Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise to voice my strong opposition to H.R. 3293, the legislation of my friend, Chairman Lamar Smith, the so-called Scientific Research in the National Interest Act. I understand the genesis of this bill: Mr. Smith's dismay at some of the titles of the National Science Foundation's funded research. This bill is the wrong approach to addressing the very occasional misuse of NSF grants, and it represents classic short-term thinking. I am a businessman, and I know of no one in the business community who wants politicians or government to decide business winners or losers. Of course, none of us, Democrat or Republican, believe that politicians should be making science decisions either. I believe Representative Bill Foster is the only Ph.D. scientist in the House, and the rest of us don't qualify. By proclaiming the seven definitions of what science is in the national interest, we politicians are, in fact, deciding what is worthy of scientific research. By the way, no one on this side yet has raised any objections to the transparency or the accountability of the National Science Foundation. That completely mischaracterizes our objections. These standards sound constructive and benign--increased economic activity, advancement of health and welfare, support for the national defense, et cetera--but only one of the seven definitions even mentions science. The last one says for the ``promotion of the progress of science for the United States,'' whatever that means.…”