Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA, December 2025) - Hoover Science and Senior Fellow Drew Endy joined leaders from government, industry, charities, and academia in Washington, DC, for the public launch of the Congressional Biotechnology Caucus on December 2, 2025. Nearly 200 members of Congress, staffers, and biotechnology leaders convened for the event. The strong participation showcased growing bipartisan support for strengthening America's leadership in biotechnology.

Established earlier this year, the caucus already includes roughly 40 members from both parties. The mission of the caucus is to equip policymakers and staff with the knowledge and networks needed to ensure the United States leads responsibly and effectively in biotechnology. The caucus's initial work includes advancing biosecurity, enabling innovation, growing the domestic bioeconomy, and expanding opportunities for biotechnology to solve problems at all scales.

The launch event, themed "Biotechnology means <fill in the blank>," highlighted the expansive possibilities of biotechnology, not only in medicine but also in materials science, information technology, manufacturing, and more.

Endy, who leads Hoover's Bio-Strategies and Leadership (BSL) initiative, spoke after Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Pete Sessions (R-TX).

"We think we know what biotechnology is but, when I reflect on biotechnology today, it feels like when I was a kid in the 1970s; we thought we knew what computers were back then," Endy said "Biotechnology today is poised to become routine, pervasive, networked, and generative; more wondrous than most imagine."

"Biotechnology can also be scary," Endy added. "That's not bad news, rather an extraordinary opportunity. Fear's gift, if invited out into the open, is a chance to become courageous together."

"Biotechnology is also about freedom. Biotechnology gives us options for making the things we need when and where we need them. Biotechnology gives the American people options for having good lives."

Endy also celebrated the bipartisan nature of the caucus, noting that all-hands support for advancing biotechnology responsibly should be known as "bio-partisanship."

Other speakers highlighted the critical importance of biotechnology education for lawmakers and their staffs. Among them, caucus cochair Houlahan noted that only a small fraction of members of Congress have STEM backgrounds and that many have not taken a science class since high school, making bio-literacy efforts by the caucus and groups like Hoover's BSL all the more essential.

Hoover's BSL serves as a founding member of the Biotech Caucus's Advisory Coalition, building on BSL's broader work to improve bio-literacy among decision makers and to advance the Hoover Technology Policy Accelerator's work more broadly. In recent months, BSL team members have met with senators, representatives, administration officials, and staff across Washington and beyond for briefings on biotechnology and biosecurity as well as discussions of emerging policy recommendations. BSL's public education mission continued on this most recent trip, with the team meeting several senior lawmakers from both parties and chambers.

Together, these and other BSL activities reflect the program's commitment to helping leaders recognize biology as a strategic domain and to act in ways that advance flourishing and democratic futures soon enough to matter.

For more information about BSL, visit victory.stanford.edu or email Sarah Moront ([email protected]).

For more information about Hoover's Technology Policy Accelerator and all matters involving critical and emerging technologies, visit tpa.stanford.edu .