[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 117 (Monday, July 10, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2269-S2270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Education

  Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I was sitting home reading the newspaper, 
something I still do, and last month I read an article that captured my 
attention. National test scores of American students showed an alarming 
decline in the education of our children. Reading scores in America 
have continued to worsen since the height of COVID-19 pandemic, 
dropping to the lowest scores in decades.
  The troubling deterioration in American education was demonstrated by 
average scores on the 2023 National Assessment of Educational Progress 
known as the Nation's Report Card. The report showed that 13-year-olds 
declined nine points in math compared to 2020. This was the largest 
drop for 13-year-olds seen in 50 years.
  When 13-year-olds are struggling, it portends even worse problems 
ahead, because mastery in seventh and eighth grade is necessary to 
progress to more complex knowledge and analytical abilities required in 
high school and beyond. We know that failures in early childhood 
education, in early education have a long-lasting consequence.
  We must turn these test scores around and accelerate the education of 
America's young as though our future depends on it, because it 
absolutely does.
  America's strength as a global power--let me say that the education 
of our children is hugely important to our students and their families. 
But, also, America's strength as a global power doesn't just depend 
upon a strong military or possessing the latest weapons. Those things 
are important, but it also depends upon our economy and our ability to 
maintain a technological edge over our adversaries. And that all begins 
in the classroom, equipping our students to read, multiply, divide, and 
succeed.
  The mental health, confidence, and contributions of young Americans 
cannot be thought of as a secondary issue. It is not a secondary issue 
to other national security imperatives. What that means is that the 
well-being, health, confidence, contribution, the capabilities, 
knowledge, intellect, and intelligence of our children have 
consequences to our security--our national security.
  One of those greatest threats in our national security is China. 
China understands that to force their way into being a global 
superpower, they must be able to challenge the U.S. militarily and 
economically. This can be done by dislodging the United States as a 
leader in key technology areas that will dictate the success of nations 
in the coming decades.
  Those technologies include semiconductor design and manufacture, 
artificial intelligence, quantum computing, aerospace engineering, 
advanced manufacturing, and biotechnology. If China were to overtake 
the United States in any of these areas--in any of these areas--the 
United States would lose out on trillions of dollars in economic value, 
our military edge would erode, and the Chinese global influence would 
increase dramatically.

  As we grapple with the implications of a new Cold War with China and 
as we take stock of many of the associated challenges more complex than 
the old Cold War, the fact that our youth remain grades behind in math 
poses a concerning obstacle to future competitiveness. Advances in 
science and technology will build on basic math. Right now, our 
children are unprepared; and, therefore, we are unprepared to meet this 
challenge.
  While we work to regain this ground in education, particularly in 
these STEM fields, we also need to create more opportunities for others 
that have gained a STEM education here in the United States to practice 
their profession in this country and contribute to the U.S. economy.
  Educating people, only to send them back to strengthen their own home 
country, at a time in which the U.S. demand for STEM talent is through 
the roof, defies logic. Only 11 percent of foreign-born recipients of a 
bachelor's

[[Page S2270]]

degree and only 23 percent of those who earn a master's degree manage 
to find a way to stay and work in the United States.
  The U.S. semiconductor industry alone could face a shortage of 70- to 
90,000 workers over the next few years, and there is a projected 
shortfall of 300,000 engineers and 90,000 skilled technicians by 2030. 
It would be naive to believe that these positions can be solely filled 
by our American students.
  As the Wall Street Journal opinion section recently read, the 
foreigner working in tech ``isn't taking an American job; they are 
helping keep that job in the U.S.''
  Foreign-born scientists have been integral to our preeminence as a 
scientific and military power. Most famously, nuclear physicists from 
Europe were the intellectual forces that propelled the Manhattan 
Project; and, today, more than half of the Silicon Valley startups are 
led by foreign-born entrepreneurs. This is why we have worked to pass 
the Startup Act in each Congress since I arrived in the Senate.
  This bill would ensure that those with advanced STEM degrees would be 
able to stay in this country while they are engaged in STEM-related 
professions.
  This would fill the immediate and increasing need for STEM-educated 
professionals, while we work to improve STEM education for America's 
youth.
  There is no ``one size fits all'' approach to solving the challenges 
in the classroom. Regaining ground after schools were closed during the 
pandemic will take hard work and ingenuity. But the success of our 
Nation depends--again, the success of our children depends, but because 
that is the case, the success of our Nation, our country, depends on 
young minds grappling and mastering the basics of math and reading and 
writing and science.
  We must make certain we are taking an ``all of the above,'' long-term 
approach to national security, and that means making strides in the 
classroom and investing in our students. Our schools are there to take 
care of our children and their future, but failure to do so means that 
we are damaging our Nation's future.
  For the sake of our country, its national defense, its economy, and 
for the sake of all American families, we need to make certain that we 
reverse course in making certain that our students are learning and are 
achieving at a rate that allows us to be successful.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I ask unanimous consent the following Senators be 
allowed to speak prior to the scheduled rollcall vote: myself for up to 
20 minutes, Senator Carper for up to 5 minutes, Senator Boozman for up 
to 30 seconds, Leader Schumer for as much time as he may consume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.