Sens. Portman, Cortez Masto introduce bill to combat Chinese influence on technology standards

U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced legislation to ensure the United States is positioned to lead international standards-setting Thursday.

The bill would counter the Chinese government’s influence and work to protect American jobs. Specifically, the legislation would require the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to create a task force to counter Chinese influence and ensure the United States is leading the technology standards-setting process.

“Standards setting is a critical, if often unsung, aspect to American competitiveness,” Portman, co-founder and co-chair of the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus, said. “Unfortunately, the United States has fallen behind in terms of participating in many standards setting bodies related to emerging technology, while China’s membership has surged. This bipartisan legislation will help ensure that standards setting processes remain neutral, industry driven, and focused on sound technical decisions, rather than techno-national protectionism.”

Building on Portman and Cortez Masto’s Ensuring American Leadership over International Standards Act signed into law last year, the bill would protect American competitiveness and American jobs by creating an Emerging Technology Standards-Setting Task Force, led by the OSTP, which would include representation from the Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and the Department of Labor. The Task Force would meet with members of academia and the private sector to develop a long-term strategy to assess which technology standards have the greatest impact on national security and economic competitiveness and to craft a strategy that would build America’s credibility while engaging with international institutions on standards-setting.

“Nevada is full of innovative technology companies, which provide hundreds of good-paying jobs across the state, and we need to ensure the U.S. continues to be an international leader in this space,” Cortez Masto said. “This includes protecting U.S. leadership in setting technology standards, which are international rules for how technology is safe and accessible across the world and determine everything from to how software operates on different computers, to the frequencies cell phones use to make calls. This bipartisan legislation would help strengthen our country’s technology industry, make us more competitive economically, and help protect jobs in Nevada and across the country.”