Senators Coons and Rubio Introduce Bill to Modernize Aspects of National Lab System

Press Release

U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced legislation Wednesday to modernize the United States' national lab system through targeted reforms, making the nation's innovation pipeline more efficient and giving the labs new flexibility to support innovation in partnership with the private sector. America's 17 national labs conduct research in a broad range of scientific and technological fields, but are not always equipped to translate their scientific discoveries into commercial breakthroughs.

"Our nation's economic growth is tied to our ability to turn promising ideas into job-supporting innovations," Senator Coons said. "Too many transformative ideas and scientific breakthroughs never leave our national labs, which squanders enormous potential. This bill will modernize critical aspects of our national lab system and give our labs new tools and flexibility to partner with the private sector, helping American businesses access the tools they need to innovate. The America INNOVATES Act will widen and streamline our nation's innovation pipeline, helping to create badly needed jobs."

"For over 200 years, American innovation has given the world countless breakthroughs in the fields of science, medicine, energy and technology," Senator Rubio said. "Unfortunately, our network of national labs, which have long been a leading source of innovation and research, currently lack the tools they need to translate American ingenuity into American jobs. This is especially the case with research relating to the rapidly evolving energy industry, which is too often hampered by regulations, mandates and burdensome taxes. To change this, our national labs need the ability to partner more easily with the small businesses that make up the backbone of the American free enterprise system. This bill will make it easier for our labs to work together with the private sector to bring groundbreaking research to fruition in the marketplace."

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