Bill includes Hickenlooper provision to fund telecommunications research in Boulder, create new alternatives to Chinese manufacturers
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper cast his vote to pass a bipartisan Innovation and Competition bill to help American industry regain its competitive edge with China, reinvigorate scientific research, and boost the U.S. semiconductor industry in a bid to fight inflation.
Also part of the bill is a Hickenlooper-authored provision, the Telecommunications Supply Chain Diversity Promotion Act, which funds a $20 million research program at the Institute of Telecommunication Sciences in Boulder, Colorado.
“We can’t let China eclipse the U.S. as the world’s economic engine,” said Hickenlooper. “This bill reinvigorates the American innovation and manufacturing that made us a global powerhouse.”
The bill includes a 40 percent increase in funding for the National Science Foundation and a boost for the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden. Hickenlooper is Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Space and Science.
The Innovation and Competition Bill will next go to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate versions before coming up for a final vote.
Full text of the bill is available HERE.
Specifically, the Innovation and Competition Bill would:
- Authorize new investments in federal research and development
- Grow domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity and take action to protect other critical U.S. supply chains
- Enhance technology transfer and commercialization efforts, increasing the return on our R&D investment and focusing technology research in areas of critical national importance
- Invest in creating a diverse and geographically-distributed STEM, research, innovation, and manufacturing workforce