Jerry Moran: “Similar to the Small Business Innovation Research, this is actually one of the very most important things we can be…”

“Similar to the Small Business Innovation Research, this is actually one of the very most important things we can be doing within the defense budget, not just for national security, but equally for our national economy. This is the line item that funded the Internet. The whole concept of the Internet came from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is funded in this category of the defense budget RDT&E, Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation. Imagine what the Internet has meant to the American economy, let alone the world. Look what just happened in Egypt, ultimately because of the Internet. The GPS system that we have in our vehicles, we take it for granted now. Where did it come from? The RDT&E account in the Defense Department. This is what we want to cut out? We can't afford to. The unmanned aerial vehicles, the drones, the most effective warfighting weapon we have right now, a weapon that doesn't put our soldiers' lives at risk but is maximally effective at targeting the enemy, RDT&E. Defense research. Precision targeting was a result of research innovation within this account. That is what gives us our cutting edge. That is why we have the most effective defense capability in the world. But it is also one of the reasons why we have the strongest economy in the world. There is no other area of research that means as much to this economy, and, frankly, it means a great deal to the entire world's economy.”