Billions included in federal spending bill targets upstate tech funding
ALBANY – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says billions of dollars included in the $1.7 trillion federal spending bill being debated in the Senate could help fund technology research in upstate New York.
The powerful New York Democrat said Thursday that $10.8 billion included in what is called the federal omnibus bill will complement his $76 billion CHIPS and Science Act, a bill he ushered through Congress earlier this year that includes $52 billion for computer chip manufacturing subsidies.
Schumer noted that the $10.8 billion includes a $1 billion increase in funding for the National Science Foundation that can be used for workforce training related to new tech projects that Schumer helped to bring to upstate New York this year, including the massive Micron computer chip factory being built outside Syracuse.
“I just secured the largest increase in history, over $1 billion, for the National Science Foundation which is going to help jump-start (research and development and tech) workforce training to help prepare the next generation of upstate New Yorkers to out-compete China and position upstate New York to lead in the innovation economy,” Schumer said in a statement.
The Senate has yet to pass the omnibus bill, but is expected to do so soon to avoid a government shutdown and provide more military assistance to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Most of the money Schumer included is National Science Foundation funding, but there are hundreds of millions more designated for projects that were created – but not funded – in the CHIPS and Science Act, which was the final version of what began as the CHIPS Act, a federal subsidy fund to bring computer chip manufacturing and its supply chain back from China and Asia to the U.S.
The new funding includes $500 million for a new program that would create regional technology hubs across the country. Schumer envisioned that places like upstate New York and more rural areas of the U.S. would benefit from the program.
“This is the first major down payment to implement key provisions from my CHIPS and Science bill for upstate New York, which will bolster cutting-edge research, rebuilds domestic supply chains, and give workers the technical skills to bring manufacturing back to America and build the future in places like upstate NY,” Schumer added.
