Jeff Bingaman: “I rise in support of the Hollings technology programs amendment. I want to commend the Senator from South Carolina for…”

“I rise in support of the Hollings technology programs amendment. I want to commend the Senator from South Carolina for his consistent advocacy of these programs for the entire 13 years I have had the honor to serve in this body. It is disheartening for some of us to find all of these programs so out of favor with many of our majority colleagues. Mr. President, as we prepare for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, these technology programs are among the last programs we should be sacrificing to balance the budget. I have given many speeches over the last year about how misplaced our priorities are when we prepare to slash our civilian research and development programs by one-third by 2002. And we are doing this at the same time the Pentagon is planning to slash research and development spending by 20 to 25 percent in real terms in the same time period. These next few years will be the first time since World War II that this Nation will simultaneously cut both civilian and defense research. Four years ago this body knew that that was the wrong thing to do.”