Endless Frontier Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3832 To establish a new Directorate for Technology in the redesignated National Science and Technology Foundation, to establish a regional technology hub program, to require a strategy and report on economic security, science, research, and innovation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2020 Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish a new Directorate for Technology in the redesig- nated National Science and Technology Foundation, to establish a regional technology hub program, to require a strategy and report on economic security, science, re- search, and innovation, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Endless Frontier Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds the following: 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3832 IS (1) For over 70 years, the United States has 1 been the unequivocal global leader in scientific and 2 technological innovation, and as a result the people 3 of the United States have benefitted through good- 4 paying jobs, economic prosperity, and a higher qual- 5 ity of life. Today, however, this leadership position 6 is being eroded and challenged by foreign competi- 7 tors, some of whom are stealing intellectual property 8 and trade secrets of the United States and aggres- 9 sively investing in fundamental research and com- 10 mercialization to dominate the key technology fields 11 of the future. While the United States once led the 12 world in the share of our economy invested in re- 13 search, our Nation now ranks 9th globally in total 14 research and development and 12th in publicly fi- 15 nanced research and development. 16 (2) Without a significant increase in investment 17 in research, education, technology transfer, and the 18 core strengths of the United States innovation eco- 19 system, it is only a matter of time before the global 20 competitors of the United States overtake the 21 United States in terms of technological primacy. The 22 country that wins the race in key technologies—such 23 as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, ad- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3832 IS vanced communications, and advanced manufac- 1 turing—will be the superpower of the future. 2 (3) The Federal Government must catalyze 3 United States innovation by boosting fundamental 4 research investments focused on discovering, cre- 5 ating, commercializing, and producing new tech- 6 nologies to ensure the leadership of the United 7 States in the industries of the future. 8 (4) The distribution of innovation jobs and in- 9 vestment in the United States has become largely 10 concentrated in just a few locations, while much of 11 the Nation has been left out of growth in the innova- 12 tion sector. More than 90 percent of the Nation’s in- 13 novation sector employment growth in the last 15 14 years was generated in just 5 major cities. The Fed- 15 eral Government must address this imbalance in op- 16 portunity by partnering with the private sector to 17 build new technology hubs across the country, 18 spreading innovation sector jobs more broadly, and 19 tapping the talent and potential of the entire Nation 20 to ensure the United States leads the industries of 21 the future. 22 (5) Since its inception, the National Science 23 Foundation has carried out vital work supporting 24 basic research and people to create knowledge that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3832 IS is a primary driver of the economy of the United 1 States and enhances the Nation’s security. 2 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOUNDA- 3 TION. 4 (a) REDESIGNATION OF NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUN- 5 DATION AS NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOUN- 6 DATION.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Act of May 8 10, 1950 (64 Stat. 149, chapter 171; 42 U.S.C. 9 1861), is amended— 10 (A) in the section heading, by inserting 11 ‘‘AND TECHNOLOGY’’ after ‘‘SCIENCE’’; and 12 (B) by striking ‘‘the National Science 13 Foundation’’ and inserting ‘‘the National 14 Science and Technology Foundation’’. 15 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in any law, 16 rule, regulation, certificate, directive, instruction, or 17 other official paper in force on the date of enactment 18 of this Act to the National Science Foundation shall 19 be considered to refer and apply to the National 20 Science and Technology Foundation. 21 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR 22 TECHNOLOGY.—Section 6 of the Act of May 10, 1950 (64 23 Stat. 149, chapter 171; 42 U.S.C. 1864a), is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3832 IS (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘DEPUTY 1 DIRECTOR’’ and inserting ‘‘DEPUTY DIRECTORS’’; 2 (2) in the first sentence— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘a Deputy Director’’ and 4 inserting ‘‘2 Deputy Directors’’; and 5 (B) by inserting ‘‘and in accordance with 6 the expedited procedures established under S. 7 Res. 116 (112th Congress)’’ after ‘‘the Senate’’; 8 (3) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘The Dep- 9 uty Director shall receive’’ and inserting ‘‘Each Dep- 10 uty Director shall receive’’; 11 (4) by inserting after the third sentence the fol- 12 lowing: ‘‘The Deputy Director for Technology shall 13 oversee, and perform duties relating to, the Direc- 14 torate for Technology of the Foundation, as estab- 15 lished under section 8A, and the Deputy Director for 16 Science shall oversee, and perform duties relating to, 17 the other activities and directorates supported by the 18 Foundation.’’; and 19 (5) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘The Dep- 20 uty Director shall act’’ and inserting ‘‘The Deputy 21 Director for Science shall act’’. 22 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF DIRECTORATE FOR TECH- 23 NOLOGY.—The Act of May 10, 1950 (64 Stat. 149, chap- 24 ter 171; 42 U.S.C. 1861 et seq.), is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3832 IS (1) in section 8 (42 U.S.C. 1866), by inserting 1 at the end the following: ‘‘Such divisions shall in- 2 clude the Directorate for Technology established 3 under section 8A.’’; and 4 (2) by inserting after section 8 the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 8A. DIRECTORATE FOR TECHNOLOGY. 6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 ‘‘(1) DEPUTY DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Deputy 8 Director’ means the Deputy Director for Tech- 9 nology. 10 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATED COUNTRY.—The term ‘des- 11 ignated country’ means a country that has been ap- 12 proved and designated in writing by the President 13 for purposes of this section, after providing— 14 ‘‘(A) not less than 30 days of advance noti- 15 fication and explanation to the relevant con- 16 gressional committees before the designation; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) in-person briefings to such commit- 19 tees, if requested during the 30-day advance no- 20 tification period described in subparagraph (A). 21 ‘‘(3) DIRECTORATE.—The term ‘Directorate’ 22 means the Directorate for Technology established 23 under subsection (b). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3832 IS ‘‘(4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 1 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 2 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 3 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 4 ‘‘(5) KEY TECHNOLOGY FOCUS AREAS.—The 5 term ‘key technology focus areas’ means the areas 6 included on the most recent list under subsection 7 (c)(2). 8 ‘‘(6) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 9 TEES.—The term ‘relevant congressional commit- 10 tees’ means— 11 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Armed Services, 12 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 13 Transportation, the Committee on Appropria- 14 tions, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and 15 the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 16 Senate; and 17 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Armed Services, 18 the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech- 19 nology, the Committee on Appropriations, the 20 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Perma- 21 nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 22 House of Representatives. 23 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3832 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 1 after the date of enactment of the Endless Frontier 2 Act, the Director shall establish in the Foundation 3 a Directorate for Technology. The Directorate shall 4 carry out the duties and responsibilities described in 5 this section, in order to further the following goals: 6 ‘‘(A) Strengthening the leadership of the 7 United States in critical technologies through 8 fundamental research in the key technology 9 focus areas. 10 ‘‘(B) Enhancing the competitiveness of the 11 United States in the key technology focus areas 12 by improving education in the key technology 13 focus areas and attracting more students to 14 such areas. 15 ‘‘(C) Consistent with the operations of the 16 Foundation, fostering the economic and societal 17 impact of federally funded research and devel- 18 opment through an accelerated translation of 19 fundamental advances in the key technology 20 focus areas into processes and products that 21 can help achieve national goals related to eco- 22 nomic competitiveness, domestic manufacturing, 23 national security, shared prosperity, energy and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3832 IS the environment, health, education and work- 1 force development, and transportation. 2 ‘‘(2) DEPUTY DIRECTOR.—The Directorate 3 shall be headed by the Deputy Director. 4 ‘‘(3) ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE 5 MATTERS.— 6 ‘‘(A) HIRING AUTHORITY.— 7 ‘‘(i) EXPERTS IN SCIENCE AND ENGI- 8 NEERING.—The Director shall have the au- 9 thority to carry out a program of personnel 10 management authority for the Directorate 11 in the same manner, and subject to the 12 same requirements, as the program of per- 13 sonnel management authority authorized 14 for the Director of the Defense Advanced 15 Research Projects Agency under section 16 1599h of title 10, United States Code, for 17 the Defense Advanced Research Projects 18 Agency. 19 ‘‘(ii) HIGHLY QUALIFIED EXPERTS IN 20 NEEDED OCCUPATIONS.—In addition to 21 the authority provided under clause (i), the 22 Director shall have the authority to carry 23 out a program of personnel management 24 authority for the Directorate in the same 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3832 IS manner, and subject to the same require- 1 ments, as the program to attract highly 2 qualified experts carried out by the Sec- 3 retary of Defense under section 9903 of 4 title 5, United States Code. 5 ‘‘(iii) ADDITIONAL HIRING AUTHOR- 6 ITY.—To the extent needed to carry out 7 the duties in paragraph (1), the Director 8 shall utilize hiring authorities under sec- 9 tion 3372 of title 5, United States Code, to 10 staff the Directorate with employees from 11 other Federal agencies, State and local 12 governments, Indian tribes and tribal orga- 13 nizations, institutions of higher education, 14 and other organizations, as described in 15 that section, in the same manner and sub- 16 ject to the same conditions, that apply to 17 such individuals utilized to accomplish 18 other missions of the Foundation. 19 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM MANAGERS.—The employ- 20 ees of the Directorate may include program 21 managers for the key technology focus areas, 22 who shall perform a role similar to programs 23 managers employed by the Defense Advanced 24 Research Projects Agency for the oversight and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3832 IS selection of programs supported by the Direc- 1 torate. 2 ‘‘(C) SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS.—Recipi- 3 ents of support under the programs and activi- 4 ties of the Directorate shall be selected by pro- 5 gram managers or other employees of the Di- 6 rectorate. The Directorate may use a peer re- 7 view process to inform the decisions of program 8 managers or other employees. 9 ‘‘(D) ASSISTANT DIRECTORS.—The Direc- 10 tor may appoint 1 or more Assistant Directors 11 for the Directorate as the Director determines 12 necessary, in the same manner as other Assist- 13 ant Directors of the Foundation are appointed. 14 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after 15 the date of enactment of the Endless Frontier Act, 16 the Director shall prepare and submit a report to 17 the relevant congressional committees regarding the 18 establishment of the Directorate. 19 ‘‘(c) DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE DIREC- 20 TORATE.— 21 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY FOCUS 22 OF THE DIRECTORATE.—The Director, acting 23 through the Deputy Director, shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3832.IS S3832 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 3832 IS ‘‘(A) advance innovation in the key tech- 1 nology focus areas through fundamental re- 2 search and other activities described in this sec- 3 tion; and 4 ‘‘(B) develop and implement strategies to 5 ensure that the activities of the Directorate are 6 directed toward the key technology focus areas 7 in order to accomplish the goals described in 8 subparagraphs (A) through (C) of subsection 9 (b)(1) consistent with the most recent report 10 conducted under section 5(b) of the Endless 11 Frontier Act. 12 ‘‘(2) KEY TECHNOLOGY FOCUS AREAS.— 13 ‘‘(A) INITIAL LIST.—The initial key tech- 14 nology focus areas are— 15 ‘‘(i) artificial intelligence and machine 16 learning; 17 ‘‘(ii) high performance computing, 18 semiconductors, and advanced computer 19 hardware; 20 ‘‘(iii) quantum computing and infor- 21 mation systems; 22 ‘‘(iv) robotics, automat [Text truncated for display. 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