Political Quotes

“I rise today to discuss the need to drive innovation and competitiveness here in the United States. I vividly remember watching the Apollo missions on TV and the launch of that 36-story tall Saturn V rocket that took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the Moon. The space program not only inspired a generation of Americans, but it also led to incredible advances in science and technology that over the last 50 years have accounted for as much as half of all the economic growth in the United States. These groundbreaking advances firmly established our Nation as an international leader in innovation. During the height of the space race, America's Federal investment in research and development reached nearly 2 percent of the Nation's GDP. Today, overall Federal R&D spending--the seed corn of our future prosperity--has fallen to a historic low of 0.78 percent of GDP. With the United States investing less on science, research, and education, and our competitors outpacing us, we are losing our footing in the global marketplace. Congress must increase the Federal investment in R&D to 1 percent of GDP if we want to continue to be leading the world in innovation. This commitment should include a focus on increased Federal support for basic research--an essential component of any kind of innovation economy. In addition to increased investment, we in Congress need to implement policy solutions that will reassert American leadership internationally.…”