Providing that the House of Representatives Will Focus on Removing Barriers to Competitiveness of the United States Economy
PROVIDING THAT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WILL FOCUS ON REMOVING BARRIERS TO COMPETITIVENESS OF THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY -- (House of Representatives - July 12, 2005)
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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, when I looked at today's floor schedule, I was pleasantly surprised to see an item addressing the issue of declining United States competitiveness in the world.
The fact is the issue of competitiveness has not been a priority for Republican leaders in this Congress or in any preceding one in the last 10 years, and I thought perhaps finally the Republicans had woken up. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed when I read the text of the proposal because this plan is nonbinding; it has really nothing that will make the United States more competitive. That is what I have come to expect in this Congress, this Republican-led Congress: more talk and no action. And once again this resolution has failed to propose specific policies that would actually boost technological innovation or our commitment to education.
As many know, I represent Silicon Valley, along with the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda), the most creative and innovative place on Earth; and if I were to bring your resolution back to the leaders of the Silicon Valley, the engineers, the techies, Ph.D.s, venture capitalists, educators, CEOs, I think I would be laughed all the way back to D.C. I suspect that you did not consult with any of the people in the tech industry because, if you did, we would have had something with a little meat on it that meant something.
We need a sustained commitment to Federal funding of R&D. The 2006 budget proposed by President Bush continues to cut R&D. It underfunds the National Science Foundation by billions of dollars; and the fact is if we do not count weapons research, this administration has sharply reduced federally funded scientific research, and this nonbinding resolution will not do a darn thing to change it.
We need to dramatically improve our math and science education in our country. We know that we are falling short, and meanwhile we are continuing to fail in our funding promises to No Child Left Behind. We need to reform our immigration policies so that the best and brightest students can come and study in the United States and not be poached by universities who are benefiting in Australia and England and elsewhere through our short-sighted and bureaucratic policies; and we need a sustained commitment to science research and education. We cannot afford to sit back and pass nonbinding resolutions that do nothing. We could at least enact the gentlewoman from California's (Ms. Eshoo) bill for stock options.
With an exploding deficit, reduced support for education of Americans, a door shutting on Nobel-level scientists from abroad, no energy policy that will lead to energy independence, this proposal is worse than nothing because the right wing will not take action on competitiveness and will probably say they did something if this stupid and meaningless resolution is permitted to pass.
Republicans are like the guy in court who killed his parents and now pleads for mercy as an orphan. They have controlled the House of Representatives for 10 years. Their policies for the last 10 years have shorted education. They have shorted science. They have eliminated protection for tech innovation. These words do not change those failed policies, and I hope that we turn down this resolution and tell the truth that our policies are threatening the competitiveness of our United States, and this mere meaningless resolution will do nothing, nothing, to solve that.
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