John Culberson: “I serve on this subcommittee, and in every single hearing the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) brought up the…”

“I serve on this subcommittee, and in every single hearing the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) brought up the problem of fighting meth labs. In fact, this committee has tripled the request the President made for fighting meth abuse from $20 million to $60 million. There is $348 million in this bill for the Byrne-Justice Assistance Grant programs. We cannot through the National Science Foundation even fund two out of five of the many grant requests that NSF receives. We are not making the investment necessary for a great country like the United States to protect our technological edge for the future. The Chinese recognize the importance of investing in scientific research and in their space program. The Chinese will launch a lunar science orbiter in 2007. They will launch a lunar sample return mission in 2015. They will launch a lunar rover in about 2012. The chief scientist for the Chinese lunar program pointed out that the lunar exploration project will spur high-tech development in China, and I cannot calculate how much return there will be on that investment for the Chinese people. I urge Members to vote against this amendment and support the bill laid out by the chairman as a wise investment in the future prosperity of the United States in science.”