Political Quotes

“I rise today to urge my colleges to support the Homeland Security Education Act. This bill encourages initiatives to increase the number of Americans trained in science, technology, engineering, math, and foreign languages. Our security and economic future depends on the next generation of workers and their ability not just to keep up, but to innovate. Science and technology are the engines of economic growth. We must invest in our students and our educational system by providing the training and resources needed in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and foreign languages. The United States graduates some of the world's best engineers, scientists and mathematicians; however, China, India, South Korea, and Japan are educating a higher proportion of their people in technology, science, and math. According to the National Science Board, in 2004, 59 percent of undergraduates in China and 66 percent of Japanese undergraduates received a degree in science and engineering. In the United States, only 32 percent of the undergraduate degrees awarded were in science and engineering. In 2004, China and India graduated over 600,000 and 350,000 engineers, respectively, while the United States graduated about 70,000 engineers. In an increasingly global economy and an atmosphere of heightened security, we also need people who can speak a foreign language, particularly less commonly taught languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Chinese, and Korean.…”