Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. I will say he has been very consistent today. But if we get off the subject of this bill just for a second and we think about every single chamber of commerce that talks to us, every single economic growth team that exists around this country, what do they tell us? They tell us we need to invest in STEM--science, technology, engineering, and math-- because America is falling behind. In fact, in the immigration debate, what are they asking us for? They're asking us for more visas to bring in people from other countries who have all the requisite skills that we don't have, where we can't provide enough scientists, enough engineers, enough specialists to the marketplace for the companies that want to surge ahead. So for the gentleman to be suggesting that we reduce our science accounts even more flies in the face of reality. The science account is $223 million below this year's level and $500 million below the budget request. Innovation is an area where we as a Nation should be leading, and reducing investment in basic science risks world leadership. We are already at the edge. Investment from publicly funded research yields a 20 percent to 67 percent return. With that kind of return, we should be investing more in science so that we produce the requisite talent that we need to meet the needs of the future, not the past. We can't ride on past laurels.…”