Stop Trump's Chaos--Stand Up for Science

Floor Speech

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Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump's war on science is putting our country and our economy in peril. From haphazard firings of Federal workers who work on nuclear security and keep our food and medicine safe to firefighters and healthcare workers, I am here to say enough is enough.

As a proud woman in STEM and a bona fide science nerd, I cannot sit quietly as this administration jeopardizes the scientific advancement of this country.

That is why I am here to say enough; enough of the lies about Project 2025 and its antiscience agenda; enough with the dismantling of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Science Foundation; enough with canceling grants for medical research and STEM programs that ensure our country stays safe and globally competitive; enough with pedaling disinformation that jeopardizes the health and well-being of millions of Americans; and enough with hiring unqualified pundits, influencers, and political loyalists who pedal conspiracy theories and openly admit that no one should rely on them for advice. Mr. Speaker, everyone knows who I mean.

America is a leader in science and technology. We were the first in the world to send a man to the moon. We invented the polio vaccine and DNA sequencing. We invented the microchip, the internet, and GPS. Americans invented the airplane, the lightbulb, television, and email, and we fed the world with our innovations in food and agriculture.

Over the last 3\1/2\ months, we have seen an unprecedented attack on our Nation's science and technology, programs gutted, projects halted, and the world's leading scientists and engineers fired for no reason. A budget delivered to Congress just a couple of weeks ago by the President that would cut over a billion dollars in science, education, and workforce programs. A budget that would slash 30 percent of NOAA's budget, and strip the Environmental Protection Agency of more than half of its funding.

That is why nearly 2,000 doctors, scientists, and researchers have called this administration a wholesale assault on United States science that threatens the country's health, national security, and economic development.

Congress, the courts, and our communities are fighting back, conducting oversight, voting no, showing up to agencies, supporting cases across the Federal court system, and, yes, getting loud in the streets to stand with science.

Democrats stand with our scientists, our engineers, our innovators, and our healthcare workers. Democrats stand with our Federal science and healthcare agencies. Democrats stand with the people of this country who depend on that science and who depend on that innovation to keep us safe and fuel our economy because that is all of us.

I say to my fellow leaders in STEM, stay strong, stay in the fight. Democrats are fighting with you, and we will win.

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