A bipartisan Senate hearing pressed lawmakers to balance national security goals with incentives for antimicrobial innovation, centering discussions on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and U.S. biotech leadership. Speakers including Todd Young, Michael Bennet’s office-aligned policy work, and witnesses from CARB-X framed AMR as a market failure: while infections remain lethal, returns on novel antibiotics are hard to capture under current stewardship economics. The hearing also highlighted proposed routes to stimulate development, including reintroduced versions of the PASTEUR Act aimed at new antimicrobials. Analysts and experts quantified AMR’s toll, linking it to broader health burdens and secondary impacts on other diseases. The policy agenda reinforces that near-term biotech strategy for anti-infectives is inseparable from reimbursement, stewardship, and national security financing mechanisms.