Jeff Bingaman: “let me use the minute in opposition to the amendment. The Senator from Oklahoma may wish to speak in favor of his…”

“let me use the minute in opposition to the amendment. The Senator from Oklahoma may wish to speak in favor of his amendment. This is the amendment to strike the funding and the provisions in the bill for the Advanced Technology Program. In my view, this would be a very bad step for us to take. I know there are some Members who do not believe this is a worthwhile use of taxpayers' dollars. I am not one of those. I believe the Federal Government should partner with industry to assist in the early stages of technology development, and particularly that is important when we compete with other countries that spend heavily to assist their industrial sectors to compete in world markets. So I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. I yield the floor.”