John Ensign: “Very briefly, I will clarify a couple of points. One, that this was a bid process. To use an example, say, for instance…”

“Very briefly, I will clarify a couple of points. One, that this was a bid process. To use an example, say, for instance, that the Government, the Department of Education, wanted to give away printers to China, so they sent out several bids. They had an open bidding process and selected one company. Even though it was fairly bid, would we want the Federal Government using taxpayer dollars to buy from one company so they could give that product to the Chinese? I think not because that would be a disadvantage for other companies in the United States who should be able to compete to sell their products in China. On the second point the Senator from Tennessee raised, he said the Department of Education is willing to share research on some of the innovations that are trying to develop. Looking through the details of what the Department of Education has asked for the software companies to develop, there are at least five software companies that already meet those specifications. They already have developed the features the Department of Education is attempting to develop. Once again, I urge agreement of the amendment.”