Sounding the Alarm on A Crisis Threatening America's Future

Floor Speech

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Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound an alarm on a crisis threatening America's future. I am talking about the Trump brain drain.

Donald Trump and Republicans in this House are launching a full scale assault on our Nation's ability to think, learn, and to innovate.

Let's look at the facts. Trump's budget cuts funding for the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, STEM education, and even basic K-12 public schools. He has tried to crush public service loan forgiveness and gut Head Start, all while trying to give tax breaks to those who don't need them.

This isn't cost savings. It is self-sabotage.

In Dallas, we are home to UT Southwestern Medical Center, one of the top research institutions in this country. We have innovators, world- class hospitals, biotech startups, and students ready to change the world. They can't do that when Federal research funding is drying up and educational support is being pulled out from under them.

Dallas ISD alone has over 150,000 students, many from middle-class families. Cuts to programs like Head Start, Title I, and after-school STEM enrichment don't just hurt, they derail students' futures.

Texas colleges and universities share one of the largest enrollments compared to almost any other State. Yet, under Trump's budget, millions of them would lose access to workstudy jobs and to affordable student loans. That is not just an educational crisis, it is an economic time bomb attacking our workforce development.

This country has long been a magnet for global talent. Engineers, scientists, and doctors come here to help build our future, but Trump's anti-immigrant crusade is scaring them off. Whether it is blocking student visas, slashing green cards, or denying people their due process, he is slamming the door on the very people who fuel our economy.

Dr. Kseniia Petrova, a brilliant Harvard scientist whose research could lead to breakthroughs in early cancer detection, was charged with a felony by the Trump administration for failing to declare preserved frog samples at customs, which is normally a very minor infraction handled by a mere warning.

Instead, she is locked up in an ICE detention center in Louisiana, facing possible deportation to Russia. This isn't just cruel, it sends a chilling message to scientists and international students around the world: Come to America, and you may be imprisoned instead of empowered.

Then there is Ardem Patapoutian, who came to the U.S. from war-torn Lebanon at 18. He worked nights delivering pizza to become eligible for the University of California. Years later, with the help of an NIH research grant, he launched a lab making groundbreaking discoveries on how humans sense touch and went on to win the Nobel Prize in 2021.

However, thanks to Trump's cuts to science funding, his Federal grant has been frozen. Just like that, China offered to fund his lab for the next 20 years in any city, any university, anywhere he wants. China is winning this war.

That is what countries like China are doing. They are investing in students, in science, and in research because they want to win the future while Trump wants to only tweet about the past and harm American innovation.

We should be doubling down on education and innovation. We should be building labs and funding scholarships, not building walls.

Here is the truth: You don't make America great again by making Americans dumber. You don't build up the economy by draining it of talent and opportunity. This is not just about spreadsheets and budget lines. It is about real people: students trying to become the first in their family to graduate, young scientists working on the next breakthrough, and teachers trying to give every child a chance.

Trump's budget doesn't just threaten programs. It threatens progress. We must fight back.

Let's protect our students, support our researchers, and defend the right for everyone to dream big and achieve greatness in the United States of America.

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