. It is 
time to move forward together and pass this bill.

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