On the recordMarch 1, 2011
While we are waiting for my friend, the distinguished Senator from Iowa, I will note that what we are talking about is bipartisan legislation; it is supported by both business and labor. People ask whether Congress can work together and whether, with all the problems facing America, Republicans and Democrats can come together to get work done, make things work, and do things that can make America stronger and more competitive in the world. This is a bill that does that. That is why we have a broad group of cosponsors in both parties across the political spectrum. It enables us to actually do something. We have a decades-old patent system, which may have made sense in the time when you had patents that might not be superseded by new inventions for years. Now they can be superseded the day they come in. That is why we have 700,000 patents applications waiting to be processed. It is also why countries such as China and others are beginning to surpass us in their innovation, because we have been slow to catch up. We are in a situation where we are unable to compete with the rest of the industrialized nations. Their patent laws are ahead of ours. So this is a case where we in America have a chance to catch up. We do it without adding a cent to the deficit, but we also create jobs.
