Dan Lipinski

I thank you, Mr. Young. I want to recognize now the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

I continue to believe that we must sustain our investments in scientific research, which means sustaining our investments in our world-class research universities.

I understand how critically important social and behavioral sciences can be in terrorist threat detection.

I am also concerned about in recent years the cuts that DHS has had in its R&D budget, especially the 38 percent drop in funding between fiscal year 2010 and 2012.

I think it is easy for some to forget or not understand how important the R&D is to help keep us safe from the threats that we are facing.

I think we have to keep on focusing on innovation, it is the way that our country is going to succeed.

We want to be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars, and know that it's their money that we're talking about here.

So what?

I think that we have to consider why venture capitalists are willing to go in and put their money on the line with only 90 percent failure rate.

What's the future of our country? Where are the jobs going to come from?

I think the future is largely going to come from American innovation.

In reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman, and I look forward to working with him on this funding issue. I yield back the balance of my time. Amendment Offered by Mr. Broun of Georgia

I certainly think that we need to be doing more to leverage the great research universities of our nation and also make sure we do what--all that we can to get the return on investment for all of the federal dollars that go into research…

I think that this is one of the most important hearings going on right now up here because everyone wants to know the answer to the question where are the jobs going to come from in our country?

American manufacturing still has great strength and potential. It boasts the highest productivity in the world; it employs 11 million people, and produces $1.7 trillion annually.

The American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act, H.R. 5865, will bring the public and private sectors together to forge an actionable, bipartisan plan to revitalize America's manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing is critical for our Nation. It is essential for national security so that we don't need to rely on other countries for our defense.

I am excited to discuss this bipartisan legislation today and am hopeful that we can work quickly to bring this legislation to a markup with broad bipartisan support.

I think one of the things that we really have to look at is: we invest a tremendous amount in research.

I would not want to see broad support for the SBIR Program erode because of the dishonest actions of a very small minority of grantees.

Any incident of research fraud is troubling. Scientists must always hold themselves and their colleagues to the highest ethical standards.

I believe that the National Science Foundation is a good steward of American taxpayer dollars, but it is our job in this subcommittee to be continually vigilant in our oversight.

The lack of a strong K-12 foundation in STEM disciplines is a major factor in the high attrition rates in STEM subjects.

It's alarming that so many American students perform poorly in science and math.

You would probably be surprised at how much we--yes, there are things that we disagree on policywise, but for a Chicago Democrat, you might be surprised how much I agree with many things with Chairman Brooks.