Lawmakers offer contrasting views on how to compete with China in science

Is investing in research the best way for the United States to compete with China, or would imposing additional sanctions to prevent the rival superpower from stealing U.S. technology be a better strategy? This week, two committees of the U.S. House of Representatives debated those two approaches to dealing with the increasingly tense U.S.-Chinese relationship.

As the only member of Congress to sit on both committees, Representative Haley Stevens (D–MI), used both hearings to make the case for increased investment across all areas of science. At the select committee’s evening hearing, she won support for her argument in an exchange with H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser to Trump and a proponent of severe economic sanctions against the CCP and its allies.

“Would investing more of our GDP [gross domestic product] in research and development pose any threat to national security?” Stevens asked him, taking an implicit jab at legislators who vote for larger defense budgets while demanding cuts in domestic spending. “No, it would not,” McMaster replied.

Speaking the next day with Science, Stevens said she hoped future hearings by the select committee would provide fodder for legislation to beef up U.S. manufacturing that she hopes to move through the science committee later this year. “I’m more optimistic than I was 5 years ago about the bipartisan willingness to invest in our nation’s scientific enterprise,” said Stevens, referring to last year’s enactment of a bill to bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry and promote innovation that she helped craft.