Congress focuses on China rivalry amid US spending crunch

Failure to agree federal spending puts US R&D at a disadvantage, political leaders warn

Senators and senior members of government have expressed fears that the United States may lose its “competitive edge” to rival countries, in particular China, due to the US’s ongoing and repeated inability to set long-term federal budgets.

“China isn’t debating whether to pay its debts, or wreck its economy. China isn’t debating whether to invest in its future, or cut and cap the investments that keep it competitive, and China does not operate on continuing [budget] resolutions,” Democrat senator Patty Murray (pictured) said last week in a hearing on federal spending held by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which she chairs.