Posted in International

U.S. Accelerates Consideration of Endless Frontier Act in Response to China’s Technology Competition

 2021年4月28日

A U.S. bill plans to provide $112 billion for basic and advanced technology research and development in response to growing competitive pressure from China. But Republican U.S. senators and Senate staff said today that the bill will be delayed at least two weeks.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties support the bill, known as the Endless Frontier Act, which was formally introduced on April 21 and is scheduled to be debated in the Senate Commerce Committee on April 28.

But Republican senators said that because more than 230 amendments are pending, the process will not continue until the Senate adjourns for a week, after May 10.

Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Commerce Committee, told the press that members of Congress need more time “to come to some consensus.

A spokesman for Republican Senator Todd Young told Reuters that the committee will not consider the bill this week, “but we expect the bill to be taken up after the recess.

The bill, sponsored by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, Young and others, would allocate another $10 billion to select at least 10 regional technology centers and develop a supply chain crisis response plan to address semiconductor chip shortages, in addition to $112 billion (about NT$3 trillion) for technology research and science.

Democratic Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-CA) has yet to comment.

Many members of Congress hope to use the bill to advance other priorities and accompany other proposals. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Republican Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) both want to use the bill to accelerate the rollout of thousands of self-driving cars.

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, who co-sponsored the bill, said U.S. dominance in science and technology is “at stake, and the Communist Party of China has used intellectual property theft and industrial espionage for decades to close the technology gap with the United States in ways that not only endanger our economic security, but also our livelihoods. “.