WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) The US Senate on Thursday voted to move forward legislation addressing the United States' competitiveness in a number of key areas to reconcile the bill in conference with the House of Representatives.
The US Senate passed a compound motion to bring the legislation to conference in a vote of 67 to 27.
The legislation, entitled the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) or the America COMPETES Act, addresses US competitiveness in areas such as technology and communications, foreign relations and national security, domestic manufacturing, education, and trade.
This legislation would seek to ease supply chain bottlenecks on items like semiconductors and bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States, authorizing $45 billion to improve US supply chains and prevent shortages of critical goods by ensuring more are made in the country.
The bill would also direct the Biden and subsequent administrations to submit a six-month review identifying areas of potential dialogue between the Chinese and US governments on ballistic, hypersonic, nuclear, space and cyber issues.
It similarly directs the US administration to develop a concrete plan to engage in arms control talks with China, and alternative plans to address arms control concerns should efforts to enter negotiations with Beijing fail.
