Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Advancing The Endless Frontier Act And His Intent To Put It On The Senate Floor Next Week

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the advancement of the Endless Frontier Act out of the Commerce Committee and moving forward with bringing it to the Senate floor next week. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks which can also be viewed here:

Yesterday the Senate Commerce Committee came together on a bipartisan basis to advance the Endless Frontier Act by a vote of 24-4. 24-4. We are now one step closer to passing a bill that will keep our country one step ahead in science and technology for decades to come.

It is my intention for the Senate to take up the Endless Frontier Act, next week, in a package with legislation to: strengthen our alliances and partnerships, invest in the American semiconductor industry, ensure that China pays a price for its predatory actions, and boost advanced manufacturing, innovation, and critical supply chains.

For decades, American prosperity has been anchored by our unmatched capacity for innovation and invention in science and in technology. American innovation propelled American industry; and an American workforce brought those innovations to the global economy. But, unfortunately, federal under-investment in the sciences has seen our country slip, exposing critical weak spots in our economy. And if we don’t fix them, we will no longer be the number one economic leader in the world in the decade to come.

So it is imperative that we do this. And this is for our future. Our future for jobs. Our future for economic leadership. Our future for world leadership all boils down to science, something that was ignored, unfortunately, by the last administration but, fortunately, bipartisan unity in this Senate is bringing us back on the page that we need to do science.

The Endless Frontier Act would right the ship by making one of the largest investments in American innovation in generations, allowing the U.S. to out-compete countries like China, create more good-paying jobs, and harden our economic and our national security as well—because this bill is vital to national security as well as to economic security.

I applaud Chairwoman Cantwell, Ranking Member Wicker, and my partner in the Endless Frontier Act, Senator Young, all of whom who worked hard, long, diligently and effectively in a bipartisan fashion to move this legislation through regular order. The full Senate will consider, and I believe should finish, this important legislation before the end of the month, with strong bipartisan support. 

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