Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I am a family physician and an addictionologist. Marijuana is addicting if it is used improperly. But used medically, and there are very valid medical reasons to utilize extracts or products from marijuana in medical procedures, it is a very valid medical use under the direction of a doctor. It is actually less dangerous than some narcotics that doctors prescribe all over this country.

Also, this is a states' rights, states' power issue, because many States across the country--in fact, my own State of Georgia is considering allowing the medical use under the direction of a physician. This is a states' rights, Tenth Amendment issue. We need to reserve the states' powers under the Constitution.

Please support this amendment.

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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would prohibit funds from being used for the loan guarantee program created by the America COMPETES Act of 2010, a program which is essentially an $84 billion science experiment in stimulus spending.

The America COMPETES Act directed the Commerce Department to establish loan guarantees within the Innovative Technologies in Manufacturing program of the Economic Development Administration, or EDA.

These government-backed loans are meant to provide small or medium-sized manufacturers with new opportunities to use, manufacture, or commercialize any innovative technology. However, authorization for America COMPETES ran out in 2013 with little passing interest from industry. In fact, not one loan has been issued under this program to date--not one, not the first one.

In July of 2013, the Government Accountability Office found that the EDA had done nothing with its appropriated funds outside of establishing a staffing budget and a timeline for executing the program. At the same time, GAO noted that EDA officials had reached out to the Small Business Administration for technical assistance on how to run a loan guarantee program.

Mr. Chairman, think about this for a moment. If one government agency needs to consult another government agency about how to run a program which is similar to a program that is already established elsewhere, is the new program really necessary?

There are similar programs sprinkled throughout the Federal Government, yet we keep authorizing more and more. Congress needs to seriously reevaluate this approach and instead focus on real innovation in manufacturing. I would submit that if the Federal Government simply stopped taxing small and medium-sized businesses out of the country--or out of business--we would see an immediate increase in growth and new jobs, no new programs needed.

The America COMPETES loan guarantee program is a wasteful, duplicative attempt to spur innovation in manufacturing by creating more bureaucracy, and we should not allow it to go any further. Not one loan has been put out by this program.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, during the public comment period, there was absolutely zero interest in this program--zero. The SBA already does this. I am all for manufacturing. I am all for small and medium businesses. But we do not need this program. It is an $84 billion program with no interest in it within small or medium businesses. Not one loan has been given out. All it has done is fund the bureaucrats that are established to do this program, and no loans have been made since 2010. In 4 years, zero loans, zero interest. We need to eliminate it.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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