Sam Gejdenson: “Mr. Chairman, we have gone through a number of pieces of legislation here today, and the sum total of what we are doing…”

“Mr. Chairman, we have gone through a number of pieces of legislation here today, and the sum total of what we are doing seems to say, bring on the darkness; that if we came out of the dark ages and went into the renaissance, if we put this Congress in charge, they would try to shut down thinking. The idea that a great country can be sustained while there is no central government playing a critical role in thinking and in education, in preservation, that is an idea that other countries have tried. If Members go to them, they would not want to stay there. Everybody understands there ought to be some balance in what we do in government. If we can give the head of Microsoft a $6 billion or $9 billion tax savings, driven by the Members on the other side of the aisle, it seems we can take a few of those pennies back to make sure that the intellectual matter that has built this country is preserved. Mr. Chairman, this book is now preserved. It is by Melville. Without the preservation funds, when you turn or crease the page, it comes apart. So our choice is simple. This country has prospered because we tried to make sure that the broadest base of our citizenry had access to information, to knowledge, to science.”