ICYMI: Baldwin, Vance Bipartisan Bill to Ensure Taxpayer-Funded Inventions Are Made in America Passes Senate
WASHINGTON, D.C – Last week, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and J.D. Vance (R-OH) passed their bipartisan bill, the Invent Here, Make Here Act of 2023, unanimously on the Senate floor. The bipartisan legislation ensures taxpayer-funded inventions are not manufactured in adversarial countries like China, but rather, in the United States. The bill builds on bipartisan legislation championed by Senator Baldwin and signed into law that requires taxpayer-funded research that leads to inventions that boost national security are made in the United States.
While current law requires federally funded inventions to be manufactured in the United States, the requirement is often waived, allowing cutting-edge, taxpayer-funded technologies to be licensed to foreign companies and manufactured in countries like China. The Invent Here, Make Here Act would prohibit waivers for applications that intend to manufacture in a “country of concern” – currently China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. The legislation would also increase scrutiny of waiver requests, requiring written authorization by the President of the United States.
Read more below:
- On Wednesday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced her latest proposal, the Invent Here, Make Here Act, was passed unanimously by the Senate.
- The proposal extends previous legislation introduced by Sen. Baldwin that was signed into law in 2022, requiring that taxpayer-funded research focusing on natural security be made in the United States.
- "This bill basically says that if we're using taxpayer dollars for research that results in some innovation, some invention, then we should not license that to some other country to make," Baldwin said in an interview following the announcement.
- Bipartisan legislation that will ensure taxpayer-funded inventions are made in America has passed the Senate, Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin announced Wednesday.
- It builds upon previous legislation proposed by Baldwin, which was later signed into law. That legislation requires products created by taxpayer-funded research be made in the U.S.
- “I’ve fought for years to ensure that when we invest taxpayer dollars, we’re investing in American businesses and workers. For too long, taxpayer funded inventions have been shipped overseas for production in places like China, benefitting their economy and compromising our national security,” said Baldwin in a release.
- It also sets for plans to increase American companies' access to these taxpayer-funded inventions.
Wisconsin Public Radio: Tammy Baldwin, JD Vance bill on taxpayer-funded inventions passes US Senate
- A bipartisan federal bill to keep production of taxpayer-funded inventions in the United States — sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and co-sponsored by Vice President-elect JD Vance — passed in the Senate this week.
- The bill would prohibit waivers for applications that would manufacture those inventions in a “country of concern,” such as China, Russia, North Korea or Iran, the senator’s office said. It would require waiver requests to have the written authorization of the president of the United States.
- When new senators are elected, Baldwin said she looks for issues she can collaborate with them on. With Vance, she said she recognized they both came from states that rely heavily on manufacturing.
- “I talked with him about it early last year, and we agreed that we were going to partner on this legislation,” she said. “I’ll work with anyone, if it advances Wisconsin and helps deliver for our state.”
- In a statement, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, expressed support for the ideas behind the bill.
- Similarly, U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, said in a statement that he would support any effort, now or in the next Congress, that ensures U.S. innovation benefits domestic workers and companies.
###
