Global Courant
EXCLUSIVE – A bipartisan effort is underway in the Senate to ban China and other hostile countries from manufacturing US taxpayer-funded technologies.
On Tuesday, Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Invent Here, Make Here Act of 2023 that requires all federal agencies commercializing taxpayer-funded research to invent new products that are licensed only to U.S. manufacturers.
While current law requires federally funded inventions to be manufactured in the United States, the senators say this requirement is often being let go, allowing advanced taxpayer-funded technologies to be licensed to foreign companies and in countries like China. can be manufactured.
“If taxpayers’ money is used to fund innovation, it should be American companies and workers who should reap the benefits,” said Baldwin.
This “flawed” system came to light in late 2022 when an NPR investigative report revealed that the Department of Energy had approved the production of vanadium redox flow batteries – a revolutionary technology invented by scientists in a federally funded lab – to be licensed to China.
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Senator Tammy Baldwin (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Building on the progress we’ve made to produce more products in the US, the Invent Here, Make Here Act ensures that cutting-edge American innovation is also American-made, strengthening our manufacturing sector and our domestic supply chains and American jobs are supported,’ Boudewijn said.
Senator JD Vance (AP photo/Tom E. Puskar, file)
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In the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2023, Sens. Baldwin and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, included a provision to strengthen the exemption process for inventions arising from federal research at the Department of Homeland Security.
But the new rules will expand the scope to include all programs funded by all federal agencies. The bill also completely bans waivers for license applications from companies planning to produce in a “country of concern” – currently China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
“Taxpayer-funded innovations should benefit US workers and industry, not our foreign adversaries. For far too long, we have allowed US breakthroughs to be shifted to countries like China and Russia – this legislation will put an end to those abuses,” Vance said. said. “It’s common sense: products developed with American tax dollars should be manufactured by American workers on American soil.”
President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to Wolfspeed, a semiconductor manufacturer, on March 28, 2023 in Durham, North Carolina. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
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The bill also requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology — part of the Department of Commerce and one of the nation’s oldest science laboratories — to improve coordination with other federal agencies to encourage commercialization of federal research by domestic manufacturers.
Michael Stumo, CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, praised the bill saying, “For too long our government has subsidized the production of critical technologies in China and other countries. are produced in hostile countries.”
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“We applaud Sens. Baldwin and Vance for introducing this much-anticipated legislation,” he said.
Brianna Herlihy is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
