(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Indiana Senator Todd Young says an attempt to help the U.S. compete economically with China could come up for a final vote next month.
Young (R) is one of the negotiators on the bill seeking to invest in regional tech hubs at home to break Chinese dominance of the high-tech manufacturing market. Young co-sponsored the bill which passed the Senate last year with 19 Republicans joining most Democrats in voting yes. But all but one Republican voted against the House version, and even Young said he was “disappointed” in what he called a partisan process in that chamber.
Young appeared with former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster at a Washington forum sponsored by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He says the U.S. needs to be as clear-eyed as China about what’s at stake beyond dollars and cents, arguing the battle for market share is really a battle between Western values and China’s authoritarian control of its economy. He maintains Chinese lobbying of American business leaders against the United States Innovation and Competition Act is evidence the approach is on the right track.
Young says the bill’s a chance for the parties to find rare common ground, to simultaneously address national and economic security. He says Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) wants to pass the bill next month. But Young warns if the final version the bill isn’t close to finished by the August recess, it risks being swallowed up by the politics of the looming November election.
