Chris Van Hollen: “as the Presiding Officer knows, the United States of America has long been at the vanguard of global scientific and…”

“as the Presiding Officer knows, the United States of America has long been at the vanguard of global scientific and technological innovation, and that leadership has helped power our economy and strengthen our leadership position in the world. That competitive edge is now at risk. It is at risk because we have failed to renew our national commitment to one of the key tools that has brought us that success in the past: making robust Federal investments in scientific research and development. The bill before the Senate, called the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, aims to stop this downward drift and propel us forward again in the area of discovery, in areas of innovation and manufacturing. It honors a long, long tradition of American excellence in research and invention. If you look back over our history, America has always been on the leading edge of science, of technology, of engineering, and mathematics. That spirit has been with us since our founding, but it truly flourished in the decades following the Second World War, with new inventions springing from American minds every year and moving us forward at an accelerated pace. American astronauts took humanity to the Moon for the first time. American computer scientists invented the internet and changed the world.…”