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These days, it can feel like there are very few issues Democrats and Republicans agree on. That is, of course, unless someone’s proposing a bill aimed at challenging Beijing’s growing global influence.

The United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, a wide-ranging piece of legislation expected to cost about $200 billion, seeks to do just that.

Assembled by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the bill has united senators on both sides of the political aisle behind a bundle of provisions to boost American research and technology manufacturing deemed critical to U.S. economic and national security interests.

The scope of the bill, the end result of input from at least six Senate committees, reflects the many fronts in the U.S.-China rivalry, as well as the urgency of a global semiconductor shortage that has clobbered automakers, home appliance manufacturers and phone producers.

The proposal, subject to final changes, would:

• Provide $52 billion to support domestic semiconductor manufacturing
• Authorize $81 billion for the National Science Foundation from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2026
• Authorize $16.9 billion for the Department of Energy over the same period for research and development and energy-related supply chains in key technology areas.
• Authorize $10 billion to NASA’s human landing systems program

The largest part of the 1,400-page plan is a proposal previously known as the “Endless Frontier Act.”

Now an amendment, that provision from Schumer and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., would give new life to the National Science Foundation, appropriate $81 billion for the NSF between fiscal 2022 and 2026, and establish a Directorate for Technology and Innovation.

The directorate would ensure NSF funding is funneled to the development of critical technologies, including artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, robotics and semiconductors.

“This legislation will set our country on the path to out-innovate, out-produce and out-compete the world in the industries of the future,” Schumer said from the Senate floor Monday.

“So far, this bill has flown a bit under the radar. But it is an incredibly important piece of legislation,” he added. “At its core, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act is about maintaining America’s role as the global economic leader. Few issues could be more important.”

Some senators believe Schumer’s timeline is ambitious given a raft of Republican requests for changes and haggling over some existing provisions, though the bill is widely expected to clear the chamber at some point in the coming weeks.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for example, has expressed support for an amendment to bar any American funds going to research in China that involves increasing the deadliness of viruses, an implicit acknowledgment of theories that Covid-19 escaped from a lab in the Wuhan province.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas last week blasted an addition from Michigan Democrats Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow that would require contractors on federal projects pay so-called prevailing wages to their employees.

Despite the last-minute gripes, Schumer remained optimistic as of Monday that the upper chamber will be able to pass the measure by the end of the week. The Senate is scheduled for a recess next week, so if they can’t finish by Friday work on the legislation will be paused until the week of June 7.