President Joe Biden will sign orders on Monday to push more government dollars to the U.S. biotechnology industry, aimed at reducing dependence on China for materials to generate clean energy, weave new fabrics and inoculate populations against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The executive order allows the federal government to direct funding for the use of microbes and other biologically derived resources to make new foods, fertilizers and seeds, as well as making mining operations more efficient, administration officials said. They did not provide any specifics on how much money would be available, where it would come from or how it would be allocated. Further details are expected at a White House summit on the topic Wednesday.
The U.S. federal government is already a source of funds to biotechnology research and development through the National Institute of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies. Overall U.S. funding for R&D has dropped as a percentage of gross domestic product since a peak in the 1950s, a trend Biden has pledged to reverse.
I mean look at Volkswagen -- still going today...