Daines Cosponsors Bipartisan Bill to Ensure Montana, America Remain Global Leaders in Innovation & Technology, Create High Tech Jobs

U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Steve Daines today helped introduce a bipartisan bill, the “Endless Frontier Act,” which is the leading proposal in the U.S. Senate to promote American tech jobs and American innovation, research and development in the race against China.

“We must invest in American innovation and technology if we’re going to win the race against China and stay competitive globally in the 21st century. My bipartisan bill will help advance research and create high paying, American tech, energy and manufacturing jobs. It will also advance Montana’s high tech sector and ensure America beats China and remains a global superpower,” Daines said.

Senator Daines, an original cosponsor of the bill, joined Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in introducing the “Endless Frontier Act.” A companion bill was also introduced in the House by Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).

This bill would:

  • Invest in American innovation and technology to ensure the U.S. maintains its competitive edge over China
  • Promote high paying U.S. technology and manufacturing jobs

To read the full text, click HERE.

To read a one pager on the bill, click HERE.

Additional Background on the Bipartisan “Endless Frontier Act:”

Today, the United States’ position as the unequivocal global leader in scientific and technological ingenuity and innovation is under pressure from China and is eroding. U.S. competitiveness and national security are being threatened by decades of U.S. underinvestment in research, manufacturing, and workforce development, coupled with foreign competitors stealing American intellectual property and aggressively investing to dominate the key technology fields of today and of the future.

The “Endless Frontier Act” will reinvigorate the U.S. innovation economy, support research and development throughout the country, help lead to the creation of new jobs of the future here in America, and keep the U.S. economically competitive against China and other countries. The members of Congress emphasize that without a significant and sustained increase in investment in research, education and training, technology transfer and entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and the broader U.S. innovation ecosystem across the nation, it is only a matter of time before America’s global competitors overtake the U.S. in terms of technological primacy, threatening national security and prosperity.

Specifically, the “Endless Frontier Act” proposes an expansion of the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the establishment of a new Technology and Innovation Directorate within NSF to advance research and development in 10 key technology focus areas, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced communications, biotechnology, and advanced energy.

The newly-established Technology and Innovation Directorate would receive $100 billion over five years to invest in basic and advanced research, commercialization, and education and training programs in technology areas critical to national leadership. An additional $10 billion would be authorized at the Department of Commerce to support regional technology strategies and to designate at least 10 regional technology hubs, awarding funds for comprehensive investment initiatives that position regions across the country as global centers for the research, development, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing of new key technologies.

The “Endless Frontier Act” also establishes a new Supply Chain Resiliency and Crisis Response Program with the national security mission of strengthening critical technology supply chains in the U.S. and with global allies and partners. To support the country’s national security capabilities, the bill mandates a strategy on national competitiveness and ingenuity in science, research, and manufacturing to support the national security strategy.