Paul Tonko: “Representative Garamendi, just in closing, I would state that three very important underpinnings to a modern economy--a…”

“Representative Garamendi, just in closing, I would state that three very important underpinnings to a modern economy--a transitioning economy, one that drives innovation--would be the investments in research, the investments in infrastructure, the investments in education; and we begin to see that in this budget. I think the efforts here are a good challenge and a charge to this Congress to respond accordingly. That will lift us into a cutting-edge thinking that enables us to compete effectively in what is a worldwide race, as it relates to clean energy innovation and high tech. We need these investments in order to be strong. We won the global race on space back in the sixties because we committed to winning that race, and that was just against another nation, Russia. Now, there are dozens of nations competing to be the kingpin of the international economy. The President rightfully sees that as the opportunity for this Nation to invest accordingly, so that we can move forward; and again, with his efforts in advanced manufacturing, with the NNMI, the manufacturing initiative, there is great promise there. That gives you a very sharp focus on specific needs of manufacturing, developing those sorts of intellects and human infrastructure, workforce development, that will give us that cutting-edge technology. I strongly support the NNMI initiative in the budget that the President had introduced last year.…”