Oppose the United States Innovation and Competition Act

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to oppose the United States Innovation and Competition Act, introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). This bill, filed as a substitute amendment to the Endless Frontier Act, fails to address the rise of China effectively and includes several provisions that seek to fallaciously engineer the American economy.

Ostensibly intended to ramp up economic pressures and be “tough on China,” the United States Innovation and Competition Act incorporates several proposals, including the Endless Frontier Act, the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, the Meeting the China Challenge Act of 2021, as well as provisions recommended by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. While enormous in size and scope, the crux of this bill centers around incentivizing and funding new technological research and development (R&D) to increase American competitiveness.

While it is laudable that Congress is seeking to incentivize innovation, the Innovation and Competition Act does little to address the issues underlying the rise of China. In particular, this bill does practically nothing to prevent the theft of American intellectual property beyond mandating sanctions for cyberattack assailants.

Perhaps more importantly, the United States Innovation and Competition Act is just the latest example of the federal government wasting taxpayer dollars tilting at windmills. The inclusion of more than $200 billion in new spending is entirely misdirected. For example, the $120 billion provided over five years for research at the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy — both of which are noted for wasteful spending and mismanagement of funds — is a blatant attempt to engineer our economy towards unilaterally determined “key technology focus areas.”

Throughout history, America has demonstrated that the proper answer to oppression is freedom and liberty. When staring down a tyrannical regime like the Chinese Communist Party, the answer to economic despotism should be economic freedom. Hopefully, Congress will wake up to this reality and advance free-market approaches to dealing with the China question.

For these reasons, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to oppose the United States Innovation and Competition Act.

Sincerely,

Adam Brandon, President, FreedomWorks