Republican Lawmakers Call for Greater Investments in Government Innovations

The Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act, or SALSTA, was introduced March 23, 2021 by House Science, Space and Technology Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) and several other Republican lawmakers.

The legislation proposes doubling U.S. investments in federal agencies to further modernize them through research funding. It also calls for the creation of a coordinated national science and technology strategy and other moves to further government innovation and security.

A member of the legislative staff who helped write the bill told NextGov, “While SALSTA is a comprehensive proposal for investing in American [research and development], there are quite a few sections that can be introduced as individual bills, and we expect to see that soon on critical minerals, advanced recycling, and fusion energy, among others. Those all have solid bipartisan potential.”

If passed into law, SALSTA would create specific mandates for Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to help OSTP provide policy coordination and direction to federal agencies. Every four years, OSTP would be required to create and submit a comprehensive plan that would introduce strategies for growth and further development. The bill includes policies for specific agencies. For example, the Department of Energy would be mandated to strengthen existing computer systems and make improvements to data transfer and integration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would receive funding to revamp its facilities and infrastructure.

Representative Lucas explained, “America’s global leadership has always been driven by our scientific and technological superiority. But that leadership is being challenged now by the Chinese Communist Party… Communist leadership in China is investing more in research than the U.S. and aggressively pursuing technological supremacy through foreign acquisitions, forced technology transfers, and, frequently, cyber espionage.”

President Biden also supports greater investment in IT modernization and augmenting security and infrastructure in federal agencies. He said at a press conference on March 25, 2021, “Back in the '60s, we used to invest a little over 2 percent of our entire [gross domestic product] in pure research and investments in science. Today, it's 0.7 percent. I am going to change that.” He continued, “One of the reasons why I set up the President's board of science advisors, again, is we're going to invest in medical research, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, industries of the future, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotech. We're going to make real investments. China is out investing us by a longshot.”