Jay Rockefeller: “I rise to urge the Senate to reject the amendment offered by Senator Brownback that is designed to weaken a program…”

“I rise to urge the Senate to reject the amendment offered by Senator Brownback that is designed to weaken a program absolutely critical to the country's technological strength. I thought that the fact that this bill contains the $200 million in funds needed for the Advanced Technology Program was a sign that we could finally get past a debate that is nothing but a distraction and a danger to our own economy. I stand here today just as I did last year and the year before to defend this program--this investment in America's economic competitiveness. As I, along with many others in this Chamber, have stated before, this program supports American industry's own efforts to develop new cutting edge, next-generation technologies--technologies that will create the new industries and jobs of the 21st century. Let me remind my colleagues that ATP does not, and I repeat, does not fund the development of commercial products. Instead, this program provides matching funds to both individual companies and joint ventures for pre-product research on high risk, potentially high payoff technologies.”