The legislative graveyard is littered with examples of bills that Congress failed to fully fund.
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 9: US President Joe Biden coughs as he speaks before signing the CHIPS … [+] and Science Act of 2022 on the South Lawn of the White House during a ceremony on August 9, 2022 in Washington, DC. At the heart of the legislation is $52 billion in funding aimed at boosting U.S. semiconductor chip production and continuing research in the field to better compete with China’s growing dominance in the sector. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Years of bipartisan work to invest in US innovation culminated in President Biden signing the CHIPS and Science Act. Yet the historic bill—now law—marks only the first step toward securing this once-in-a-generation investment with the promise of transforming U.S. competitiveness.
If the U.S. is to win the global innovation race, Congress must now deliver the money it promised. Unfortunately, the legislative graveyard is littered with examples of similar bills that never quite got there and in the process put the US firmly behind other countries, namely China.
The challenges facing the U.S. in science, research, and innovation are greater now than ever. Over the past two decades, China has poured money into research and development, quadrupling its investment in this area. The US, meanwhile, has lagged behind: today it ranks 10th in terms of its global R&D spending as a percentage of GDP.
This global competitive reality prompted lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to work together to pass the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act. And yet, as history shows us, this alone will not ensure the generations of investment in US science and technology that we so desperately need.
For starters, consider the 2007 America’s Compete Act, which required major research institutions to cut funding by 10.4% annually, according to the Congressional Research Service. However, Congress approved only a 6.4% annual increase. Congress then reduced it to just 3.1% each year in subsequent years.
The story is no better when it comes to other parts of the same bill designed to address STEM education and priority research areas. The Government Accountability Office’s review of the 2007 and 2010 America COMPETES bill found that only one of the measure’s 28 new programs was implemented and funded.
This failure is due to the disparity between Congress authorizing a program or spending for itself and the appropriation of that money by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees or the actual spending of tax dollars.
Fortunately for the semiconductor industry, $52 billion in the CHIPS and SCIENCE Act to boost domestic production and manufacturing is earmarked as emergency spending, meaning the money is fully guaranteed. However, Congress must pass much of the rest of the bill’s provisions, such as creating new units within the Commerce Department or the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
As history has shown with previous American RACING bills, this may be the hardest part and what ultimately sets the US back on the global stage. The question for Congress is how much of the rhetoric becomes reality.
The challenges facing this country—from supply chain issues to the introduction of new technologies to the rapid rise of global competitors—are not addressed by a 1,000-page legislative wish list. It must be supported with every cent of funding authorized by Congress.
