Chaka Fattah

I am very sympathetic to the request in terms of the reserve fund and the 15 percent.

The majority of the patents requested are now not by Americans or American companies.

I think that there is room for us to work to try to bring jobs that have left the country back to America.

The country was headed off a cliff. So your team and this administration has done a good job.

I think that the passion you hear from my colleague is shared. That as long as we have a significant number of Americans unemployed, as the President said, we have to keep working.

One is that our Chairman has really led the effort to secure a great deal of additional funding for NIST in the Stimulus and Recovery Act, that is some $500-plus million in a whole range of activity areas.

I do. I am a big fan.

The political atmosphere sometimes in our city doesn't allow common sense to rise to high places.

This nonsense is nonconstructive in terms of doing the important constitutional work that your Department has.

There should be no reason for anyone in our country, no matter what their political stripes, to not encourage people to comply with the Census.

It is an increase over the request that was made from last year.

But in terms of NASA, it is true for the record, that this is an increase. This request is an increase in your budget. Is that accurate?

The Administration really ought to be commended inasmuch as making a submission that would call for an increase in exploration.

So I want to commend you, and OMB, and the Administration for seeing the importance of exploration.

I know there has never been a President who has had the challenge of trying to promote exploration and human space flight at a time that is more challenging fiscally.

The primary purpose for the President, is to allow him to provide his vision to the nation and the world actually.

The Chairman has been quite supportive of NASA. And the Subcommittee always follows his lead.

I am very pleased to have you before the Committee, and your extraordinary record of achievement, and leadership now of one of the finest agencies in the government.

I just want to make sure that the record is clear. I mean, as long as we understand that at this point in time, at the pre-high school in our country, none of the teachers are even subject certified for the most part.

It is intellectually dishonest for anybody to be surprised when our kids do less well when we test them

I have introduced legislation in support of common core.

The Teacher Incentive Fund does not operate through a series of mandates, but rather it relies on granting as much flexibility as possible to local school districts.

Such a framework creates rigidity in labor markets and puts up more hurdles and barricades.

I sincerely believe that this is one of the areas where there is real opportunity for bipartisan work.

Unfortunately, we have relied for years on informal and anecdotal assessments of teachers and their classroom performance.