WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the Promoting United States Leadership in Standards Act to restore America’s position as a leader in international standards setting for emerging technologies.

For decades, the United States led the world in developing new technologies, which allowed our country to set the rules of the road when it came to global standards for those technologies. However, in recent years, Chinese companies backed by the Chinese Communist Party have overtaken the U.S., which has allowed our adversary to influence standards in ways that further their own interests.

“The Chinese Communist Party has made it their mission to undermine the U.S. and our interests around the globe by exploiting our deficiencies,” said Senator Blackburn. “As our adversary ramps up efforts to dominate global standards for emerging technologies, the U.S. must be a global leader in innovation, and that includes setting standards that reflect our interests and values.”

“In recent years, the Communist Party of China has asserted their dominance in the global technology space, and as their status has risen, our authority and influence has fallen,” said Senator Warner. “This legislation clearly outlines steps we must take to reestablish our leadership and ensure that we are doing all we can to set the global standards for critical and emerging technologies."

Standards-setting bodies make critical decisions not only relating to technical specifications, but also relating to values, such as openness, safety, and accessibility, embedded in emerging technologies. 

Specifically, the Promoting United States Leadership in Standards Act would:

• Require the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to submit a report to Congress that identifies current U.S. participation in standards development activities for AI and other Critical and Emerging Technologies (CETs);
• Create an easy-to-access web portal to help stakeholders navigate and actively engage in international standardization efforts. The portal would include a list of relevant standards and information about how to participate in standardization activities related to AI and other CETs;
• Establish a pilot program to award $10 million in grants over 4 years to support the hosting of standards meetings for AI and other CETs in the U.S.;
• Create a report to Congress, after the third year of the program, that identifies grant recipients, provides a summary of expenses, assesses the effectiveness of the program to grow the number of standards meetings in the U.S., and shows the geographic distribution of event attendees.

Click here to read the bill text. 

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