President Joe Biden re-emphasized Wednesday (April 7) that his $2 trillion infrastructure investment plan will boost U.S. competitiveness against the Chinese Communist Party. However, some congressional Republicans are concerned that the infrastructure program is too large and all-encompassing to focus on competing with China in the technology industry.
According to the White House’s infrastructure investment proposal, the content is broadly divided into several areas, including $620 billion to improve transportation, $650 billion to improve public facilities, including high-speed broadband, $400 billion to develop family long term care and nursing care, and $480 billion to invest in technology research and development.
In technology research and development, the White House plan, which references some of the investment bills being drafted by Congress, would provide $300 billion in funding for U.S. manufacturing, including support for the production of U.S. technology and key supply chain industries, and would inject approximately $50 billion into U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research. In addition, it would spend $180 billion on research projects to develop innovative technologies focused on clean energy and fighting climate change.
The Biden administration says that by investing in these key technology areas it will enable the U.S. to win in competition with China.
However, congressional Republicans are concerned that the Biden administration’s plan will blur the focus of efforts to focus on technology research and development to counter the Chinese Communist Party in these key areas.
Republican U.S. Sen. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) tweeted Monday (April 5) that “China’s Communist Party is plundering U.S. markets, technology and more to fund their country. Both parties agree that my Endless Frontier Act is necessary, but shouldn’t be just one part of an infrastructure bill.”
Sen. Young previously said in an interview with U.S. TV News that he was pleased to see the Biden administration taking the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party seriously, but he believes the White House’s infrastructure package is too flamboyant and large.
“What we really need is a national security-related backlash, and we don’t need to pass a massive $2 trillion infrastructure bill,” Sen. Young said, adding, “According to some, only 25 percent of the bill actually includes infrastructure.”
“We need to invest in critical national security areas and separate those investments from infrastructure projects,” Young said, stressing that 21st century technologies, including areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and robotics research and development, are the focus of future competition.
Young said those investments can really help American workers, grow the economy, boost military power and give the U.S. a leg up against the Chinese Communist Party.
Congress mulls major technology investment bill to counter the Chinese Communist Party
In response to the Chinese Communist Party’s challenge, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Young (R-NY) co-sponsored a bill last year called the Endless Frontier Act, which aims to solidify America’s position on science and technology innovation by increasing investment in future technologies. The bill aims to strengthen U.S. leadership in science and technology innovation by increasing investment in future technologies. The bill proposes to invest $100 billion over the next five years in the National Science Foundation for research in ten key technology areas, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and to establish “regional technology hubs” (regional technology hub) across the country.
However, the bill did not make any progress in the previous Congress.
After the new Congress took office, Schumer, who became Senate Majority Leader, made a comeback in his efforts to push the bill. In March, Schumer announced that he had directed the bipartisan leaders of eight related committees to develop legislation with the goal of defeating China while creating new American jobs.
The proposed bill, which builds on the Endless Frontier Act introduced last year, would continue to focus on strengthening the U.S. competitive advantage in technology and enhancing the independence and resilience of production in U.S. supply chain-related industries.
Senator Young, who is primarily responsible for writing the new version of the Endless Frontier Act, told Voice of America that the bill, which was originally scheduled to be introduced at the end of March, is now aiming to be successfully completed by mid-April.
“We hope to introduce the bill in early April, although the timing could be adjusted slightly. There will be other ideas from legislators, but we want to get this done, it’s so important,” Young told the Voice of America.
Senator Young emphasized that he has been actively consulting and discussing with lawmakers from both parties to come up with a complete and bipartisan technology industry investment package that would serve as a blueprint for the foundation of a counterweight to China for decades to come.
“There have been bipartisan discussions about the content, and when I talk to my colleagues, of course, they all want to see the text of the bill first, and they haven’t seen the formal content of the legislation yet, so that’s their main concern right now,” Senator Young said.
He went on to say that the bill will be followed by a full legislative process to do so. In other words, while the process will likely be time-consuming, all legislators will be able to offer amendments and debate the content of the bill.
“When legislators hear that we plan to move the bill through the normal process, using the deliberative sessions of the committees under their authority to look at the bill in its entirety and opening it up to offer amendments, they are looking forward to it,” Young told the Voice of America.
Young also said he believes the Endless Frontier Act will have a positive and far-reaching impact on the development and manufacturing of critical U.S. technologies and supply chains. That’s why he strongly advocated for the bill to be introduced independently to avoid it being watered down by its inclusion in the Biden administration’s infrastructure building plan.
“It’s not a good sign if the Endless Frontier Act or its components are included in a larger infrastructure program, and I have to be frank about that. In all seriousness, we should be moving forward, moving forward with the Endless Frontier Act on the basis of the bipartisan consensus that I have built,” Sen. Young responded in an interview with FoxNews.com.
“When you lump other issues together, when you lump home care, electric cars and other core technology investments all together, that’s a sign that you’re not very serious about this,” Senator Young continued, “so I hope that we can keep the two separate. “
Separate legislation? Include it in the infrastructure package? To be negotiated in Congress
Young even mentioned that he could not support the infrastructure investment plan proposed by the Biden administration at this time unless Congress could introduce a separate bill for the technology industry investment component.
Lawmakers from both parties are still on a two-week recess this week and are not expected to resume their agenda until next week. It is unclear how either the White House’s proposed infrastructure investment bill or Congress’ original proposed anti-industrial bill will proceed. However, members of both parties have said they favor investment in U.S. technology industries as a counterweight to Chinese competition is critical.
“(The Endless Frontier Act) I think is still in development, and I think it needs to be cross-party, and there should also be significant close communication and consultation with the executive branch,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told reporters on Capitol Hill on the eve of the recess.
Kaine added that he believes Congress will have a busy session of discussion ahead and hopes to try to gain bipartisan support for both the infrastructure bill and the technology industry investment bill.
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next week on the content of the Endless Frontier Act bill, according to Reuters.
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