21st Century Competitiveness Act of 2007
Floor Speech
21ST CENTURY COMPETITIVENESS ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 21, 2007)
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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today in support of H.R. 2272, the 21st Century Competitiveness Act.
As my dear friend and colleague, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu) just stated, this legislation pretty much packages five bills that have already passed the House with, frankly, an overwhelming majority of the votes. In order to force a conference with the other body, we're now again trying to put these together.
As was stated here just a few weeks ago by Ranking Member Hall and, frankly, right now by my dear friend Mr. Wu, H.R. 362 and H.R. 363 include many of the provisions from last year's competitiveness legislation, as well as additional recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences Rising Above the Gathering Storm report, again as Mr. Wu just mentioned.
This report and the President's American Competitiveness Initiative, known as ACI, have emphasized the importance of strengthening science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in the United States to ensure that the Nation's workforce can compete globally in high-tech, high-value industries.
It's imperative, Mr. Speaker, that we do all we can to stay ahead of the curve and ensure that the next generation of high-tech industries and products are developed here in the United States, as Mr. Wu just said. These provisions are steps in the right direction.
Also, as part of the ACI, President Bush targeted investment in physical science research to be doubled over the next 10 years at the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Office of Science at the Department of Energy.
I want to thank Mr. Ehlers and Mr. Gingrey for their extensive input in developing these bills and my Democratic colleagues for incorporating our priorities into this bipartisan legislation.
I would be remiss, Mr. Speaker, if I didn't especially thank the staff. As you know, Mr. Speaker, they do an incredible amount of work. They do so usually behind the scenes, don't get a lot of the credit. There's a couple here that have done an incredible job. Margaret Caravelli is here to my left and Leslee Gilbert, who is also here, have done an incredible job, and we never thank them enough. So, therefore, I want to do that today here on the floor.
I'm glad that H.R. 2272 includes Mrs. Biggert's High Performance Computing Act. This part of the bill will improve our investment in high-performance computing research.
H.R. 2272 authorizes an investment in our future, an investment for continued technological advancement, and an investment to keep the United States as the leader, frankly, in the global marketplace.
I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 2272. I thank all those who have worked on it. It's always a privilege to work with my dear friend, Mr. Wu.
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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want to urge the adoption of this good legislation. I thank Mr. Wu for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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