America Competes Act

Floor Speech

AMERICA COMPETES ACT -- (Senate - August 03, 2007)

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, America's strength has always been in the innovation, technical skill, and education of its workforce. The economic growth and well-being of the nation relies on the technical innovations achieved by our workforce. To realize growth and success, the United States must continue to support the two critical components vital to the innovation process: education and basic research. Today, Congress takes a significant step toward this commitment.

The National Academy of Sciences and the Council on Competitiveness have identified science and innovation as key drivers of economic growth. The United States has seen a sharp palpable decline in its scientific prowess. The United States is losing the educational battle with Germany, China, and Japan. In the United States, only 32 percent of graduates hold a degree in science and engineering, while Germany boasts 36 percent of graduates with degrees in science and engineering. Outpacing both the United States and Germany is China, with 59 percent of graduates with degrees in math and science, and Japan with 66 percent.

The America COMPETES Act embodies bipartisan, bicameral multi-committee efforts in responding to the Nation's defining economic challenge of how to remain strong and competitive in the face of emerging challenges from India, China, and the rest of the world.

The America COMPETES Act addresses programs within several scientific agencies of which the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has jurisdiction. Within the Department of Commerce, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, NIST, promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology. The legislation before us would double the agency's funding over the next 10 years. We also create a new program, the Technology Innovation Program, which will support high-risk, high-reward research. This was one of the major recommendations of the National Academies report, ``Rising Above the Gathering Storm.''

Also within the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, conducts significant basic atmospheric and oceanographic research, including climate change research. Some have argued that the ocean truly is the last frontier on Earth, and ocean research and technology may have broad impacts on improving health and understanding our environment. Toward this end, Congress included provisions on NOAA research and education, as well as, NOAA's continued participation in interagency innovation and competitiveness efforts.

The bill also includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, in the competitiveness agenda. Like the oceans, space serves to inspire young students and attract them to studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The need for additional research through the National Science Foundation, NSF, also is addressed in this bill with authorization for appropriations through fiscal year 2010. This bill places NSF on track to double in 7 years. While this is not as aggressive an approach as the Senate sought, it is clear that Congress is united in our belief that the NSF is indeed the Nation's premier scientific research enterprise. We need to support this enterprise to the best of our abilities, so that it can enable our scientists to continue their discovery. Within the NSF, I am proud that the conferees supported the creation of a mentoring program designed to recruit and train science, technology, and engineering professionals to mentor women, and other underrepresented minorities, in these fields. We need to ensure that we do not neglect a segment of the U.S. population, but rather maximize all of this country's great human resources.

A strong national investment in science, education, and technology provides opportunities for Americans to succeed in a whole array of disciplines and professions. Technology and innovation influence many policy problems such as a changing telecommunications landscape, potential improvements to our transportation infrastructure, and the need for advanced technologies to increase our energy independence. The America COMPETES Act directs the Nation on the path to preserve and improve its workforce. This bill demonstrates that Americans are not taking their traditional technological and economic dominance for granted but are continually working to improve and lead.

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