Political Quotes

“I rise today to oppose the Commerce, Justice, State appropriations rule and the bill. While there are many reasons to do so, I am especially disappointed in the committee's decision to eliminate totally the funding for the Advanced Technology Program known as ATP. This means that not only is there no money for new research awards, but the research currently being supported will be terminated. In other words, current research contracts, current commitments, will not be kept. And who gets hurt by this cut? The hundreds of small businesses involved with ATP projects. Fifty-five percent of all ATP projects are led by small businesses, and they participate in 70 percent of all of the ATP projects. In fact, small businesses receive about half of all ATP funding, and because Federal funds are limited to know more than 50 percent of the research project's cost, small businesses will be on the hook for the investment dollars. They have committed to the research. Also hurt are more than 100 universities that take part in this important project, including several in Michigan that are very involved in pre-competitive research and technology efforts. This bill will terminate 240 research projects in 30 States representing a private sector investment of $931.5 million in private research dollars to create jobs. This is matched by $926.4 million in Federal funds.”