[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 27 (Thursday, February 13, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2439-S2440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HAPPY 100TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, tomorrow the smallest of our Cabinet

[[Page S2440]]

agencies, the Department of Commerce, will celebrate the biggest of big 
anniversaries, and as the ranking member of the Commerce, Science and 
Transportation Committee, I rise to salute them on 100 years.
  We have a whole list of their accomplishments, starting with the 
development of the Gross Domestic Product in the 1930s, the measure 
that gave us for the first time a true picture of our economy. Commerce 
houses the Census, the top statistical agency in the world. It is home 
to the Patent Office, which has witnessed an incredible amount of 
American history, issuing more than 6 million patents, be it to Orville 
and Wilbur Wright for a flying machine, or for the development of 
television, transistors, and computers.
  In the last century, Commerce created the first atomic clock, 
fostered the development of public television; assisted more than half 
a million minority-owned businesses; and helped thousands of 
economically-distressed communities generate commercial development in 
every Senators' States. Having a hand in creating NOAA, I will always 
remember the last 100 years for the great advancements made in weather 
predicting and the saving of the gray whale and dolphin.
  When Teddy Roosevelt wrote to this body a century ago, he asked us to 
create the Department for the ``purpose of broadening our markets . . . 
and making firm our new position in the international industrial 
world'' William Redfield, the first Secretary of Commerce, set a clear 
goal: ``We are going out into the markets of the world to get our 
share.''
  This Senator knows that times change and situations change, but that 
for our long-term economic well being no words hold truer. We need our 
share to bring back jobs into this country. I wish the good people at 
Commerce a happy birthday. Most of all, I hope President Bush and 
Secretary Evans set their mark on the Department's next 100 years with 
trade policies that can truly build our economic potential in global 
markets.

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