Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I want to thank the distinguished chairman of the committee. This body is going to miss the distinguished chairman of the committee. He has always operated in a bipartisan fashion and has provided thoughtful and compelling leadership on issues of science and technology so badly needed in our country. This bill really is a very thoughtful bill that comes at a critical point. The United States has been seeing erosion in its preeminence in the field of innovation in science and technology. This bill is designed to sort of address that in a very creative way itself. It provides for more funding of basic research in the United States. We know that basic research leads to inventions, patents, improvements in manufacturing processes that can really make a difference in the quality of our lives. The technology we live with and take for granted today didn't exist 30 years ago, and it has transformed America and it has transformed the world, thanks in many, many ways to the basic research investments the United States Federal Government made some time ago. This bill allows us to tap into the research already underway in the NIST labs, for example, and that is a real challenge. I can tell you as somebody who spent 20 years in the private sector in the technology field, often people doing research aren't the ones who necessarily can always see the myriad application of that research in the marketplace.…”