美国会提1000亿美元议案 强化人工智能、量子计算、机器人技术研发（英文）

据defensenews网2020年5月27日报道，由参议院民主党领导、两党共同提议，美国会将向国家科学基金会投入1000亿美元，加强人工智能、量子计算、先进通信、机器人及其他领域研究。5月26日，由参议院少数党领袖舒默领头制定的《无边境法》提交国会，提出将国家科学基金会更名为“国家科学技术基金会”，增加一个拥有“类似DARPA权威”的技术总管，加强研究监管并签订特定技术领域合同。

1000亿美元将在5年内分配。

分裂的国会正在联手对付中国。5月27日，美参众两院通过就人权、香港问题对中国实施制裁议案，要求将联邦研发投资及公共和私人投资用于空间科学技术研究。

重点领域包括：

法案提出, 将批准另外100亿美元用于确定至少10个区域技术中心，促进其发展为“全球关键技术研究、开发和制造中心”。

Congress may unite on fighting China with $100B tech industry boost

A typically divided Congress is uniting in its anger against China. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

WASHINGTON ― Congress would pump $100 billion into the National Science Foundation for research into artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced communications, robotics and more under a bipartisan proposal led by the Senate’s top Democrat.

The Endless Frontier Act, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and announced Tuesday, would rename the National Science Foundation as the National Science and Technology Foundation and add a technology directorate with “DARPA-like authorities” to oversee research and make contract awards in select technology areas. The $100 billion would be spread over five years.

A typically divided Congress is uniting in its anger against China: The House on Wednesday was poised to pass sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights abuses against Muslim minorities, while the Senate was considering sanctions to punish China for its crackdown on Hong Kong.

Schumer’s bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind. A House version is co-sponsored by two members of the House Armed Services Committee: Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.

“[A]t a time of historically low interest rates, we should work to pair federal investments in research and development with public- and private-partner investments in scientific and technical moonshots,” the four lawmakers said in an USA Today op-ed this month.

“We must also remain mindful that, as our nation recovers, China gains ground. Beijing‘s authoritarian leaders aim to capitalize on this moment with an eye toward outpacing the United States by investing in technological innovations essential to Americans’ future safety and prosperity.”

Under the bill, an additional $10 billion would be authorized to designate at least 10 regional technology hubs, which in turn would become “global centers for the research, development, and manufacturing of key technologies.”

When Schumer first floated the idea in November, as a tech “moon shot” against China, he said it had support from people close to President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., but lacked “their full-throated support.”

According to a senior aide on Tuesday, the sponsors were working to include legislation in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate is set to mark up its version of the bill in early June.

Last year, Schumer and Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican with hawkish views on China and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, were able to include the Fentanyl Sanctions Act in the NDAA. The bill is intended to hold foreign countries, like China, responsible for the spread of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

That time, the bill was introduced in April 2019 and included in the Senate version of the NDAA, which passed a month later. It remained in the fiscal 2020 NDAA that Congress passed in mid-December 2019.

Handicapping the bill is complicated. One the one hand, the bill’s price tag may turn off progressive Democrats already leery of the NDAA at $700 billion as well as fiscally conservative Republicans, said one congressional aide. On the other hand, massive COVID-19 aid packages may be a sign Congress has become less fiscally conservative.

“The numbers we’re talking about these days are in the range of a trillion or three trillion, so what’s an extra $100 billion,” the aide said.