Cantwell is now speaking on the Senate floor about Endless Frontier -- she's lamenting that previous efforts this century to boost R&D funding relative to GDP were derailed by the 2008 financial crisis, and that we've now fallen behind internationally as a consequence. Cantwell says federal dollars for R&D "are near their lowest point in 60 years relative to GDP."

She then points, of course, to China's 1600% increase in R&D investments since 2000.

New: The U.S. R&D community is torn between excitement over the big $$$ in Endless Frontier and disappointment that the price tag for science shrank so much.

"I thought there was broad agreement on the ambitious new funding target," said @calebwatney.🔒

nationaljournal.com/s/713779/scien… @calebwatney Schumer's still touting Endless Frontier as a $120 billion bill, and that's true - but it's not all new money.

For example, $54.9 billion goes to NSF for basic research. Sounds great! But because it replaces NSF's existing budget, it's actually only $12.9 billion in new $$$.

Schumer just filed the substitute amendment to Endless Frontier, which is now technically the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021: Official bill text and summary (respectively):

democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…

democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…

🚨 Chuck Schumer's substitute amendment for Endless Frontier, The US Innovation and Competition Act, is online! democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…

Summary is here: democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…

Looks like they've still got some work to do on CHIPS funding... In addition to semiconductor subsidies, it looks like O-RAN 5G is also making a play to get into the bill.

Open radio access networks are a relatively new technology that policymakers expect will undercut Chinese telcos like Huawei and get U.S. industry back in the 5G game.

Senate cloture vote happening now on S. 1260, also known as the Endless Frontier Act. Republican Sens. Cotton, Crapo, Tuberville, Johnson all vote against cloture on Endless Frontier. Lots and lots of yes votes. Still ongoing...

There's likely some drama about to break out at the Senate Commerce markup on Endless Frontier. After believing he'd made an agreement w/ Cantwell, Wicker now says the chair has agreed to an amendment on tech directorate $$$ from Sen. Lujan "without my acquiescence." Wicker says he still believes the bill is going to make it to the floor. "It's not ready for primetime, but it's not my call."

"We were trying to reach some kind of consensus--thought we almost had it," Wicker said, adding that stakeholders have had no chance to weigh in.

A Senate Commerce Committee markup that includes a vote on the Endless Frontier Act is scheduled to begin shortly. It's my first in-person committee meeting in over a year(!), so I'll probably tweet some highlights. (They're running late)

Roger Wicker, ranker on Senate Commerce, tells me there's now 270 amendments to the Endless Frontier Act, which is presumably still being marked up tomorrow.

A few weeks ago there'd been a bit over 200 amendments, though for now the committee is keeping a tight lid on them... 🚨Wicker pours cold water on tmmrw's Endless Frontier markup:

"I'm not overly confident that we can get finished tomorrow, no."

Suggests main sticking points incl. getting 20% of R&D funding to regions other than science/tech hubs, plus the fight over basic vs applied research.