Chris Coons: “I rise to speak about a bill introduced today--a bipartisan bill--a bill that will strengthen America's innovation…”

“I rise to speak about a bill introduced today--a bipartisan bill--a bill that will strengthen America's innovation economy. Over the last 60 years our national laboratories have served as leading centers of research and discovery in America. Today we have 17 DOE labs charged with three broad research missions: science, energy, and national security. Although they have grown and changed since their founding to encompass much broader ranges of work and are successful in carrying out their primary missions, labs are not fully optimized to take part in today's innovation culture. That is a problem, because in this century of rapid change, America's best competitive advantage remains our capacity to innovate. Over the coming months, I will be talking more about a few things Congress can do to streamline and jumpstart our Nation's hubs of discovery so that we can thrive as a 21st-century innovation economy. At the top level, it will mean reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act to reaffirm our commitment to the robust national strategy for science and technology programs that will continue to be a critical underpinning of American prosperity. And one part of that is how our national labs operate, which is why today Senator Rubio and I have introduced the America INNOVATES Act. Already, our labs have incubated many groundbreaking innovations.…”