Time.news- Republicans and Democrats have overcome differences and joined forces to approve one of the most important interventions of the American government in industrial policy: the US Senate has voted a bill to face the technological threat of China with investments for nearly 250 billion dollars.
A large majority (68 votes to 32) was given the green light for an ambitious plan in the field of science and technology, presented as a “historical” text to counter the economic threat of the Cina and its “authoritarian” model.
The bipartisan measure allocates approximately $ 190 billion for provisions to strengthen technology and research and development in key areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum science. It also provides for the approval of a $ 52 billion spending over five years to encourage US manufacturing of chips and semiconductors, which are now mainly produced in Asia.
The bill must now go to the House of Representatives to be sent to the White House for signature by the president Joe Biden.
“If we don’t do something, our days as the dominant superpower could end,” warned the leader of the Democratic Senate majority. Chuck Schumer shortly before the vote. “And that’s why this will be remembered as one of the greatest successes of Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate in recent history,” he added.
The bill “sets the stage for the largest investment in science and technology in generations,” he explained. “Whoever wins the race in the technologies of the future”, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, “will be the economic leader of the world”. And that nation “will shape the world in its image,” he continued with a warning addressed directly to the Chinese leader Xi Xinping. “Do we want this image to be democratic? Or do we want an authoritarian image, like the one that President Xi would like to impose on the world?”.
The leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, complained that the plan leaves some measures “out”, but ultimately voted in favor. “From critical supply chains to intellectual property to counterintelligence, it addresses key topics that will help define our strategic foundations for decades to come,” he said.
The proposed investment “offers an opportunity for the United States to strike a beat, to respond to the unfair competition we see from the Chinese Communist Party,” the Republican said. Roger Wicker, number two of the trade committee where the text was negotiated.
.