Heinrich Delivers Remarks At Kickoff Meeting For Conference Committee On Bipartisan Jobs And Competitiveness Bill

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) delivered remarks at the kickoff meeting for the conference committee of Senate and House members to finalize legislation boosting America’s economic competitiveness and address supply chain issues.

WATCH: Heinrich Delivers Remarks At Kickoff Meeting For Conference Committee On Bipartisan Innovation And Competition Legislation [HD DOWNLOAD LINK HERE] 

“In my home state of New Mexico, our national labs, research universities, military installations, and private sector companies are poised to develop and commercialize a number of next-generation technologies,” said Heinrich during his remarks. 

Senator Heinrich also expressed that “New Mexicans stand ready to lead the way” to advance American innovation and economic competitiveness.

The Conference Committee is tasked with reconciling differences between the Senate’s United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and the House’s America COMPETES Act, which will culminate in a conference report. 

Senator Heinrich’s remarks as prepared for delivery are below.

Our nation’s scientific researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and manufacturing workers remain the most innovative on the planet.

But that won’t be the case if we rest on our laurels.

In my home state of New Mexico, our national labs, research universities, military installations, and private sector companies are poised to develop and commercialize a number of next-generation technologies.

New Mexicans stand ready to lead the way in manufacturing more semiconductors and other advanced technologies developed in our national labs such as high-performance quantum computing systems. 

I worked with my colleagues in the Senate to secure a $17 billion investment in research and development at our national labs to maintain our ability to develop and deploy these emerging technologies. 

And I was also proud to partner with my colleague Senator Ben Ray Luján to secure a $30 billion investment to modernize the infrastructure at our national labs.

In that spirit, I think it is critical that we are also investing in the infrastructure at our research universities—including Minority-Serving Institutions—where we are training the next generation of American innovators. 

The bill that we advanced out of the Senate also included a $52 billion investment to supercharge our domestic superconductor and microelectronic manufacturing capabilities. 

By ramping up the production of the chips that have become key components in so many products, we will substantially lower costs for American families on purchases from smartphones to cars and home appliances. 

Finally, I hope that we will include the language from the First Three Act, which would help to finance the development of new industrial technologies that dramatically reduce our energy use. 

I look forward to getting to work alongside all of you to advance American innovation and economic competitiveness.

Thank you.