Political Quotes

“I am here to talk about the importance of doubling funding for basic energy research and making $8.1 billion available in the Federal budget to pay for it. The United States does many things well, but one thing we do better than any other country in the world is innovation through basic research. I have been talking a lot this year about biomedical research. Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health--which he calls the ``National Institute of Hope''--tells me that in 10 years, researchers in our country may be rebuilding hearts from stem cells, giving patients an artificial pancreas which would help patients with diabetes, and there may be a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Just as remarkable are the opportunities available in clean energy research: lowering the cost of energy, cleaning up the air, improving health, reducing poverty, and helping us deal with climate change--not just in the United States, but all around the world. Congress has been focused on doubling energy research since the 2007 America COMPETES Act that was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed into law by President Bush. America COMPETES grew out of a report called ``Rising Above the Gathering Storm,'' a report on American competitiveness, written by Norm Augustine, who was the committee's chair. The report's main recommendation was to increase energy research because of the benefits it would provide to our country and around the world.…”