Congressional Black Caucus Hour

Floor Speech

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Thank you very much, Congresswoman Christensen.

The National Science Foundation was created in 1950; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and NASA were created in 1958; and the Department of Energy was established in 1977. Some of the technologies which originated from these Federal investments include the laser, Internet, fiber optics, and nuclear power.

Companies which sprang forth from these efforts include companies like Google, SAS, Cisco Systems, Orbital Sciences, and Sun Microsystems. These five companies alone employ 130,000 people, 130,000 jobs which were created from relatively modest Federal investment. And there are hundreds of companies which had their beginning in Federal research grants.

The equation is clear: Federal investment in

research and development leads to new technologies and products which create jobs. And on the other side of the equation, focused investment in STEM education produces a highly-skilled workforce which ensures these high-tech jobs stay in America.

At a Science and Technology Committee last session, Tom Donohue of the United States Chamber of Commerce had this to say: ``Research and development is the very lifeblood of our knowledge economy.'' That just about sums it up. In addition, investments in R&D also help to increase the participation of minorities in the R&D enterprises.

Through the efforts of many in Congress, including those speaking tonight, we have made great progress in expanding the pool of talent that this country can draw on to address the competitiveness challenge that we are facing. However, the CR before us this week would take us back and undo much of the good work that has been done to date.

Let me just quote a few negative impacts of this proposed CR. The CR would severely reduce, by 78 percent, funding for Hispanic-serving colleges and completely eliminate Federal support for several other programs for minority-serving colleges, including tribal colleges and institutions that serve significant numbers of black and Asian students.

The key Education Department program for historically black colleges and universities would lose $85 million of the $266 million it received in 2010, or about a third of it. The CR eliminates $103 million for the Tech-Prep Program for vocational education, which heavily benefits community colleges, and also guts funding for the creation and support of statewide education data systems and eliminates all congressional earmarks for individual institutions, which in 2010 totaled almost $2 billion for colleges and universities.

Under this proposal, title I would be cut by $693.5 million. The cut to title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act would mean 2,400 schools that serve nearly 1 million disadvantaged students would lose funding for teachers, tutors, and after-school programs. Nearly 10,000 teacher aides could lose their jobs.

Head Start was targeted for one of the biggest reductions, a $1 billion cut below fiscal 2010. The massive cuts to the Head Start Program would remove 218,000 low income children and families and close more than 16,000 Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms across the country. It would leave 55,000 teachers, teacher assistants, and related staff without jobs.

The Pell Grant scholarship maximum award would be reduced by $845, from $5,550 to $4,750. Many of the 9.4 million students who are projected to receive a Pell Grant in the 2011-2012 school year would see a lower grant award, requiring them to take on more loans for their college tuition.

n addition, it makes cuts to the programs of the National Science Foundation that would lead to elimination of huge research grants, affecting thousands of researchers, which can only have a negative impact on opportunities for minorities to make contributions in science and technology.

And I can fill up an hour debate time all by myself if I were to list all of the terrible impacts that the proposed cuts to the Department of Energy, NIST, NASA, NOAA, and EPA would have. Each of these agencies is critical to our future competitiveness and each of these agencies is slated for ill-founded cuts.

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