The Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 allocates billions to scientific research and has strong bipartisan support. It could be could be a game changer for some U.S. cities.
Guo Junfeng / VCG via Getty Images
The Senate is poised to pass a major bill that would pour hundreds of billions of dollars into science and technology in a bid to out-compete China, and it s doing so with something rare these days: strong bipartisan support.
The Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 is part of a wave of recent China-related proposals in Congress.
Indiana Republican Senator Todd Young is one of the Act s key sponsors, as is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has been leading the charge to get it passed. 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, Schumer said in the Senate on Thursday. It could be a moment in history that future generations look back on as a turning point for American leadership in the . 21st Century.
Researchers in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in central China s Hubei province.(AP)
It will fan doubts about the World Health Organisation s capacity to tease out lessons from the current crisis in order to prevent future pandemics.
In the US, it leaves both the former Trump administration and the Biden White House facing calls for transparency about their efforts to establish how the virus started and whether politics tainted their investigative efforts.Â
If it turns out the virus did escape from a laboratory, former President Donald Trump may be able to claim some vindication.Â
But it would also highlight how his repeated habit of trashing the truth and bending intelligence to suit his own political ends shattered his credibility on this and other issues.
Senate Poised To Approve Major Science Funding Bill To Compete With China capradio.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capradio.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s plan for the Senate to pass a sweeping bill this week to help the U.S. compete with China is being swamped by Republican requests for changes and additions that risks dragging out debate.