Senators voted 86-11 — far more than the required 60 votes — to invoke a procedure called cloture and therefore prevent a filibuster that could have killed the bill, called the Endless Frontier Act.
The move means the measure, which authorizes $10 billion to establish tech hubs outside of Silicon Valley and other existing innovation hotbeds, will move to a floor debate and then probably a final vote later this month.
"The Endless Frontier Act will form the core of what will be a comprehensive bill to boost America's ability to compete, innovate and win to the technologies of the 21st century," said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat and lead sponsor of the measure.
Describing that provision of the bill last month, Schumer said: "This is an amazing opportunity for Western New York."
Buffalo business leaders agree.
"The Endless Frontier Act represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turbocharge scientific and technological innovation in the United States," said Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. "Buffalo Niagara's economy will benefit tremendously in repositioning America as the world's true technology leader with a critical focus on manufacturing, research and workforce development."
In fact, Western New York has a better chance of landing one of the hubs now than it did when Schumer and Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, unveiled the latest version of the measure last month.
That's because the Senate Commerce Committee marked up the measure last week and boosted the minimum number of regional hubs to be designated under the measure from 10 to 18. Three of those hubs would have to be selected in each of the federal Economic Development Administration's six offices.
That would put Buffalo's bid for a technology hub in competition with other bids from Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The agency's Philadelphia regional office serves all of those states.
The Western New York bid is expected to be a combined Buffalo- Rochester effort.
"We applaud Senator Schumer for his leadership, and agree that passage of the Endless Frontier Act and the recommended appropriations would be catalytic in growing the high-tech economy at the Western New York Science & Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park and all across upstate New York," said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center.
The technology hub program is actually a relatively small part of a larger bill aimed at repositioning the American economy to better compete against China.
The original bill called for $100 billion in funding for a new technology directorate at the National Science Foundation, but the Commerce Committee trimmed the amount of money to about $25 billion.
That reduction came as the panel passed amendments sponsored by senators from states with Department of Energy laboratories, who were concerned that the huge increase in funding for the National Science Foundation could come at the expense of those labs.
Young, Schumer's Republican partner in sponsoring the legislation, objected to the changes.
"I will continue working with my colleagues to ensure the final product lives up to its billing — a bold investment in research, education, technology transfer and the core strengths of the U.S. innovation ecosystem," Young said. "The country that wins the race in key technologies will be the superpower of the future. We cannot afford to lose that race."
Schumer, speaking to colleagues Monday, stressed that the bill may change again on the Senate floor.
"There's no reason the Senate can't finish our work on this important legislation by the end of the month," he added.
Then the measure would go to the House, where Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, is pushing it.
"We have a real shot here to transform the American innovation economy," Khanna said on Twitter on Monday. "Our Endless Frontier Act is something we can all get behind."
© 2021 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
