Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse unveils plan to strengthen U.S. technology competitiveness

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WOWT) - Several senators have introduced new legislation to strengthen U.S. technology.

Friday, U.S. Senators Ben Sasse (R-NE), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) unveiled the American Technology Leadership Act.

The senators say the new bill would establish a new Office of Global Competition Analysis, aimed at assessing how the U.S. compares to other countries in emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

“We are currently in a tech war with China, and the urgency to keep the upper hand is growing,” said Sasse. “Staying technologically competitive needs to be our top priority, which is why we need to assess how we compare with other countries technologically and which technologies matter most to our economic and national security.”

According to Sasse, there is no federal office currently responsible for assessing how the U.S. fares on emerging technology. The Department of Defense does evaluations comparing U.S. battleships, tanks and aircraft to other nations, but there is no similar evaluation process for other technologies.

Experts from the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and Defense and other agencies would staff the Office of Global Competition Analysis. Sasse adds that the new office would help identify which emerging technologies would matter the most to economic and national security.

Senator Michael Bennet plans to advocate for the bill’s inclusion in the Fiscal Year 2023 Intelligence Authorization Act.

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