Alan B. Mollohan: “I pointed out that the ATP program is the centerpiece of the administration's research and its strategy to maintain its…”

“I pointed out that the ATP program is the centerpiece of the administration's research and its strategy to maintain its competitiveness in the global marketplace. I also pointed out that this is in real competition with other countries around the world who are investing strategically, governments are investing strategically and far more deeply than the United States. Nevertheless, this program, however small relative to those other strategic investments by government and civilian technology research, it is an important program. It is a program that is getting better. It has listened to its critics who have expressed concern about too much of the money going to large corporations. The program has been reconstituted by the Secretary of Commerce, taking into consideration those concerns, so that the grantees of these monies are increasingly consortium groups, including academia, small businesses, increasingly, and, of course, large businesses also, all of it directed at precompetitive, generic technology development, which would not otherwise be undertaken by private industry. ATP is decidedly not corporate welfare. That is not what it is about. It is not about picking winners and losers. It is also not about product development. ATP is about funding the research and development efforts behind high risk technologies.”