I appreciate the testimony of the witnesses and particularly the opportunity that presents all of America to rebuild our manufacturing base one ship at a time or maybe 100 ships at a time.

We need to be very, very careful and very watchful that we are not giving away--negotiating away a strategic American asset, LNG, and the shipbuilding that could go with that.

I thank you, Ms. Kaptur, for bringing to our attention ways in which we can actually do something. It may seem small, but we get thousands and thousands of people coming through the gift shop here at the Visitor Center, can they find…

Would you excuse me? Before you came to Congress, were you not responsible for the State of New York innovation, energy, and related issues?

Representative Tonko, thank you. I was just thinking through that Export-Import, and the buzz inside the Beltway here in Washington that it only helps the big companies-- General Electric and Boeing. The fact of the matter is, yes, it…

I actually think, if I might say so, it is a small group in the Republican Party that is really taking the lead in this issue. Somehow they believe that government ought not be involved in commercial enterprise, when in fact since the very…

If I might interrupt you, before you move to the research agenda, which is absolutely critical, today the President of the United States signed the revamping of the job training programs in America. This is a bipartisan effort. It passed…

You are so correct. Let me give you an example. Yesterday I called together my manufacturing advisory committee. We had about 50 manufacturers, some very, very large--Boeing was there--and some very small companies. The discussion centered…

Can I give you another example? It was exciting--it was a really exciting day, Mr. Tonko.

We expect to spend, in the next 10 years, some $15 billion rebuilding the B61 bomb that nobody knows what to do with.

I remain disappointed that these planning initiatives have not yet taken root in the administration's budget.

Somebody has to break the ice.