[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 27 (Friday, February 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E299-E300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 15, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other 
     departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes:

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chair, I've come to the floor 
today to talk about a crisis our country is facing. I'm not here to 
talk about the deficit, which is also a problem, but one which pales in 
importance to the crisis of America's declining economic 
competitiveness.
  I say that the deficit problem pales in comparison to our declining 
competitiveness because without a robust and innovative economy, it 
will be next to impossible to ever truly reduce our national deficit.
  For some time, important leaders in our business and academic 
community have warned us about this crisis.
  In 2005, a National Academies panel chaired by former Lockheed Martin 
CEO Norm Augustine released the report, ``Rising Above the Gathering 
Storm.''
  This report warned that without a focused effort by the Federal 
Government, the future of American competitiveness was bleak.
  It recommended increased efforts in science, technology, engineering, 
and mathematics education, also referred to as STEM education, and 
increased federal investment in research and development.
  It's not a mystery why that distinguished group made those 
recommendations: it has long been clear that technological innovation 
creates jobs, and that Federal investments in R&D have had a major 
positive impact on innovation in this country.
  Our economic rivals understand all too well that America's great 
economic success has been a direct result of our innovation. And these 
competitors have begun to pour their resources into research and 
development and into STEM education.
  Those investments are bearing fruit:
  In 2004 China overtook the United States to become the world's 
leading exporter of information and communications technology goods.
  China, Japan, India, and South Korea all graduate more engineers each 
year than the United States.
  U.S. student scores in STEM achievement continue to decline in 
worldwide comparisons.
  So what do we do about it? Once the problem was identified, the 
Democratically-controlled Congress immediately focused on coming up 
with solutions.
  Over the past four years, we passed bills like the America COMPETES 
Act, which put NSF, NIST, and the Department of Energy's Office of 
Science on a doubling path.
  We've been changing the way America's children are taught science and 
math by putting in classrooms teachers who actually have a background 
and training in those fields, and we've been working to increase 
opportunities for minorities to contribute their talents to our 
scientific and technological initiatives.
  And we've been investing in clean energy technology development so 
that America can one day be an energy exporter instead of an energy 
importer.
  Unfortunately, all that work, and all that progress in keeping 
America competitive is about to be undone. My Republican colleagues 
have proposed a budget for the rest of 2011 which will severely wound 
our country's research and development capabilities, and stifle our 
innovation engine.
  Let me cite just a few of the consequences that would flow from 
enactment of this ill-considered CR:
  At the Department of Energy:
  Cuts to the Department of Energy will slow down the progress the 
country has made in demonstrating and deploying carbon capture and 
sequestration technologies, solar energy and cost-saving energy 
efficiency technologies.
  The cuts in the CR will force a number of world-class labs, which 
undertake research on cutting edge energy technologies to solve 
economic and environmental problems, to shut down.
  Thousands of scientific and technical staff at the national labs, 
universities and companies will be laid off, or worse, go to our 
competitors for support.
  This could lead to the United States being even more dependent on 
other countries for clean energy technologies.
  STEM education programs will be cut or eliminated at a time when 
China is graduating six engineers for every one of ours. We need to 
capitalize on the interests of our students who are ready and willing 
to solve our country's energy and environment problems.
  At the EPA:
  A reduction on the order of $3 billion to EPA's science programs will 
negatively impact our ability to find new and innovative solutions to 
21st century environmental and public health challenges.
  The proposed water research reductions will impact EPA's ability to 
ensure the Nation's water infrastructure is capable of the sustained 
delivery of safe water as well as the safe and sustainable removal and 
treatment of waste water.
  At NOAA:
  NOAA's weather satellite programs are already in trouble during this 
difficult economic time.
  Without proper additional funding of our satellite programs, we will 
be faced with less accurate and timely weather predictions. We are not 
just talking about taking our country back to 2008. We are talking 
about rewinding the clock two decades. We could soon be relying

[[Page E300]]

on 20 year ago weather forecasting capabilities.
  I think we are all very well aware that over 70 percent of airplane 
flight delays are caused by weather. If FAA doesn't have the weather 
information it needs to safely and efficiently control the nation's air 
traffic, we face both increased delays and risks to the flying public.
  We are potentially putting our lives, property, and critical 
infrastructure in danger. Without accurate and timely information, we 
would no longer see the 2-3 day advance warnings of extreme weather 
events on which we depend.
  This will also make it extremely difficult to conduct safe and 
strategic evacuations of American people during extreme weather events, 
which have been faced by many regions of our country in recent years.
  I could go on and on and cite some of the adverse consequences to 
each of our agencies and to vital governmental activities that will 
occur if this CR is adopted, but I think Members now have an idea of 
what is at stake.
  And make no mistake, this is job-killing CR.
  What makes this bill so dangerous is that it won't just kill jobs 
today. It won't just kill jobs this year. These cuts to our research 
and development funding will kill jobs for years to come.
  As President Obama noted in his State of the Union address, if an 
airplane is overloaded, you don't lighten the load by cutting off the 
engines.
  That's exactly what this Republican budget plan does: it cuts the 
engine off of our economy.
  Unfortunately, our children and our grandchildren will be the ones 
who ultimately pay the price for these efforts when they inherit an 
America that is no longer the world leader in innovation.
  I urge my colleagues to reject the cuts being proposed in the 
Republican CR. We can do better.

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