Washington, D.C. – President Biden is expected to sign an executive order (EO) on Friday that prioritizes domestic manufacturing for innovations that arise from federal research and development (R&D).
The new “Invent it Here, Make it Here” EO supplements legislative efforts to address the offshoring of production resulting from taxpayer-funded innovations.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) first identified the need for greater protection of federally funded inventions last year and shepherded passage of her “Invent Here, Make Here Act,” which tightens restrictions on licensing inventions from Homeland Security research programs. In June, Sens. Baldwin and JD Vance (R-Ohio) introduced the bipartisan “Invent Here, Make Here Act of 2023” to further expand waiver requirements to all federal agencies commercializing federal research.
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said:
“America’s innovation has always been one of our nation’s greatest assets. We have led the world in the development of the most critical technologies of today. By allowing inventions that have been discovered through federally funded research to come to fruition in an offshore factory, we cede our leadership and sabotage our future. Manufacturing and R&D are inextricably linked.
“Allow one to decay, and you endanger the other.
“We applaud today’s executive order, which builds off legislation introduced by Senators Tammy Baldwin and JD Vance earlier this year. It is vital that we ensure America’s taxpayer-funded breakthroughs do not support bad actors like China. Instead, let’s make sure American innovation leads to the building of resilient domestic supply chains and creates family-support manufacturing jobs right here at home. Congress must pass the senators’ bipartisan legislation right away.”
A 2022 NPR investigation into how battery technology from a U.S. government lab was licensed for manufacturing in China brought this issue first to light.