Political Quotes

“I want to start where we all have agreement. I think everyone would acknowledge that they want research funded by the NSF to be in the Nation's interest. We agree the Nation's interest is furthered by promoting scientific progress. That is certainly one of the principal reasons that I have served on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee for 12 years. We also have some disagreements. I have respectfully disagreed with the chairman over his criticisms of some NSF grants. At a hearing in November of 2013, I spoke out strongly against a very different NSF bill, and I believe some people are confusing that bill with this bill that we have here today. If you read this bill's text, I don't believe you can find anything that could undermine the merit review process at the NSF. In fact, I think this bill will help protect the NSF from future attacks and make the Foundation stronger. H.R. 3293 says research funded by the NSF must be worthy of Federal funding and in the national interest. The national interest is defined by a series of broad criteria, one of which is that a grant have the potential to promote ``the progress of science for the United States.'' It is difficult to conceive of research that would be recommended by an NSF peer review panel that would not meet that standard. Thus, it is difficult for me to see how this standard could harm the work that the Foundation does.…”