[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 72 (Thursday, May 3, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5558-S5559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICA COMPETES ACT
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I would like to speak for a brief moment
about recent Senate approval of the America COMPETES Act.
This legislation is the product of several years of work by many
individuals here in the Senate and it was immensely gratifying to see
this bill pass the Senate. For the last 3 years Senators from numerous
committees, Republicans and Democrats, have worked together on this
legislation. They saw America falling behind the rest of the world in
math and science and realized the need to do something. Well I believe
this bill is going to do that something. It will double spending on
physical science research, provide money to recruit 10,000 new math and
science teachers and retrain hundreds of thousands of our existing
ones. This bill is a huge step in the right direction for our country,
a step that could not have been taken by just one Senator or one party.
In these often partisan times, the America COMPETES Act is a fine
example of what this body can accomplish when it works together in a
bipartisan manner.
I am very proud of the work my colleague from New Mexico Senator
Bingaman, Senator Alexander and I put into this legislation. I am proud
that the members of our committee, Energy and Natural Resources,
continue to work in this bipartisan way.
Additionally, I ask unanimous consent that two articles concerning
the America COMPETES Act, one from the
[[Page S5559]]
Santa Fe New Mexican, the West's oldest newspaper, and one by David
Broder of the Washington Post be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Santa Fe New Mexican, May 3, 2007]
Jeff, Pete Provide Boost For Scientific Resurgence
David Broder's right: Senate approval of the America
COMPETES Act, he notes in today's column, is big news. This
nation lurched from lethargy to the moon during the dozen
exciting years that followed Russia's launch of a man-made
earth satellite--then most of us went back to our beer and
barbecues, leaving all too few dedicated individuals fighting
to keep us in the big leagues of pure science and high
technology. Thus this act.
It might have gotten short shrift from the national press,
but the importance of this bill wasn't lost on The New
Mexican's Andy Lenderman: He reported, on the front page of
our local news section Saturday that this was overdue action
on the math-and-science front.
The measure, the full name of which is America Creating
Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Education
and Science Act of 2007--an aggravating cuteness whose
creator should be banished to Madison Avenue--features a
four-year, $16-billion authorization of new money to invest
heavily in physical-sciences research, recruitment of new
math and science teachers nationwide, while updating those in
the field. It would be part of a $60 billion campaign to put
America back--and in some areas keep it--at the cutting edge
of theoretical and applied science.
Lenderman noticed that the bill, with Majority Leader Harry
Reid's sponsorship, was approved by an 88-8 tally. But at
least as important as the political weight was the groundwork
laid by New Mexico's senators:
Jeff Bingaman, who has spent so much of his Capitol Hill
career urging his colleagues to support the sciences and
academics in general, sponsored a 2005 study--the report of
which carried a title both ominous and promising: ``Rising
Above the Gathering Storm.'' It told our nation of the
challenge from China, India and other nations in science and
technology--which could cost our country its competitiveness
in world markets.
If evidence were needed to support that concern, we need
only look at our schools: Only 29 percent of eighth-graders
nationwide tested proficient in science. In New Mexico, only
18 percent did.
This isn't a Sputnik situation of 50 years ago, where
within four months America had its own satellite in orbit
while back on earth science fairs were the rage; this is a
case of math-dedicated cultures creeping past one of B.A.
generalists dedicated to fun, comfort and prestige predicated
on material goods.
It'll take more than money to rebuild momentum: Some of
America's many Renaissance-person scientists must be
persuaded to sing the glories of research--or at least the
joys and rewards of what sometimes results from it. Computers
as tools and toys, too, should help.
What's great is that Bingaman and fellow Sen. Pete
Domenici, so often teammates in bipartisan congressional
initiatives, have put their skills and influence together for
this push. They're their parties' highest-ranking members of
the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Domenici
still is influential on the budget and appropriations
committees.
New Mexico, with its national scientific laboratories,
stands to benefit from this initiative--which comes, we hope,
en buena hora for the people of our region: Just last week,
contractors at Los Alamos National Laboratory laid off scores
more of the workforce.
The construction and maintenance people there have always
been at the mercy of LANL's whims, and those of its academic
and technical allies. But some of their children are seeing
the need for higher education to provide them more steady
work. The America COMPETES Act could raise awareness of, and
provide support for, generations of homegrown scientific and
technical people.
The bill still must make it through the House of
Representatives--and as Broder implies, our nation's news
media could and should help the effort along.
____
[From the Washington Post]
COMPETES Act Is Real Boost, Real News
(By David Broder)
On Monday, with few of his colleagues present and the
Senate press galleries largely unoccupied, Sen. Lamar
Alexander of Tennessee took the floor to make one of those
personal statements that fill the Congressional Record, but
rarely go any further.
``Last week,'' he said, ``while the media covered Iraq and
U.S. attorneys, the Senate spent three days debating and
passing perhaps the most important piece of legislation of
this two-year session. Almost no one noticed.''
Alexander has a point. The bill, boldly named ``the America
COMPETES Act,'' authorized an additional $16 billion over
four years as part of a $60 billion effort to ``double
spending for physical sciences research, recruit 10,000 new
math and science teachers and retrain 250,000 more, provide
grants to researchers and invest more in high-risk, high-
payoff research.''
As Alexander noted, ``these were recommendations of a
National Academy of Sciences task force'' that he and others
had asked to tell Congress the 10 things it most urgently
needs to do ``to help America keep its brainpower advantage
so we can keep our jobs from going to China and India.''
Back in December 2005, I wrote about the report that
Alexander, and Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, both of
New Mexico, had requested--and about the bipartisan support
that seemed to be available for this ``competitiveness''
agenda. I even suggested that it was a natural topic for
President Bush's 2006 State of the Union address, if he
wanted to break through the growing partisan roadblocks on
Capitol Hill.
The President included these ideas in his message, but did
little to build public support or press Congress for action.
Nonetheless, major elements of the bill passed the Senate
last year, only to bog down in the bitterly divided House.
But persistence paid off. As Alexander said, ``Senators and
their staffs worked across party lines for two years. Senior
committee members, chairmen and ranking members, waived
jurisdictional prerogatives. The administration participated
in extensive `homework sessions' with senators and outside
experts. The effort was so bipartisan that when the Senate
shifted to the Democrats in January, the new majority leader
and minority leader introduced the same bill their
predecessors had in the last Congress. Seventy senators co-
sponsored the legislation. . . . The final vote was 88-8.''
The fight is far from over.
The House has yet to act on most of the provisions, and
finding the money to carry it out will not be easy. Alexander
and Bingaman added an amendment to the budget resolution,
allowing $1 billion of extra spending for the first-year
costs of the program.
Domenici and other appropriators will try to steer funds in
that direction, Alexander said.
The Tennessee Republican's larger point is that this is the
model that Congress and the president need to follow--if any
of the major challenges facing the country are to be met.
``There are issues that are too big for either party to
solve by itself,'' Alexander told me. ``Globalization and
competitiveness are two of them. Immigration is the next one
on the agenda. And then there is health care.''
He pointed out that the bipartisan breakfast sessions he
and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut have been hosting
regularly this year have included discussions of health
policy.
As a byproduct of the breakfasts, ``10 of us, five
Republicans and five Democrats, have written the President
saying that we are ready to work with him on a bill that has
two principles--universal coverage and private markets. We
hope he responds.''
Iraq looms as the supreme test, of course, and Alexander, a
Bush supporter, nonetheless says ``it was a mistake'' for the
president not to seize on the Baker-Hamilton commission
recommendations as the basis for a bipartisan answer to the
dilemma of the war.
``It's still sitting there on the shelf,'' he said,
implying that Bush will have to come back to Baker-Hamilton
at some point.
Meantime, Alexander has a gentle reminder for the press
that our mind-set means that ``unfortunately, bipartisan
success, even on the biggest, most complex issues, has an
excellent chance of remaining a secret.
``Despite the size of the accomplishment, the passage of
the 208-page America COMPETES Act was barely noticed by the
major media.
This is not a complaint, merely an observation. More than
ever, the media, outside interest groups, and party
structures reward conflict and the taking of irreconcilable
positions. There is little reward for reconciling principled
positions into legislation.''
Sadly, I think he is right.
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