Gary Hart: “Mr. Speaker, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was established by Congress and signed into law in August of…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was established by Congress and signed into law in August of 1987. The first awards were presented in 1988. This award was established because many industry and government leaders saw that a renewed emphasis was a necessity for doing business in an expanding, competitive world market. But many American businesses either did not believe quality mattered for them or did not know where to begin. The Baldrige Award was envisioned as a standard of excellence that would help United States organizations achieve world class quality. Mr. Speaker, the award is named after Malcolm Baldrige, who was Secretary of Commerce to President Ronald Reagan from 1981 until his tragic death in July of 1987. Malcolm Baldrige thought the keys to this country's prosperity and long-term strength was quality management. He was involved with the creation of the act and his name was added after his death. The Baldrige Award is given by the President of the United States to businesses, manufacturing and service businesses, both small and large, and to education and health care organizations.”