Today, John Cogan argues that the Senate should seize its current opportunity to rein in Medicaid spending; Patrick McLaughlin speaks to congressional legislators about streamlining regulation to maximize innovation; and Drew Endy explains to House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology members the imperative of securing US competitiveness in an age of winner-take-all biology and biotechnology competition.
US Health Care
Writing at The Wall Street Journal opinion page, Senior Fellow John F. Cogan argues that “Medicaid is badly in need of an overhaul,” and that the House of Representatives’ version of the so-called big, beautiful budget bill “falls short.” Despite tweaks to Medicaid, “federal spending on the program will be 33% higher next year, after adjusting for inflation, than it was in 2019.” Cogan stresses that the federal government does not have the funds to cover this elevated level of expenditure. But with the bill headed to the Senate, Cogan notes that Senate Republicans have the opportunity to insist on changes to Medicaid, “improve its efficiency and reduce its adverse work incentives.” Given the size of the program and the scale of US budget deficits and federal debt, Cogan suggests that now is the time for a reversal of Medicaid’s course. Read more here. (Subscription required.)
Congressional Testimony
This morning, Research Fellow Patrick McLaughlin testified before the US Congress Joint Economic Committee. In a session dedicated to examining obstacles to productivity growth and supply-chain modernization, McLaughlin testified to the limitations that regulatory uncertainty and the promulgation of “soft law,” or prospective guidance on the possible shape of future regulation in new technology areas, place on innovation. McLaughlin also noted the promise of artificial intelligence to possibly help speed up regulatory adaptation to meet the challenges posed by new innovations and business models. McLaughlin stressed the importance of Congress’s setting the proper regulatory infrastructure for emerging and advanced technology areas, to allow individual innovators to maximize progress and profit with streamlined yet sufficient guardrails in place. Watch here.
Also testifying on Capitol Hill today, Senior Fellow and Science Fellow Drew Endy told the Research and Technology and Energy Subcommittees of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology that “Biology is the next-to-mature general purpose technology.” As he noted, “We already use biotechnology to grow essential medicines, foods, fuels, and some materials. Going forward we can leverage biotechnology to help grow data storage systems, electronics, energetics, consumer biologics, [and] advanced cellular agents.” To maintain US competitiveness in this area, Endy calls for prioritizing “spending public funds on foundational discovery science and biotechnology tool development.” The stakes are high, as in Endy’s view, “Whichever nation best understands biology, from cells to ecosystems, will hold an extraordinary advantage in imagining and making biotechnologies real. Read more here.
Security, Defense, and Technology
The Hoover Institution is proud to announce a new limited podcast series, The Hand Behind Unmanned, which will explore the rise and use of autonomous systems in the US military. This timely podcast is an extension of the profound insights presented in the recently published book The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins of the US Autonomous Military Arsenal (Oxford University Press). Coauthored by Jacquelyn Schneider, Hargrove Hoover Fellow and director of Hoover’s Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative, and Julia Macdonald, research professor at the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies, the book details how critical ideas, individuals, and institutions have shaped the US military’s approach to unmanned and autonomous technologies over the past half century. “The podcast tells the story of a centuries-old American quest to use technology to substitute for humans on the battlefield; it is a story of technology, but the main characters are the people that made those technologies a reality,” Schneider said. Learn more and listen here.
As the Trump administration pushes “to revoke large numbers of student visas held by Chinese entrants, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made it clear that STEM is at the center of this move,” Science Fellow Norbert Holtkamp and coauthor Ana Quiroz argue that for America to maintain the lead in science means managing, not cutting off, the flow of STEM students. The authors note that Chinese and American migration policies may increasingly restrict the ability of Chinese students and scholars to study and work in the United States over the next few years. So, to maintain a robust pipeline of STEM talent, Holtkamp and Quiroz call for investments in primary education to prepare “domestic students for advanced STEM studies.” Additionally, they advocate for “policies that facilitate the active recruitment and long-term retention of foreign-born talent once in the United States.” The authors conclude, “Ignoring the large talent pool beyond US borders will never be desirable.” Read more here.
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