On the recordMarch 10, 2011
The gentlewoman from the District of Columbia raises yet another really interesting point and it is that not only could they go anyplace in the United States, but the world is their oyster. We know that our best and brightest are not just being recruited from State to State outside of the Federal workforce, they are being recruited outside of the United States, because we know that we have the talent here, and what better place to absorb that talent in public service than in service in the Federal sector. I am just so proud. I think about the time that I met a scientist, a researcher over at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Let me tell you what they do at NIST. Any piece of the electronic equipment that you might have, and maybe it's in your doctor's office, and it's an MRI machine, or maybe it is something, a piece of your home equipment in your home, or maybe it's the iron, or it's the toaster, or it's the microwave, the National Institute of Standards and Technology sets a standard for industry for those products and tests those to meet standards. It means that no matter where you go, no matter what store you shop in, that that equipment is calibrated in the same way. Now, you may not think that matters for a toaster, but it surely matters for an MRI machine. Those are the kinds of jobs that our Federal employees do. Those are jobs that you really can't translate into the private sector but that are so necessary to safeguard the public.
