Technology & Innovation

Science and Innovation in the 118th Congress

01.12.23 | 2 min read | Text by Matt Hourihan & Liam Alexander & Jessica Blackband & Zoë Brouns & Ryan Buscaglia & Melissa Roberts Chapman & & Karinna Gerhardt & Andy Gordon & Vijay Iyer & Sruthi Katakam & Divyansh Kaushik & Melissa Moritz & Faith Savaiano & Maeve Skelly & Aleksandra Srdanovic & Alice Wu & Hannah Safford & Smrithi Sharma

The United States faces a broad array of challenges, from intense competition in science and technology abroad, to the need for safe and resilient critical systems at home.

To be sure, narrowly split control of Congress adds to the complexity of addressing these challenges. But even in this situation, the 118th Congress can still create opportunities for bipartisan action to bolster American economic security, national security, and health. There are many national goals on which the parties agree. These include:

Even if there are some areas in which policy differences persist, there are many where action is possible.

To help seed the ground for bipartisan progress, we have assembled a wide-ranging menu of policy ideas on a range of critical topics.

Where do these ideas come from?

This menu of policy ideas, organized by theme, was primarily generated over the past three years through crowdsourced outreach by the Day One Project, and refined with the help of the Day One Project team to transform promising ideas into actionable policy proposals. 

We have added a few additional ideas of our own, but the majority are derived from Day One Policy Memos authored by experts, scholars, and policy entrepreneurs from an array of backgrounds. Click on the links found throughout this report to access the source memos, which include rationales and plans of action for policy implementation.

Emerging Tech & Competitiveness
Energy Security
Infrastructure
National Security
Bioeconomy & Health Security
Education & Workforce
Resilient Agriculture & Environment