Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker I reluctantly rise today in opposition to the America COMPETES Act of 2007, H.R. 2272. I am a firm supporter of education and innovation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Unfortunately, I cannot endorse a bill that creates 40 new programs and spends tens of billions of dollars. I devote a great amount of my time working on manufacturing issues. The congressional district I represent has over 2,500 industries. Manufacturing has several components, one of which is getting workers with adequate skills to be machinists, plus having an adequate supply of engineers and others involved in that aspect of manufacturing. At present I am involved in trying to solve workforce problems, which in turn, in many cases, depend upon people who have a good understanding of science, tech, engineering and math. I am a member of the Council on Competitiveness, a co-chair of the Manufacturing Caucus, and Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee Task Force on Manufacturing.”