Science and Technology Issues in the 117th Congress May 5, 2021 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R46787 SUMMARY R46787 Science and Technology Issues in the 117th May 5, 2021 Congress Frank Gottron, The federal government supports scientific and technological advancement directly by funding Coordinator and performing research and development, and indirectly by creating and maintaining policies Specialist in Science and that encourage private sector efforts. Additionally, the federal government regulates many Technology Policy aspects of S&T activities. This report briefly outlines a key set of science and technology policy th issues that may come before the 117 Congress. Brian E. Humphreys, Coordinator Many of these issues carry over from previous Congresses, and represent areas of continuing Analyst in Science and Member interest. Examples include policies on taxation, trade, intellectual property, Technology Policy commercialization of basic scientific research and other overarching issues that affect scientific and technological progress. Other issues may represent new or rapidly evolving areas affected by the threats of pandemic diseases, climate change, and malicious cyber activities, among others. Examples covered in this report include infectious disease modeling and forecasting, digital contact tracing and digital exposure notification, hydrogen pipelines, and expansion of emerging information and communications technologies such as 5G. These and other S&T-related issues that may come before the 117th Congress are grouped into 10 categories. Overarching S&T Policy Issues, Agriculture, Biotechnology and Biomedical Research and Development, Climate Change and Water, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Information Technology, Physical and Material Sciences, and Space. Each of these categories includes concise analysis of multiple policy issues. The material presented in this report should be viewed as illustrative rather than comprehensive. Each section identifies CRS reports, when available, and the appropriate CRS experts to contact for further information and analysis. Congressional Research Service Science and Technology Issues in the 117th Congress Contents Overarching Science and Technology Policy Issues ....................................................................... 1 Federal Science and Technology Policymaking Enterprise ...................................................... 1 Federal Funding for Research and Development ...................................................................... 2 Adequacy of the U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce ...................................................... 2 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education .............................................. 3 Tax Incentives for Technological Innovation ............................................................................ 4 Federal Scientific Integrity Policies .......................................................................................... 5 Technology Transfer from Federal Laboratories ....................................................................... 5 R&D Security ............................................................................................................................ 6 The Role of Technical Standards in U.S. Trade Policy ............................................................. 7 Intellectual Property Law .......................................................................................................... 8 Agriculture....................................................................................................................................... 9 Agricultural Research Funding ................................................................................................. 9 Climate Change Science at USDA .......................................................................................... 10 ERS and NIFA Operations Following Their Relocation ......................................................... 10 Regulation of Agricultural Biotechnology ............................................................................... 11 The National Bio and Agro-defense Facility ........................................................................... 12 Cell-Cultured Meat .................................................................................................................. 12 Biotechnology and Biomedical Research and Development......................................................... 13 CRISPR: Advanced Genome Editing ...................................................................................... 13 Bioeconomy ............................................................................................................................ 14 National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Biomedical Research ............................................... 15 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Medical Product Innovation .............................. 16 Regulation of Laboratory-Developed Tests............................................................................. 17 Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine .................................................................................. 18 Infectious Disease Modeling and Forecasting ........................................................................ 18 Climate Change and Water ............................................................................................................ 19 Climate-Related S&T Expenditures and Activities by the Federal Government .................... 20 Climate Change-Related Science ............................................................................................ 21 GHG-Related Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment .......... 22 Climate Change and Infrastructure ......................................................................................... 23 Science and Technology for Adaptation and Resilience ......................................................... 24 Carbon Capture and Sequestration .......................................................................................... 25 Water ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Defense .......................................................................................................................................... 28 Department of Defense Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation .................................. 28 Energy ........................................................................................................................................... 29 Biofuels ................................................................................................................................... 30 Hydraulic Fracturing and Horizontal Drilling ......................................................................... 30 Electricity Modernization and Decarbonization...................................................................... 31 Advanced Battery Energy Storage .......................................................................................... 32 Reprocessing of Spent Nuclear Fuel ....................................................................................... 33 Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology ................................................................................... 34 Hydrogen Pipelines ................................................................................................................. 34 Offshore Energy Development Technologies.......................................................................... 36 Congressional Research Service Science and Technology Issues in the 117th Congress Homeland Security ........................................................................................................................ 37 Evolving Technology and the Debate over “Lawful Access” ................................................. 37 Federal Law Enforcement Use of Facial Recognition Technology ......................................... 38 Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience ....................................................................... 39 Information and Communication Technology ............................................................................... 40 Cybersecurity .......................................................................................................................... 40 Artificial Intelligence .............................................................................................................. 41 Big Tech and Social Media Policy and Regulation ................................................................. 42 Broadband Deployment and the Digital Divide ...................................................................... 43 Deployment of the FirstNet Network ...................................................................................... 44 5G Telecommunications .......................................................................................................... 45 Access to Broadband Networks and the Net Neutrality Debate ............................................. 46 Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program .................... 46 Quantum Information Science ...............................................................................................