[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E780-E781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              AMERICA COMPETES REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 20, 2015

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1806) to 
     provide for technological innovation through the 
     prioritization of Federal investment in basic research, 
     fundamental scientific discovery, and development to improve 
     the competitiveness of the United States, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chair, in 2007, following reports that the United 
States could lose its competitive edge in the global economy, Congress 
came together on a bipartisan basis to boost federal research, spur 
American innovation, and maintain our strength in scientific and 
technological discovery. We reauthorized that bill, again on a 
bipartisan basis, in 2010.
  Unfortunately, today we have a bill on the floor that abandons those 
bipartisan efforts, shortchanges critical research, and unacceptably 
interferes in decision-making at our scientific institutions. It makes 
particularly egregious cuts to climate change research and efforts to 
develop new energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies for a 
cleaner energy future. Climate change is real and we are

[[Page E781]]

already seeing its impacts across the country. But it also provides 
economic opportunity, if we invest in R&D to develop new renewable 
sources and efficiency technologies. This bill would jeopardize 
American innovation in this critical area.
  Today's bill also meddles in decision-making at our federal research 
institutions, decreasing funding at certain directorates at the 
National Science Foundation and imposing new requirements in the grant-
making process. Our science agencies have a robust review process in 
place to fund the most critical research. Politics should have no part 
in that process.
  Unlike earlier America COMPETES bills that were built on broad 
consensus, HR 1806 is opposed by the vast majority of our nation's 
scientific community. I urge my colleagues to listen to these 
scientists and bring forward a bill that invests in American innovation 
and supports the cutting-edge research necessary to maintain our 
leadership in the world.

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