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**NOVEMBER 15, 2021**
Kuttner on TAP
Bipartisanship Lives-Thanks to China
Schumer moves to add a major technology bill to the must-pass defense
authorization.
Bipartisanship may be dead when it comes to building back better, but it
may be alive and well when it comes to resisting China and rebuilding
U.S. supply chains and domestic industry. Last June, the Senate passed
the bipartisan United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) by a
filibuster-proof vote of 68-32.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cobbled together the bill working with the
Democratic chairs of key Senate committees and their Republican
counterparts. Among other provisions, the $200 billon legislation
includes $52.7 billion to restore U.S. domestic leadership in
semiconductors, addresses the supply chain crisis in other respects, and
creates a Directorate of Technology and Innovation at the National
Science Foundation funded at $81 billion.
USICA also cracks down on a variety of predatory trade and
intellectual-property practices on the part of China, and adds sanctions
for human rights abuses. This is the first major legislation to take
seriously the threat of China's authoritarian state capitalism with a
proportional response.
The bill has been bottled up in the House. But last night, in a "Dear
Colleague" letter that was released to the press, discussing legislative
plans for the coming months, Schumer announced a shrewd tactical ploy.
He will seek to tack USICA onto the must-pass annual National Defense
Authorization Act. "I have had a number of conversations with Senators
on both sides of the aisle and there seems to be fairly broad support
for doing so," he wrote.
Good for Schumer. Reviving U.S. manufacturing and supply chains is
surely a national-security issue. If we can't get all of Build Back
Better, we can at least get some of the crucial industrial-policy
provisions. The Republicans are obstructionist on almost
everything-but leave it to China's President Xi Jinping to bring the
parties together.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.
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