a strategy that includes the streamlining of burdensome regulations, a strategy that reduces taxation, that brings our federal spending under control and controls the spiraling national debt. so, madam speaker, as much as i would prefer to support the underlying legislation, i believe that at this time of severe budgetary constraints the underlying legislation includes excessive spending levels. the bill has an overall authorization of nearly $86 billion which represents approximately $20 billion in new funding above the fiscal base of this year. that is a significant increase when we are facing record budget

deficits. and that is after the so-called stimulus bill injected $6 billion additional dollars into the agency's funded by this bill. . the current national debt projections and the majority's insabresble appetite for spending are unsustainable. and if we continue on that trajectory the america that we know, love and admire will be severely threatened. our excessive spending threatens the very foundation of our economy and our way of life, we could very well find ourselves in a position soon similar to today's greece. as we saw last week when the house considered the legislation on credits for refurbishing homes by my friend from vermont,

mr. welch, congress is beginning to realize the magnitude of the nation's fiscal problem, though the congressional majority leadership has not yet realized it or simply does not care. i may have voted in favor of the underlying legislation. if the majority, nevertheless, had allowed the house to consider and vote on amendments that would have reduced the spending levels in the bill. for example, my colleague, representative mario diaz-balart of florida, came before the rules committee yesterday to qut committee allow the house to consider his amendment to cut the authorization in the bill from five years to three years. his amendment would have lowered the cost of the overall bill, would also have given congress the ability to come back in three years and determine if the legislation was achieving its intended purpose.

perhaps if that amendment had been allowed a number of members like myself who are concerned about the uncontrolled spending of this majority could have voted for the bill. instead the majority and the rules committee decided they would block consideration of the mario diaz-balart amendment and also the sessions amendment, amendments that sought to reduce the spending in the bill. not only did they block the dazz about a -- diaz-balart and sessions amendment, they blocked out 3/4 of the amendments while allowing 90% of the democrat amendments. today we will consider four republican amendments and 48 democrat amendments. that's quite a contrast. it's especially glarring when you consider that we were told -- glaring when you consider that we were told that it would not be this way. the distinguished speaker promised the american people that her party would run the most open and bipartisan congress in history.

yet week after week the majority continues to block an open process. we have yet to consider even one open rule during this entire congress. not even on the historically open appropriations process. it's quite sad. we reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to responds to a couple of things my friend from florida said. first i'd remind him that at the end of the clinton administration there was a budget that was balanced. mr. perlmutter: there was in fact a surplus going forward but under the bush administration, when tax cuts for the wealthiest, prosecution of two wars without pay for them and a financial sector in total disarray at the end of the bush administration, the obama administration inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit.

but in moving forward with the actions taken by this congress to stabilize the financial system and put people back to work, there's been a swing now from the last month of the bush administration when almost 800,000 jobs were lost to a gain last month of 260,000, well over a million job swing towards putting this country back on track. that will assist with revenues as the economy gets better, that deals with budget deficits. my friend is right, we have to look at the spending that this country is engaging in, but we got to put people back to work. this america competes act does that by building on our science foundation. we have in this bill endorsements in support -- and support from virtually every kind of company and association possible, from business

associations like the u.s. chamber of commerce, the national association of manufacturers, tech net, etc., to various societies, the american association for the advancement of science, university associations as well and a whole host of businesses. because they know how important this bill is towards the investment that we're going to make in the future for this country, its jobs today. with that i'd like to yield to mr. carnahan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for two minutes. mr. carnahan: thank you, madam speaker. i can't think of a better time than now to invest in america's can-do spirit. i would like to thank our chairman, bart gordon, for his years and devotion to ensure america's prepared to compete globally. america has been at the forefront of all the technological innovation in the last century and most of our

jobs since world war ii have been created with new technology and innovation. i believe we can continue to lead the world in innovation and technology. my constituency in st. louis, missouri, can play a major role in that effort. earlier this morning i spoke with missourians closely watching our progress on this landmark innovations jobs bill, america competes. including washington university in st. louis and the university of missouri. because of america competes, these two great universities will be able to work locally with teachers to spark interest in math and science for future generations, as well as to continue research looking into the next break through technologies. today i also heard from chuck gerding of gerding enterprises, a small manufacturer who has been assisted by the missouri enterprise program that helps small and medium sized manufacturers. america competes would strengthen the missouri enterprise program, helping manufacturers compete in the global economy and hire more

workers. the section of this bill i'm particularly proud of will strengthen regional economies through the energy innovation hubs, to help advance the u.s. transition to a clean energy economy and to support the growth of new sectors of the economy and jobs that come with them. in order for the u.s. to remain competitive we need to invest in the technologies now that will create jobs immediately and make our economy stronger for the long-term. the america competes act will strengthen how america competes and empower american innovation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank my friend, mr. perlmutter, for reminding us of the clinton years. i was elected to congress when president clinton was elected president. two years later we the republicans captured majority

here in the congress. and i remember how we had to fight tooth and nail to balance the budget. president clinton never submitted a budget with a deficit less than $200 billion a year. i remember adding the items in his budget, at least had $2 billion a deficit. it used to be that $2 billion was a lot of money for a deficit. and i remember how this congress had to fight day in and day out and we finally achieved, in very arduous negotiations with the executive, a balanced budget. so, that's the record. i'd like at this point to yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished ranking member of the rules committee, mr. dreier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i thank my friend for yielding and i rise in strong opposition to this rule and in strong support.

i'd like to begin by outlining my opposition to the rule and then i'm going to take some time to talk about my support of muffitya mccartney. my friend from madam speaker is absolutely right when he focuses -- miami is absolutely white when he focuses on the need for us to be physically responsible. my friend from colorado has made the same argument, everyone around here decries wasteful federal spending. now, this bill is extraordinarily well intentioned and as i said, the rules committee yesterday, i've been a strong supporter of the stem concept. science, technology, engineering and math are very high priorities. if we as a nation are going to remain competitive in this global economy, it is absolutely imperative that we do all that we can to focus on stem education. the concern with this measure is

the fact that it's $22 billion over the base line, going up to $86 billion. i was asked in the rules committee hearing yesterday by the chairman of the science committee what level i believe to be appropriate as we focus on stem education and that area would be at least at that base line level which would take the $86 billion in funding and bring it down to what would be $64 billion. that would be a more acceptable level. why? because, well, we know how important this is. we also know that if we don't focus on our spending that what has been going on for so many years under both political parties, we're not going to be able to compete globally at all. there are other concerns about this measure. i've just obviously been talking about the amendment that the manager on this side's brother, he described him as his colleague, he also happens to be his brother, mario diaz-balart,

who very thoughtfully came before the rules committee and that amendment was not made in order. mr. bilbray sitting behind me has an amendment focusing on the very important issue of ensuring that people who work in this country are here legally. and of course the very, very, very important issue that the ranking member of this committee , ralph hall, brought before the rules committee and by unanimous vote in the committee on science and technology they incorporated language to ensure that there would be a prioritization of those 59,700 veterans who want to have an opportunity, disabled veterans who want to have an opportunity to participate in the stem program at the undergraduate level and 8,700 who want to have the opportunity to participate at the post graduate level. that was agreed on by the i can but unfortunately when the measure got before the rules

committee it was stricken. some, as mr. hall has described it, some very watered down version which does undermine the ability of our nation's disabled veterans to be able to take advantage of this program the way they should is in fact denied. and so the fact that these measures are not made in order, madam speaker, i am a strong opponent of this rule because i believe that we can do better and as mr. diaz-balart said, having an open amendment process, which we've not had in this entire crong, should have been the model for this bill in light of the fact that it has in the past been reported out under suspension of the rules. now having spoken about my opposition to the rule itself, madam speaker, i'd like to speak briefly about my support for mccartney. madam speaker, in 1976 she was obviously a child, this institution was probably violating child labor laws, when

she came to work as a clerk in the parliamentarian's office. that's 34 years ago. in that 34-year period of time, she has had an amaiding -- amazing career which has been, from my perspective, capped by her service as the majority staff director of the house rules committee. she was the first woman named as a parliamentarian back in 1991 and she has worked for both republicans and democrats on the house appropriations committee and her work there was very important. as i said, the fact that she has come to the house rules committee was a very appropriate spot for her. when she began her work she pursued both her undergraduate and law degrees, which she began in the 1970's, and has been able toue utilize toes skills extraordinarily well -- ute likewise -- to utilize those

skills extraordinarilyy well. we're very sorry that she will be leaving. this in fact, unless there is a massive disruption in the operations of this institution through the week, this will be the last rule that will be considered on the house floor during her period of time. i do know that her husband, terry, her four children and her new grandchild will anxiously look forward to spending more time with her. the rules committee as we all know, madam speaker, tends to be a rough and tumble place and she has had an extraordinarily good and close working relationship with those of us in the minority. when i had the privilege of being chairman of the rules committee, we worked extraordinarily closely with her in her role in the parliamentarian's office and i know that things may still be rough and tumble within her family. it will certainly be a great joy for all of her family members to have her back and so, madam speaker, i'd like to extend

congratulations to her for her extraordinary 34 years of service to this institution and i know that her family is the only thing that she loves more than this place which we all respect and love so much. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. perlmutter: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my friend from california for his remarks regarding muftiah. i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcgovern: thank you. i want to thank my colleague from colorado for yielding me the time. madam speaker, i rise in strong support of the rule for the competes act and more importantly i also rise in strong support and pay tribute to the staff director of the rules committee, muftiah

mccartin, as she prepares to move on to a new phase in her life. madam speaker, muftiah is an amazing woman. she has worked in this body for 34 years. first in the office of the parliamentarian, then in the appropriations committee and finally in the rules committee. she leaves as the top staffer on the rules committee. someone who not only made the trains run on time but also someone who definitely worked through the dicey political and policy issues that the rules committee is required to work through. muftiah will be missed here in the house but i can honestly say that this body is better for her past work over the 34 years. over the time she's shown dedication and passion for this toogs. -- institution. whether it was working for congressman obey and chairwoman slaughter, she helped us do our jobs better. but what we will miss most is the way muftiah brings everyone together.

she unified the rules' professional and associate staff. she made sure that we, members of congress, were prepared to do the business at hand. she also worked both as a mentor to her staff and to the associate staff. i can honestly say that i and my staff do our jobs better today because of muftiah and the leadership that she has provided over the past years in the rules committee. and while she spent the last three decades here in the house, she also has a life outside of this chamber. she has a wonderful husband, terry, four children, mauricea, elaine, sandra and luke, and she just became a grandmother for the first time, a grundge son named thaddeus. madam speaker, i was a staffer before i was elected to congress. i started working here a few years after muftiah started her career on the hill, but i understand the role the staff play here. and i understand this institution would not be the great body it is without the

great staff that put their lives into what we do here. she embodies that dedication and we are going to miss here. let me say, madam speaker, in conclusion to muftiah, i want to thank you for all the incredible work you have done here. you will be missed and we love you. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: madam speaker, we have great differences, great disagreements often here on the floor of this house. rare is the occasion when there is no debate, when there are no differences. muftiah mccartin enjoys the admiration of all members on both sides of the aisle who have worked with her. she personifies the best of

this institution. she personifies competence, professionalism and courtesy. and as someone who has had the privilege of working with her, i thank her for her serve and commend her for her professionalism, her competence and that courtesy. so the best to you, muftiah, and your family, as you move on to other endeavors. you are an example of the wonderful men and women who have through the years made possible what this congress gets accomplished. and so i join all of my colleagues in wishing muftiah

the best. at this time i yield three minutes to my distinguished friend and colleague from georgia, dr. broun. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. mr. broun: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in strong opposition to this rule. i applaud the fact that 54 amendments were made in order, which is the most amendments that the democratic leadership have allowed in a long time. maybe ever since they've been in control of this house of representatives in the 110th congress, and i'm pleased that one of my amendments to remove some new programs that are in this bill will be debated later on this afternoon. however, at a time when our deficits are projected to remain above $1 trillion for the foreseeable future, i can't understand why two of my other very important amendments dealing with fiscal

responsibility were ruled out of order. my first amendment would have simply changed the authorization level to three years from five and would have frozen spending to this year's levels and it would save over $45 billion of taxpayers' money. the 2007 competes bill was originally a three-year authorization. in these tough economic times, why are we expanding yet another federal program? my second amendment would have streamlined the overall competes program by removing all of the newly created programs. again, in these tough economic times, we can't do everything that we want to do so we need to prioritize our resources while ensuring basic research and science. many of the new programs are duplicative of other existing

programs. for example, the loan guarantees are similar to the small business administration's loan guarantee program for which manufacturers are eligible. also, the hubs program appears to be redundant with existing department of energy activities. these are only two examples of duplicative programs that are in this bill. expanding the size and cost of this re-authorization while creating duplicative programs is not what the american people want and certainly not what they need. american families and american small businesses have been forced to make difficult spending decisions. shouldn't the federal government do the same? we need to stop spending money that we do not have on new programs that further increase our ever-expanding debt.

madam speaker, our children and our grandchildren are dependent upon us being fiscally responsible. this rule and this bill is not fiscally responsible. and i urge my colleagues to reject this rule so that sensible amendments, like the two i discussed and others that mr. diaz-balart discussed, can be included in this important debate. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. perlmutter: thanks, madam speaker, and i say to my good friend, congressman broun, that he's forgotten that this bill satisfies the pay-go rules which c.b.o. has scored at zero so that there is not an increase, a rule that my friends on the republican side of the aisle eliminated which helped drive up the debt of this country.

and i would just say to my friend, the investments that are being made in science and technology and in the education of scientists and engineers and mathematicians is the kind of investment for the long-term health of this country that has to be made right now. with that i'd yield to my friend from california, congresswoman matsui, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for two minutes. ms. matsui: thank you. and i thank the gentleman from colorado for yielding me time. madam speaker, i rise today in support of the rule and the underlying legislation. investing in research and stem education will help our country take the lead in scientific, technological and economic advancement. this bill will also assist my hometown of sacramento where we are positioned to become a leader in the clean technology sector. that's why i am pleased that chairman gordon has pledged the support two smart grid-related amendments.

my first amendment will ensure that new smart grid technologies are an important part of the department of energy's research and development. my second amendment will ensure that smart grid technologies are included in the list of research and development activities undertaken by the department of energy innovation hubs. both of these amendments will be extremely valuable to sacramento's continued leadership in smart grid technologies. and now, madam speaker, i just want to take a moment to recognize the departing staff director of the rules committee. muftiah mccartin, muff, afecksally known, has steered the rules committee through a tough period and she has done so through grace and we know the rules committee can be a very contentious place. i know i speak for my staff and my colleagues when i say that muftiah will be soorl missed on the -- soarly missed on the rules committee. we wish her -- sorely missed on

the rules committee. we wish her the best. we thank you for your hard work, muftiah, and enjoy the next chapter of your life. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to my friend from california, mr. bilbray. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is now recognized. mr. bilbray: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, as a member of the committee on jurisdiction, i have been tried to work in a bipartisan effort on this bill. i want to support this bill even though it has an $85.6 billion price tag. but sadly the fact is that just trying to do some of those little things that the american people want us to move forward, commonsense things like making sure that the $85.6 billion that no portion of that is going into financing illegal behavior, such as illegal

employment. sadly, the rules committee has said we don't have time to bother with assuring the american people that their money is not going to be spent in the commission of the crime of illegal employment. it's bad enough, madam speaker, that we have a bill that does not specifically require anyone who gets federal funds or federal grant guarantees do the thing that you and i do as members of congress, the federal government does, that every contractor does since president obama's mandated. this bill doesn't require that the recipients of federal funds under this program have to make sure they check the employment status of somebody before they start paying them with federal funds. common decency. but what's worse than that, madam speaker, is that the rules committee has denied both sides of the aisle the ability to vote on this issue. the rules committee has denied us the ability as republicans and democrats and independents

to go on record with the american people that, look, we want to make sure that your money is not spent for illegal activities, such as illegal employment. i tried to work across the aisle on this issue. i've worked with chairman gordon on this issue. all we ask is the common decency to give democrats and republicans the ability to go on record and do a little thing that the american people have been demanding for much too long and that is when you spend money, even if it's more than we want, make sure that you're not financing the violation of federal law. that's all i asked. but you couldn't -- the rules committee couldn't find the decency to allow a bipartisan vote on something that is so common sense, so common decency as to make sure that we keep our promise to the american people, that we uphold the constitution and make sure that our federal funds are not engaged in illegal activity. and, madam speaker, sadly, that

is where i am today. i like a lot of this bill, but if you ask me to go back to san diego and face off my constituents right, left, republican, democrat, how can i look with a straight face and say i've done everything i can to make sure that your money has been spent appropriately and legally? and sadly this rule does not require that little bit of common decency of making sure the constituency gets legal expenditure of $85.6 billion. that's the price tag of bipartisan leadership. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. perlmutter: thank you, madam speaker. and i'd say to the gentleman from california, it is common sense, and the rules committee understands that federal funds can only be used for legal purposes that must be in the statutes 550 times. so he just wants to have a little more redundancy in the

law. so with that i'd like to yield to my friend from colorado, mr. polis, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis, is recognized for three minutes. mr. polis: i thank the gentleman from colorado. madam speaker, rise today in support of h.r. 5116, the america competes re-authorization act of 2010. i commend chairman gordon on his hard work and leadership on this important legislation. this bill is the product of our nation's understanding that economic prosperity and international competitiveness is the result of american innovation and forward thinking. i'd also like to address the comments made by my colleague from california as well. as the gentleman from california is aware, there is in fact widespread violation of federal laws that are out of touch with reality with with regard -- with regards to immigration. we don't know who is here, what they're doing, where they are going. the american competes act of course is not the proper legislative vehicle for addressing that. but i do encourage my colleague from california to join me and

many others in co-sponsoring comprehensive immigration reform which will ensure that going forward no one works in this country illegally and that we have a way of tracking who is here and enforcing the rule of law across this nation. i want to take this opportunity to thank maffitya mcmartin of our rules committee. she is our rules committee staff director, the only rules committee staff director that i have known in my time in congress who as you know is leaving us. on many occasions maffitya has treked to the -- on important issues and parliament procedures and asked us our concerns and addressed them. of course when i found out today in these remark that she had been here 34 years i began to think it was a different maffitya than the one i know -- maffityia that i know that is retiring. she has worked in this wonderful building for 34 years.

perhaps that time is calculated because she frequently works until midnight, 3:00 in the morning. perhaps for every year she works it's counted as two yorse time in. because that's the only logical explanation that i was able to figure out for how she could possibly have worked in this body for 34 years and is moving on to other opportunities. her dedication to this body, this institution, this committee, both in her current job and previous jobs, is something that i all hope we strive to emulate with our accomplishments on committee and the house floor. which are really a great testimony to her commitment of many years. as a freshman member of the rules committee, she's repeatedly assisted me and our colleagues on the sometimes legislative processes and has worked tirelessly to make sure our members and our districts have been able to walk away with success. thank you, muftiah, for your service. you will be missed and i yield

back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: i ask my friend if he has any additional speakers? mr. perlmutter: yes, sir. we have two more speakers and i'd ask the speaker how much time each side has remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado has 13 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from florida has 8 1/2 remaining. mr. diaz-balart: we reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves his time. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. perlmutter: thank you, madam speaker. i'd yield two minutes to my friend from florida, mr. hastings. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. mr. hastings: i thank my good friend and colleague on the rules committee for yielding the time. i rise today in support of this rule and the underlying legislation but i'd also like to take a brief moment to bid a fond farewell to muftiah mccartin, the staff director of the committee on rules. we've heard that she's done this for 34 years.

i came in contact with her first when she was with the office of the parliamentarian and she was as diligent then and hardworking as she has been with us. muftiah has been an asset to this body and it's better for her having served here. as a staff member of the rules committee. i personally, as you've heard my other colleagues say, relied on her more times than i can count and i do need to say that i'm speaking for fred, david,al ex, anna and the entire staff in my office. she combines a vast knowledge of congressional procedures with an unflapble patience, putting both members and staff alike at ease when approached about complicated legislative matters, even during the most politically heated moments. more admirable than her remarkable career in the house, however, is her incredible devotion to her family.

while spending seemingly countless hours at work, she's also managed to raise with her husband terry four beautiful children, marisa, he lane, sandra and luke, and is now a grandmother as well and i remember when she was at the parliamentarian's office, when she was carrying one of those children. i didn't know how she was able to do it. after her years of service to the rules committee and to the house of representatives, muftiah is leaving us to embark on the next chapter of her professional career. you're going to be missed, muf, but i sure and i'm sure all of my colleagues wish you much happiness and success in your future endeavors and my great hope is that you will continue to flourish. thank you so very much. the speaker pro tempore: jiret. the gentleman from florida voiced. mr. diaz-balart: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. the gentleman from colorado. mr. perlmutter: i'd say to my friend from florida, mr.

diaz-balart, i may have two other speakers, may join us in a moment or two, but i'd like to now yield two minutes to mr. klein from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida, mr. klein, is recognized for two minutes. mr. klein: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from colorado for his leadership on the america competes act. i rise in strong support of the rule and the america competes act itself. i believe it will play an integral role in creating jobs and turning our economy around. i also rise in support of an amendment which i introduced which has been made in order under the rule to instruct the director of the manufacturing extension partnership to evaluate challenges that are unique to small manufacturers and facilitate improved communication between the m.e.p. centers so they can readily share with one another which solutions best address particular problems faced by small firms. which really are the bulk of the types of manufacturing businesses in my district in florida. in my meetings with many of the manufacturers in palm beach and

broward counties in florida, as well as the south florida manufacturing association, i've been told that while m.e.p. services are very helpful for some businesses, they often have greater expertise in developing business solutions for medium to large sized businesses. small manufacturers such as uniweld which is in fort lauderdale, a family-owned business which has been run by a world war ii veteran and his sons, make up a large sector of the manufacturing firms in florida and they're critical to our competitiveness. in these challenging times, small manufacturers in my home state have faced many obstacles, financing being one of them. but many of the support services by the m.e.p.'s can truly make a difference to our small manufacturers as well. while basic research investment is important to advancing our nation's innovation infrastructure, we must build and support a strong manufacturing -- manufacturing base in the united states which will bridge the gap between research and commercial

development of new technologies. that's where this small manufacturing businesses and the m.e.p.'s together can accomplish that goal. under my amendment we will be able to provide increased assistance to reduce manufacturing costs and increase productivity, thereby allowing our small manufacturing base businesses to significantly improving their bottom line and i thank the gentleman for yielding the time and urge a yes vote on this amendment and the bill. the speaker pro tempore: jiret. the gentleman from florida. mr. diaz-balart: we continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. perlmutter: thank you, mr. speaker. i would just reiterate what mr. klein from florida was saying about the purpose and the need for this bill at this time in had this legislation. the america competes act is about moving this country forward, making sure that for the next 20 years we continue to have a strong science and energying and -- engineering and

technological future for the country. the bill, as we said, provides all sorts of funding to the national science foundation, to noa -- noaa, to the department of energy, so we can do a research in all variety of ways throughout this country. through our universities and other kinds of facilities and institutions of higher learning. now, i guess i'd like to speak on behalf of muftiah or speak to muftiah. many people have presented a lot of accolades that i can't top. but what i can say is, as a new member to the rules committee, that we've had some very contentious rough and tumble bills, to use a couple of the terms mr. dreier used, ms. matsui, but we could look to

muftiah, i could look to muftiah to give good advice and to bring a calming influence to the committee and certainly to me. as we were going through the whole list of parliamentary procedures, what's in order, what's not in order, why is it in order, she stood out as somebody who really knows the rules, understands the policy and is willing to work with both sides of the aisle and with all the members certainly on the democratic side of the rules committee to make sure we do the best job we can do. i thought i brought a lot of experience from the practice of law, having served also in the legislate pour that colorado, but the rules and the approach that's taken in the congress, there are many more layers and many more things that have to be understood and i would say to you, muftiah, you are a heck of

an advicer, you are a great teacher and i just wish you the best as i know all the other members of the rules committee and the members of the house just wish you the best in whatever you do, whether it's practicing law or raising your family or just enjoying life, because which put in a lot of hours, just thank you very much. with that i'd like to yield at least one minute to the gentle speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california, the speaker, is recognized. the speaker: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. before i begin my remarks on the legislation before us today, i want to join my colleagues in saluting the -- saluting the wonderful work of muftiah mccartin. she began her work on the hill, couldn't be, 1976, i can't believe that. she has worked on the appropriations committee and is now leaving her tenure as staff director on the rules committee. we all know that she loves this institution and powered her heart and soul into her --

poured her heart and soul into her work. how her policy and technical expertise have served both sides of the aisle over many years. she's the mother of four children and hard to imagine she is now a grandmother. we have been blessed with her service over many, many years. she will be sorely missed, muftiah, thank you so much for all that you have done. this is news to me, by the way, so i'm quite taken aback by the fact that you're leaving us but thank you for your service. wish you well in the future. we have been very blessed by your service. thank you. and congratulations on where you're going next. madam speaker, 10 years ago president kennedy summed up america's commitment to innovation when he launched the man on the moon initiative, to send a man to the moon and back, in those days they sent a man to the moon and back safely within

10 years. at that time he said, and i quote, the vows of this nation can be fulfilled only if we are first. and therefore we intend to be first. our leadership in science and industry, our hope for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others all require us to make this effort. over the past half century, since then, americans have lived up to these words. science and technological innovation have formed the backbone of our progress as a people and our prosperity as a nation. and today in passing this innovation bill, this competes act, we are reaffirming our leadership in science and in industry and we are keeping america first. few had have done more for the cause of innovation in the congress than chairman gordon and i'm sorry he's not on the

floor yet. he will be momentarily to manage this bill. he was first to sound the alarm in heeding the call of the report rising above the gathering storm. that was a report presented by innovation leader, norm you a gus tin -- no, augustine, and the national academy of sciences. it was to send a team of experts, legislators around the country. congresswoman eshoo and congresswoman lofgren asked bart gordon to a meeting at stanford university to launch a series of meetings in a bipartisan way to develop an innovation agenda. we met, of course, with

academics and with workers. we met with venture capitalists to see where the private dollar would go because we believed that this had to be a market-oriented initiative to build the competitiveness of america. we needed every aspect of putting together an innovation agenda, and we met all across the country to do that. we had particularly strong presentations from members of the asian american community who were quite impatient with the lack of progress that is happening in terms of public policy and accelerated the pace of our timetable for this. and so what came from that was the competes act that mr. bart gordon -- chairman bart gordon was instrumental in bringing to the floor in 2007. we had strong bipartisan support in passing that

legislation, i'm pleased to say, and, again, we are here today to re-authorize the competes act to spur innovation, invest in cutting edge research, modernizing manufacturing and increasing opportunity. i thank you for your remarks, mr. perlmutter, and your leadership on this subject as well. as a result, new industries will provide good jobs for our workers, markets for american products, we'll expand, we'll reassert our leadership throughout the world and give future generations a better chance to realize the american dream. it's about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. simply put, this legislation supports our efforts to keep america number one following president kennedy's lead to keep america first, and following the call of president obama at his inauguration tore

swift, bold action now -- for swift, bold action to do just that. the competes act will keep us on the path to double scientific research over the next 10 years, create jobs with innovation and technology, loan guarantees for small and medium-sized manufacturers and enhancing manufacturing extending partnerships. the m.e.p.'s are important to job creation. promote clusters that strengthen regional economies and expand scientific collaboration, invest in high-risk, high-reward research through arpa-e, helping ensure american energy independence. since we know that innovation begins in the classroom, i want to commend mr. miller for yielding to mr. gordon, chairman gordon, because we didn't want this bill held up

by one jurisdiction or another of committee, and mr. gordon has carried that principle that innovation begins in the classroom and we have those considerations in the bill. this bill will help raise up the next generation of entrepreneurs by improving science, math, technology and engineering education at all levels. it will also train children, young people to think in an spurel -- in an spurial way and will secure a central role for women and minorities in these fields. as we go forward with this innovation -- in the industrial revolution, we had the technical revolution and now we have this revolution, we want to do so in a way that brings everyone in the fullest participation in the prosperity, the new prosperity of america. it will strengthen and diversify our work force as, again, we create jobs, jobs,

jobs and jobs. in this congress there are four words in addition to jobs, jobs, jobs, which is a four-letter word we use all the time, but there are four words that describe our agenda. similarly, they are science, science, science and science. science to provide health care for all americans, and in our health care bill that we passed and in the recovery act of last year we have major vefments in science and technology -- investments in science and technology. science to keep america number one in innovation and the new technology to protect the environment and the rest we have to be competitive. science and technology take us there. science to keep our air clean and our water clean for our children and the safety of the environment in which they live. and science to promote our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil

and to advance the technologies to keep us preimminent in terms of our country's defense. this bill comes down to good-paying jobs for americans. strong american leadership in the global economy, and long-term growth for america's workers and families. it does so in a way -- it doesn't just put people back to work as we are trying to address the need for more jobs. it puts them back to work in better jobs. it puts people back to work, some who have been employed, no matter how educated they are or how economically deprived their area has been, some of this is really ground floor, ground floor. will bring women, minority, urban areas, rural people and, gep, with a wide range of educational background but with the prospects -- and, again, with a wide range of

educational background but with the prospects of great success. we are not solidifying the disparities in our economy. we are opening up avenues, again, for everyone to participate in the prosperity of our country. so with that, mr. chairman and madam speaker, i urge all of our colleagues to make a very strong bipartisan vote for jobs, for science and to keep america number one by voting for the competes act. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california yields back. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: we continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. perlmutter: thank you, madam speaker. i yield such time as -- one minute to the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in strong support of the rule and of the competes act, and i will speak later on the bill itself.

but i rise to pay tribute to muftiah mccartin. muftiah is a good friend of mine, so i want you to take this as totally subjective analysis. i don't pretend to be objective. i think muftiah mccartin is one of the most abled people with whom i have worked during the 30 years i have been here. muftiah came here when she was just a child 35 years ago and has served this institution extraordinarily well during that period of time. she served the parliamentarians that i have served with myself. brown, johnson and sullivan. and she did so with extraordinary skill. our parliamentarian's office, for those who have the opportunity to watch us, are the truest nonpartisan,

bipartisan people we have in this institution who give both sides advice and counsel as to how to conform to the rules, how to conduct business in the most appropriate fashion. muftiah mccartin was a giant in that service who cares deeply about this institution and all its members, not from a partisan sense but from an institutional sense. she's served the american people extraordinarily well. and what an example of success she is. she came here shortly after high school working here and went to night school to get her undergraduate degree and completed her law degree in night school. she showed the same tenacity that warranted the private sector wanting her to come and be with them. her service to this institution cannot be calculated in any

kind of numbers of years served. her service to this institution is measured by the commitment she made to each and every one of us and to this institution. perhaps terry, her husband, and her four children, her three girls and luke, will have more time now with muftiah because she was with us around the clock sometimes. when i first came here we didn't have a rule that said you have to end at 12:00. when i first came here in the early 1980's, as mr. rangel will recall, muftiah will recall, we sometimes went to 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 in the morning and went home quick low and came back here to open the session at 9:00 or 10:00 and they had to be an hour or so earlier than that. muftiah, we cannot possibly, if i took an hour, which i could

take with my one minute as majority leader, but if i took that hour or if i took multiple hours, i could not express the depths of our gratitude to you, for the respect we have for the professionalism that you demonstrated in the performance of your duties. and the extraordinary affection we have for you as our friend, as our colleague, and we wish you the very, very best of success in the years ahead. god bless you and thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. diaz-balart: we continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from colorado. mr. perlmutter: i do not have

any other speakers and would ask my friend if he's prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. diaz-balart: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my friend, mr. perlmutter, for his courtesy and for his management on the majority's side of this rule. i would while reiterating, i'm so pleased that members on both sides of the aisle have joined to commend and wish the best to muftiah mccartin. with regard to the legislation that we are bringing to the floor with this rule, i would say, mr. speaker, while not minimizing its importance, because i think it's obviously dealing with a very important set of subjects that have and

that enjoy bipartisan support in this congress, i would bring to the attention once again of all members what we saw last week with legislation on a, i believe it was a $6 billion tax credit -- it was a credit for home refurbishings brought to the floor by my good friend, mr. welch. and i noticed at that time a, i think, change in attitude. i was impressed. i was certainly impacted by what i perceived as a change in this congress on what normally i think would have faced little

opposition. surely it would have been expected that that legislation faced little opposition. we saw what i perceived as a ground swell of concern on the spending. and it's not that refurbishing one's home, encouraging citizens to refurbish their homes to keep their energy efficient, that's not something that in itself would have opposition. it was the spending that touched a nerve because of the moment we're living. and so with the legislation that we bring to the floor today that is being increased from the base spending by about $20 billion, i think we may very well see -- certainly would not be surprised if we see a similar nerve being touched. that doesn't mean that the

subject is not of great importance. you know, science, education, you know, keeping the u.s. the leading edge, cutting edge in so many ways. i mean, that's obviously something that's enjoyed bipartisan support and should. but i think that the majority is failing to sense that moment that the nation at large and the congress now is finally manifesting, reacting to. there's concern about the path we're on. . with regard to spending. having said that and again thanking mr. perlmutter for his courtesy and his management of this rule as well as thanking

all who have participated in this debate today, we yield back . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado. mr. perlmutter: thank you. mr. speaker, i thank my friend for his courtesy and how he debates these bills, debates the rules. just appreciate that. but he and i differ very much on the passage of this rule. this rule and this bill should be passed. listening to some of my friends on the republican side of the aisle who are wanting to draw back, wanting to draw down at a time when america must really move forward, must look to its long-term future, towards its prosperity, towards its ability to compete in the world, this is the bill and this is the rule that really does move us forward with its investments in science and technology and math and engineering. those are very key things. it reminds me of those who would

have asked abraham lincoln to stop building the dome and rebuilding this capital during the civil war because of its cost and because the country should look towards the civil war and worry about that. legitimate concerns, but president lincoln said no this country's going to succeed. it's long-term prosperity is -- its long-term prosperity is going to occur and i'm going to keep moving forward with the construction of the dome of the capitol. i'm not going to back off. we in this country, americans, look forward, we are a forward-looking people, we believe in our future, and there is no place like continuing to build our abilities in science, technology, math, and engineering. that's the place we ought to start putting our investments. it's long-term investment in the prosperity and success of this

country. mr. speaker, i urge a yes vote on the previous question and on the rule. i yield back the balance of my time, and i move the previous question on the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: all time has been yielded. without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. props the gentleman from florida rise? mr. diaz-balart: we request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has requested a call of the yeas and nays. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members

without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 1442, an act to provide for the sale of the federal government's revisionary interest in approximately 60 acres of land in salt lake city, utah, originally conveyed to the mount olivet cemetery association under the act of january 23, 1909. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. gordon: mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. please clear the wells. all the conversations -- members --

mr. gordon: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill h.r. 5116, the american competes re-authorization act. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to house resolution 1344 and rule 18, the chair declares the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration h.r. 5116. the chair appoints the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton, to preside over the committee of the whole.

the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 5116 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to invest in innovation through research and development, to improve the competitiveness of the united states, and for other purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon, and the gentleman from texas, mr. hall, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam chair, the house is not in order. the chair: the committee will be in order. members in the rear, take your conversations to the cloakroom

so we may proceed. mr. gordon. mr. gordon: madam chair, thank you. and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. the house is not in order. the gentleman will be heard. mr. gordon. mr. gordon: on october 12, 2005, in response to a bipartisan quest by the science and technology committee and some of our colleagues in the senate, the national academies released the report "rising above the gathering storm." the distinguished panel, led by the former c.e.o. of lockheed martin, and which also included one of intel, the current secretary of energy, steve chu, and a cast of distinguished academic and business leaders painted a very dire picture. the report made it clear that without direction the future was bleak for our children and grandchildren. this report was without question a call to arms.

the science and technology committee, along with several other committees in the senate, moved forward by turning the gathering storm recommendation into legislative language. the final result was the enactment of the america competes act of 2007, with the bipartisan support of 365 members. moreover, with the leadership of senator alexander and bingaman and 60 senate co-sponsors, they approved the conference report by unanimous consent. now, after three years, we are back to work on re-authorizing the america competes. since enactment of the america competes, the science and technology committee has held 48 hearings on areas addressed in the bill considered by the house today. going through regular order, our subcommittee in a bipartisan process brought the full committee to a strong body of work. the bill was approved by the

science and technology committee on april 28 with a bipartisan vote of 29-8. i want to thank all the members of our committee for their work and more importantly their contribution to this bill. since i became chairman of the committee, it has been my goal for this to be a committee of good ideas and consensus. but more importantly, i have wanted -- i have wanted an inclusive process that encouraged members on all sides to bring forward ideas and to discuss them. i'm proud of the process that we've used in bringing this bill to the house, and i believe this is a better bill today because of the hard work of our members. so i thank them for their efforts. i would like to also especially thank the majority and minority staffs for the many hours of thoughtful work they have committed to this bill. many significant pieces of legislation come before this house. we all know that. but honestly, i feel strongly that this bill is a big deal and it's important.

it's a big deal and important for our country and for this congress. it's a big deal and an important step in leading our nation's innovation agenda in the face of growing global competition. it's a big deal and important for the business community, including the u.s. chamber of commerce, the national association of manufacturers and the business roundtable, which is why they have been so supportive. it's a big deal and important to our universities and our national labs. and it's a big deal and important to our children, grandchildren so they will not be the first generation of americans to inherit a standard of living lower than their parents. if we are to reverse the trend of the last 20 years where our country's technological edge in the world has diminished, we must make the investments necessary today. the statistics speak for them self. more than 50% of our economic growth since world war ii can be attributed to the development and adoption of new

technologies. the path is simple. research and education lead to innovation. innovation leads to economic development and good-paying jobs and the revenue to pay for more research. as private firms underinvest in research and development because the returns are too far off in the future, there's a clear and necessary role of government to help our nation keep pace with the rest of the world. to quickly summarize, the america competes re-authorization act of 2010, h.r. 5116, makes investments in science, innovation. education to strengthen economic leadership. supports business and creates job in the short, mid and long term. federal programs like the innovative, knowlogical program -- technological program helps businesses. it will strengthen regional

economy through programs like the regional clusters. to assure scientific and technological leadership now and into the future, the bill makes investments in the basic research. the bill includes a re-authorization of the advanced research projects agency for energy or arpa-e. even before the oil hit before today's record highs, gathering storm recommended greater energy independence. but as we move to a cleaner, more efficient and more balanced economic portfolio, we should not trade our dependency on foreign oil for a dependency on foreign technology. this is why arpa-e is so important. it has innovation hubs which will each focus on overcoming a single technological barrier to achieving our national energy innovation goals. the bill will double authorization funding for our basic research programs, the national science foundation, the department of energy office of science, the labs at the

national institute of standards and technology over the next 10 years. throughout the committee process, there was a lot of legitimate discussion about federal deficits, and i agree that we must address the challenges presented by our deficits, but we also must invest in our country's future. i remember newt gingrich saying one of his greatest regrets was not doubling the funding for n.s.f. when he put n.i.h. on the path. during consideration of the bill we made some significant changes to the bill's authorization levels. but we will maintain a doubling path for our research accounts over the next 10 years. we do so on a slightly less aggressive trajectory. the bill when introduced included authorizations totaling $93 billion over five years. the bill we consider today includes authorizations of approximately $84 billion. this represents a 10.3% reduction in funding for the introduction of the bill or reduction of more than $9.6

billion over five years. this bill provides a stable, sustainable and achievable set of authorization levels that balance the importance of these investments with the reality of our current budget deficits. another important element of the funding road map in the bill is certainty. as we know, most successful businesses do not operate in a one-year timetable. they generate plans years in advance. in fact, many businesses operate using at least a five-year plan. so as we continue to climb out of the worst economic downturn in a generation, we need a five-year plan to reinvest in our intellectual capital, our research enterprise and our work force training. this becomes an -- even more important when comparing to other nations. china increased innovation in five-year windows. they write a five-year plan, watch its progress. in year four they begin on the

next five-year plan. the time is for our country to establish a clear path forward with thoughtful, responsible five-year plans. finally, let me say that more than 50 years ago when it was first created, no one knew that it would be responsible for the creation of the internet or the proliferation of g.p.s. technologies. but it did. those innovations started with federal dollars as well as countless game-changing technologies. there is a relationship between r&d, the creation of companies and economic growth. but don't just take my word for it. the joint economic committee released a report this week that shows economic benefits from federal investment and research. the science coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of the nation's leading research universities released a report this week entitled "sparking economic growth: how federally funded

university research creates innovation, new companies and jobs." this report tells the stories of 100 companies, including google, cisco, s.a.s., scenes, sun power and hewlett-packard that was based on research funded by federal dollars. last are the sponsors of this important legislation. the u.s. chamber of commerce, the business roundtable, the national association of manufacturers, the council of competitiveness, the task force of american ovation, the american chemical society as well as a growing list of over 1,000 major companies, universities, trade associations and professional organizations. all understanding the benefits to u.s. companies of making a sustained commitment to research and stem education. competes is and will continue to be a bipartisan, bicameral effort that every member of this

house can feel ownership of and should take bragging rights on. and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. >> i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hall: i rise today to speak on h.r. 5116, a bill re-authorizing america competes act. competes was originally authorized in 2005 in response to recommendation in the national academy's report rising above the gathering storm, an initiative proposed in president bush's american competitiveness initiative that stressed the need for increased investments in basic science research and development. a 2007 house passed bill was a three-year authorization that placed three agencies, the national science foundation, the national institute of standards and technology and the office of

science at the department of energy, on a 10-year dub let and pass. i remain committed to the underlying goals of america competes act. i like the thrust, i like the goals. most of us on our side of the docket did. we believe that we should continue, though, to prioritize investments in basic research and science, technology, engineering and mathematicersing o's, the stem education. the long-term investments, coupled with policies that reduce tax burdens, streamline federal regulations and balance the federal budget are necessary steps for our nation to remain competitive in the global marketplace. however, the bill goes far beyond the original intent and scope of the competes legislation. one of my primary concerns is the cost of the overall package at $86 billion. it represents over $22 billion in new funding above the fiscal year 2010 basic level. even if you consider the 10-year doubling path for the three

agencies as opposed to flat funding, the bill is still almost $8 billion over that amount. it also is important to note that these agencies received an additional $5 billion in the american recovery and reinvestment act. given the current state of our national economy and the fact that our nation's budget deficit has increased 50% since the last authorization three years ago, we have to be mindful of our spending if america's to continue to compete globally. i'm also concerned by the creation of several new programs in this bill, including energy innovation hubs at d.o.e., a loan guarantee program at the department of commerce and regional innovation clusters at the department of commerce. several of these new programs fund activities beyond basic science research and development and many are potentially duplicative of current efforts and could divert money away from priority basic research.

given the number of new programs in this bill, it's especially troubling that the authorization lengthens five years as it lengthens congressional oversight opportunities and calls for outyear funding increases without regard to the current and future fiscal environment. as a full committee markup in april, republicans offered 39 amendments to, among other things, address increased costs, shifts in priorities, duplications of programs and congressional oversight. some of these concerns will be debated today as part of our amendment process. before i close, i'd like also to thank and acknowledge my staff for all the hard work they've done on this bill. also i want to thank chairman gordon and his staff for all of their efforts. chairman gordon and i have worked together in this body for several years and i absolutely miss working with him when he retires at the end of this year. as a matter of fact, as he leaves this session, i hope we can name part of this program after bart gordon because he's

the father of it. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam speaker, how much time do we have? the chair: the gentleman from tennessee has 20 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield to the gentleman from oregon, mr. wu, the chairman of our technology and innovation subcommittee 1 1/2 minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wu: i rise today in strong support of america competes and i want to recognize the tremendous leadership which chairman gordon has given in this effort. he is the father of this bill. he has created the energy initiative in this bill and has

shown tremendous leadership in pushing this effort forward. i'm particularly proud of the contribution that my subcommittee, the technology and innovation subcommittee, has made to this legislation. innovation is absolutely crucial to our nation's long-term global competitiveness. it is our economic seed corn and we have a responsibility to support the kind of economic environment that empowers our nation's private sector to innovate and create jobs. the bipartisan legislation we are considering today will strengthen our nation's economic competitiveness by creating an environment that encourages innovation and facilitates economic growth. it will create high-wage middle class jobs through innovation and technological development. among other things, the bill makes critical investments in the manufacturing partnership which will help this vital program better address the needs of our nation's small and medium sized manufacturers.

of particular importance is the new focus of the m.e.p. program on finding out what the local job market really needs and helping community colleges focus job training on these particular needs so that the retrained workers can find work nearby. america competes is the cornerstone of our nation's global competitiveness and today's re-authorization bill represents another crucial step in implementing the innovation agenda. thank you. the chair: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: i yield four minutes to mr. sensenbrenner, the gentleman from wisconsin. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. sensenbrenner: i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker, i rise today in opposition to h.r. 5116, the america competes re-authorization abbling. madam chairman, i support efforts to invest in science and technology. in these tough economic times we must look ahead and recognize the necessity of research and

experimentation in developing new products and improving existing ones. if the u.s. wants to remain a leader in technological innovation it is imperative that we invigorate investment in private sector innovation so that we can expand our global leadership in high technology and spur greater economic growth domestically. as a former chairman of the house science committee, i understand the importance of promoting policies that strengthen america's technological leadership. and recognize the endless economic benefits when innovation takes place. however, once again we are seeing the majority ignore rising deficits and continue on the path of reckless spending. as some of my colleagues have already noted this legislation includes $22 billion in new funding over this year's base. our national debt stands at $13 trillion and our deficits are up 50% over the past three years.

the majority cannot continue to pile debt upon our children and grandchildren. it strikes me as odd that we are ramping up funding for this act when the program that it funds are only starting to be implemented. without having the opportunity to perform proper oversights into which programs are effective and which are not, it appears that we are simply here today to throw another $86 billion at the wall to see what sticks. the legislation before us goes beyond basic research and development activities. it creates several duplicative anden necessary programs -- and unnecessary programs. take, for example, the creation of the new you energy innovation hub program. the administration's fiscal year 2011 budget included funding for batteries and energy storage. however, budget documents indicate that there are at least five other d.o.e. programs which conduct similar energy

activities. unfortunately this is not the only example of a proposed hub that appears to duplicate existing r&d efforts. additionally this legislation not only dramatically increases spending, but shifts the focus of the original america competes act of basic research, the increased spending on later stage technology development and commercialization efforts. i do not believe that the government ought to be in the business of picking winners and losers. however, that is exactly what the provisions of this legislation attempt to do. throughout the legislation there is an emphasis on climate change research and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. it troubles me to see in a competitiveness bill the prominence of producing greenhouse gas emissions as a policy objective. this legislation effectively seeks to prohibit the pursuit of technologies that would advance energy independence through expanded supply or production of domestic energy resources. in order for the u.s. to

continue to compete and to be an innovative leader throughout the world, we must ensure we devote the proper resources and incentives in basic research and development. however this legislation is not the answer. i urge a no vote on this bill and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the subcommittee chairman of the research in science education committee, dr. lipinski. the chair: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. lipinski: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in strong support of this bill and i want to thank chairman gordon for his tremendous leadership on this issue. passage of this bill will help produce a brighter future for our nation and our nation's workers. it will -- put more simply, this bill means jobs. as a former college professor and engineer and a ceaseless

voningt for american manufacturing, i want to focus on the american science foundation title which comes from my bill. besides keeping it on a doubling path, it significantly increases support for basic research, stem education, graduate education and tech transfer, that is turning research into jobs. in addition to our newly created n.s.f. manufacturing research program and re-authorization of the national nanotechnology initiative, it includes a funding increase for any programs and innovation technology loan guarantee program. the competes act also improves provisions for the serious deterioration in the state of our research infrastructure, whether at universities, international labs wirks threaten america's competitiveness. also included is a bipartisan bill that allows n.s.f. to offer prices -- prizes. the compete authorization act takes a proactive and bipartisan approach to securing america's

position in a 21st century global economy in creating jobs and i urge my colleagues to vote for this bill. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: madam chairwoman, i yield three minutes to the gentlelady from illinois, a member of the committee, mrs. biggert. the chair: the gentlelady from illinois is recognized. mrs. biggert: i thank the gentleman for yielding and, madam chairman, i rise in support of h.r. 5116, the america competes act re-authorization of 2010. i commend chairman gordon and ranking member hall for their efforts to move this bill to regular order and to -- and for working with members on both sides to make improvements to the bill. like many of my colleagues here, i strongly supported in 2007 the original america competes act which became our nation's first coordinated and strategic investment plan aimed at maintaining u.s. leadership in science and technology. based on the recommendations in

the national academy's report, this bill we are considering today will build on the investments of 2007 legislation and preserve u.s. leadership in math, science and engineering education and basic research development and commercialization opportunities for our country. as some have suggested, h.r. 5116 is not without flaws. i share the concerns of my colleagues about the creation of new programs and higher funding levels contained in the bill. some of our concerns were addressed in committee, some were not. that said, i also urge my colleagues to keep in mind that this bill is above all else an investment in scientific advancement with proven economic returns for many years to come. at the heart of the competes act is the re-authorization of the department of energy's office of science and the national science foundation. two programs that form the

backbone of basic research and education in universities and lab i.r.s. to across the country -- laboratories across the country. the re-authorization is critical to america's ability to maintain a technological and competitive edge over our european and asian competitors in the global economy. in particular the office of science supports 40% of basic research in the united states and ensures that the u.s. retains its dominance in such key scientific fields as nanotechnology, material science, biotechnology and supercomputing, all areas in which emerging technology has lane the groundwork for a new generation of products and services. it is critical to states like illinois where university and laboratory research and development supports 6,800 high-tech jobs according to the science and technology coalition. furthermore, the office of science maintains large-scale user facilities like the

national laboratory in my scrict. these facilities provides scientists from both the public and private sector with the tools they need to turn groundbreaking research into real tangible tools and benefits for consumers, patients, energy users and other sectors. in my strict alone, dozens of firms have spun off from the research started at argon and became major employers and economic leaders. consider this, the user facility at argon will host 5,300 researchers from 50 states, 145 u.s. companies and 265 universities. without this support -- the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. hall: i yield the gentlelady another minute. the chair: the gentlewoman has been yielded another minute. mrs. biggert: i thank the gentleman. without the support, research breaking in aids medication, alternative fields and infrastructure materials would not have been possible.

fortunately with this re-authorization of competes we will have the ability to realize the promises of scientific innovation much faster. too often i hear from small businesses in my district about what i call the valley of death. that period when a firm has developed new technology but faces difficulty commercializing and moving it to the market. by facilitating commercialization and open access to the advancement of federal facilities this bill removes those hurdles. madam chairman, where investments -- investment dollars are scarce, we need to put the infrastructure to work creating and developing the products and jobs of tomorrow. with that i urge my colleagues to support this bill and yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam speaker, let me first point out that my friend from texas, mr. hall, is

not doing a roy oshson impression today. he had a cataract removed today and is periodically wearing his sunglasses. i compliment him being here. i yield one minute to a very distinguished majority leader, steny hoyer. the chair: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. mr. hoyer: i thank you, madam speaker. i thank chairman gordon and congratulate mr. hall for his leadership and rise in support of america competes act. i want to congratulate mr. gordon in particular. mr. gordon has been focused on this subject matter of this bill, innovation, entrepreneurial efforts, science, technology, math and science, engineering efforts to

make our economy more competitive worldwide and more vibrant here at home. this bill creates jobs in the short term and builds a strong foundation for prosperity in the long term. that's what we need to be focusing on, that's what americans want us to focus on. they want us to get jobs now but they also want to have a resilient, growing economy for the future. we can accomplish both goals in expanding our support for research and development so that the united states remains the world's technology leader. this bill establishes innovative technology federal loan guarantees for small and medium-sized manufacturers. those loans, which are especially needed at a time when credit is tight, will help our businesses keep pace with a changing economy. increased productivity and hold their own with overseas competitors. by supporting innovation, as this bill does, this bill will

help those businesses save and create jobs. it will also promote job growth and innovation on the regional level by creating regional innovation clusters. collections of local businesses that lab rate on emerging technology in similar field. as chairman bart gordon on the science and technology committee has observed, and i quote, clusters can strengthen or revaive a region's economy and can advance the work being done in their field by bringing their leaders together to share ideas and build off one another. i agree with that comment, and that's why i think it's so important. however, as mark from the metropolitan policy at the brookings institute says, america lags other nations in fostering these bottomup systems of business development, innovation and talent matching. the time has come, he went on,

for america to make regional industry networks a defining aspect of the nation's aspect to catalyze the next era of high-quality job creation and growth. bart gordon and the science and tech committee have done that and i congratulate them for that. it's an encouraging step that this bill does just that. in addition, the america competes act helps ensure that our work force will meet the challenges of the 21st century economy by investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. and it re-authorizes and increases funding for the vital national science foundation which promotes cutting edge research by funding innovation in fields from computer science to mathematics to genomics. madam speaker, federal support for research is one of the best investments we can make. and i congratulate mr. gordon, again, not only on his

leadership on this bill but on his leadership through the decades that he's served in this institution on these very issues. federally supported research gave us g.p.s., the computer mouse, computer-aided design and the internet. and there's no telling the ways in which it may shape our lives in the years to come. the legacy that mr. gordon will leave, unfortunately he's leaving our midst at the end of this year volunteer untear -- voluntarily, deciding to do other things. he's made tremendous contributions in his years here. our r&d expenditure has fallen as the asian economies have a greater share. this bill can and will help reverse this trend. the america competes act won

bipartisan support the first time congress authorized it in 2007. i hope and expect that this bill will garner such bipartisan support that it deserves this time around. again, in closing, madam speaker, let me congratulate mr. gordon and thank mr. hall for his role. and i appreciate the gentleman yielding his time and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: madam chair woman, might i inquire as to how much time we have left? the chair: the gentleman from texas has 19 minutes remaining. mr. hall: i thank the chairwoman. i yield mr. rohrabacher, the gentleman from california, for five minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rohrabacher: i rise in opposition to h.r. 5116. let me again by congratulating chairman gordon for the great leadership that he's provided

while he's been chairman of the committee as well as the great cooperation leadership that ranking hall, member hall has provided. these two gentlemen has exemplified the very best of our democratic system. i am back to the piece of the legislation. the america competes re-authorization act is to enhance the nation's long-term economic competitiveness through investment in science and technology. i support this laudable goal, as i have for more than 21 years as a member of the committee on science and technology, including 10 years as i was subcommittee chairman. but i cannot support this legislation which simply put authorizes too much funding in too many wrong-headed ways. while i'm certain this bill was drafted with the best of intentions and motivations, i strongly disagree that this is in our nation's best interest.

american investments in science and technology cannot operate in a vacuum. we need a broughter strategy that prioritizes spending, reduces debt, eliminates deficits, provides clarity, stability and the appropriate regulatory environment. only this combined policy with all its difficult analysis and hard choices that it entails will allow america to maintain our technological edge but this legislation makes no choices. it simply authorizes more and more spending. we cannot enhance our long-term competitiveness by mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren. that is precisely what this legislation does. the congressional budget office says that implementing this legislation will cost $85 billion, a 32% increase over the f.y. 2010 baseline, and this will clearly elevate the level of deficit spending for

our country. we are talking about borrowing money from china and other foreign nations to meet the goals of this legislation. it's new spending on top of old creating towering debt like the game of jinga. we are piling even greater burdens on an increasingly unstable system hoping that the whole thing will just fall apart while we're holding the ball. while instead, if we manage to get through this without a total collapse the way our country's going, we will be burying our children in debt and that is not an option we should be advocating and go at the debt with legislation by legislation as we are doing today. there is no prioritization of programs, have restructuring programs that would be expected to be re-authorized in a size

-- in a bill of this size and complexity. there is no safeguards to make sure these funds won't promote foreign competitors. if we finances foreign researchers -- if we finance foreign researchers, it won't help america compete. perhaps if it will go to train foreigners and subsidize companies owned -- not owned by americans, we should remain the america depleats act. creating new federal programs or expanding existing programs should always be done with caution and oversight. establishing new programs, especially, in times of economic downturn -- that means increasing deficit spending which is in itself something that will drag down productivity and economic activity. along with these things, this legislation creates new programs which are necessary and wasteful and which of which some of my colleagues have already pointed out are redundant to existing programs.

all of this while increasing the level of deficit spending. this is not a road map to progress for a better future. it's another well-intended spending program financed by borrowing that will propel america over the economic cliff to which we are headed. over this last year, spending more, borrowing more, taxing more, subsidizing more and running up the level of federal deficit spending at such a record pace has not spurred our economy. it has not caused economic combrothe or reversed the economic crisis and challenge which we find ourselves confronting today. i believe those pushing this legislation are well intended but they're not diligent. diligence would be required and would require prioritization, program restructuring, regulatory relief and tearing down the roadblocks to using the technologies that we already have rather than just

spending more and more. so with that i suggest that there are good parts of this bill. i would have to oppose it. thank you very much. mr. gordon: i yield to dr. baird a minute and a half. the chair: the gentleman from washington is recognized for a minute and a half. mr. baird: thank you, madam chair. i think the best thing for a member of congress can do is serve as a member of the committee. as chairman and ranking member, you have deep respect for them. america competes is about jobs. it is about energy independence. it is about better foreign policy and it is about leaving a cleaner, healthier environment for our children and our grandchildren. contrary to some of the things some of the opponents have said, this is some of the very best investments we can make for our future. in this room today our young americans watching this process, this bill is about

their future. it's about watching they'll have qualified, well-trained scientists and engineers and mathematicians as professors and mentors. it's about whether this country will have the technology to lead the world in the next century and the rest of this century on energy independence. it's about discoveries that will transform lives and transform this nation. i'm particularly proud of the authorization in this work, they produce outstanding work as mrs. biggert said earlier, but i'm also particularly impressed with some of the new programs with the new america competes. if anything this congress does is going to turn around the economy not just for the short-term but for the long-term it is innovations like that which will result from the authorization of the america competes act, arpae and all the other elements. this is critical legislation, absolutely critical for the future strength, national

security, economic health and jobs of our citizens and i urge its passage. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: madam chairman, i have -- reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam chair, i recognize for a minute and a half the gentlelady from texas, mrs. eddie bernice johnson, a member of the sipse and technology committee. the chair: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. for a minute and a half. ms. johnson: thank you very much, madam speaker. i rise in support of h.r. 5116, the america competes act re-authorization. my colleagues and i on the committee of science and technology have held numerous hearings and markups to prepare the legislation that is before us today. it puts national science foundation and department of energy office of science on the

path to double their research and if needed it will prepare thousands of new teachers and provide current teachers with better materials and skills while re-authorizing the teacher scholarship program. it also includes grant programs to put teachers in higher need schools and place teachers in higher need communities with access to laboratory experiences. as women and minorities continue to be under-represented in the sciences, the america competes act includes many provisions that will strengthen diversity in our nation's scientific enterprise. i am pleased during this committee we prohibited the consolidation of programs to certain minority institutions and students understand i applaud the committee for include the potential of women in academic science and engineering act which is important legislation that i sponsored for two congresses. i also applaud many of the other provisions in this legislation that promises to ensure america competes includes all americans.

these provisions will help schools around the nation elevate their math and science programs so they cl achieve the standard exemplified by the school of science, engineering in dallas. this school is rated the best in the nation among high schools, public high schools, and has been that for 10 years. madam speaker, i want to commend -- the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. johnson: ranking member hall and gordon. thank you, i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: how much time is remaining? the chair: the gentleman has 13 1/2 minutes remaining on his time. mr. gordon: thank you, madam chair. i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the chairman of the space and aviation subcommittee, ms. giffords. the chair: the jo from arizona

is recognized for a minute and a half. ms. giffords: thank you. first i'd like to congratulate chairman gordon and ranking member hall for this legislation. three years ago this body recognized the importance that science and technology plays on our 21st century work force. we took action by passing the american competes act of 2007. we heard -- heeded -- heeded the warnings from the national academy's report, rising above the gathering storm, american students were falling behind in science and mathematics and with their falling grades went our ability to remain competitive in our global economy. i offered amendments three years ago to help students from low income but also rural parts of mesh to get the support they need to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and ms. matsui: mick -- mathematics. but we're not through the words yet. today we renew our commitment by maintaining america's leadership by considering this re-authorization. this bipartisan bill is exactly the sort this congress should be

focusing on. it's about the economy, it's about jobs, it's about innovation and it's about preparing for tomorrow. i want to take a moment to mention in particular a component of this legislation which i'm particularly proud to support. earlier this year i introduced the 21st century graduate stem education act which is now incorporated in this legislation. we need to do everything we can to ensure that our students at every level have the best stem education in the world, so they can enter the work force and thrive. the grants created by this grant will help equipped graduate students in the stem fields with a skill and knowledge for careers so they can be successful outside of the traditional educational tract. we need to see more scientists. it's a breakthrough technology -- the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his remaining time. the gentleman from tennessee is

recognized. mr. gordon: i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the chairman of the oversight committee, mr. miller from north carolina. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for a minute and a half. mr. miller: if the next generation of americans is to be as prosperous as ours, we must remain our edge. even before the great recession, the industries that north carolinians long relied upon, textiles, tobacco, furniture, suffered one loss after another. and most of our lost jobs are not coming back. new jobs will either come from science and research or they won't come at all. new technologies create new jobs and america must lead the way in developing new technologies and bringing those technologies to the marketplace. this bill will provide loans to help small businesses keep their current employees and hire more, universities and private companies in my district are already leaders in many emerging

technologies including energy technologies. and we will greatly benefit from the provisions of this bill that will create regional economies around existing areas of expertise or hubs. finally this bill's investment in basic research will create jobs that we cannot now even imagine. on behalf of north carolinians worried about what the future holds for their children, i urge support of this bill and i thank chairman gordon for his tireless work. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam chairman, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to another valued member of our committee, a new but active member, ms. fudge. the chair: the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized for a minute and a half. ms. fudge: thank you. madam chairman, i too congratulate chairman gordon and ranking member hall on this landmark legislation. i am proud to have had the opportunity to work with him on

this critical initiative. i represent cleveland, an area that is rapidly strengthening its science and technologies remainmy. in my district, the cleveland clinic and university hospitals are performing revolutionary biomedical research. research and development efforts are supported by the students and faculty at case western reserve university, one of the leading research universities in the country. also the ohio learning network, a paragon of stem learning, has extendsed education to traditionally under-represented groups and is being modeled in other areas of the country. there are still -- there is still work to be done. collaboration among federal agencies is essential. which is why i incorporated an amendment in committee that would have struck the n.s.f., n.i.h. and the department of education to collaborate in identifying grant challenges in education research and then determine what specificry role each agency should play. this section instructs these agencies to solicit infrut a variety of stake holders in stem

education. those who know best are the stem community. this will ensure that the research performed is relevant and useful. the america competes act draws attention to what we really need to focus on to continue our leadership in innovation. stem education and research and development. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: madam chairman, i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam chair, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the chairman of the new democrats, mr. kind from wisconsin. the chair: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for a minute and a half. mr. kind: thank you, madam chair, and thank my colleague from tennessee for yielding me this time. as one of the co-chairs of the new democrat coalition, madam speaker, i rise in strong support of re-authorization of the america competes act. and the new democratic coalition was strongly hind the creation of american competes in 2007, as we stand with this

re-authorization bill today. i want to commend the leadership of the science committee and all the members for producing this legislation. but especially our good friend from tennessee, chairman gordon, for the vision and the leadership that he has shown on this issue. unfortunately we're going to be losing representative gordon to retirement this year, but i can't think of a more powerful or lasting legacy for any member to leave with than with the creation of the america competes act. what this legislation is about is making sure that the united states of america remains the most innovative and creative nation in the world that we stay on the cutting edge of scientific, medical and technological breakthroughs, that we're making sensible assessments and on work force development areas, especially in those crucial fields of studies such as science, technology, engineering and math. and we have a choice to make today, whether to support the re-authorization bill or not. and watch other nations in the world do this for us. this is based on seminal studies that have occurred previously

through the national academy of science, rising above the gathering storm, or even before that with the john glenn commission before it's too late. so the information's in. the studies are complete. we know what we have to do. and this is one of those fundamental blocks to establish the groundwork for long-term sustainable economic growth. in short, this is about jobs. today, tomorrow and in the future, i encourage re-authorization and yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee. gourd grd madam chair, i yield a minute and a half to the gentlelady from new york, mrs. maloney, the chairman of the joint economic task force. the chair: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for a minute and a half. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i rise in support. this legislation will help to bolster our nation's economic competitiveness by supporting basic research.

the fundamental building block for innovation and making investments in science, technology, engineering and math. the joint economic committee released a report this week looking at the role of basic research in the r&d process. the report highlights the critical role the federal government plays in funding basic research. while the federal government supports about 1/4 of overall r&d, as you can see on this chart, it funds more than half, 57%, of basic research. without federal involvement, basic research would be undeund the private sector can gain on basic research are smaller than the broader benefits to our overall economy. as we recover from the worst recession since the great depression, we have to look under every rock to give ourselves every chance of sparking innovations that will fuel future growth and jobs.

the america competes re-authorization funds the basic research that will drive a new generation of innovation, spawning new technologies and industries and leading to additional growth and jobs. america competes will strengthen our economy by making strategic investments in america's future. i urge a yes vote and applaud the chairman of the committee for his many years of service and his -- the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas. mr. paul: i reserve the balance of my time -- mr. hall: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield 1 1/2 minutes to another valued member of our committee, mr. lujan, from new mexico. the chair: the gentleman from new mexico is recognized for a minute and a half. mr. lujan: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in support of the america competes re-authorization act of 2007 -- 2010. i thank chairman gordon and

running backing member hall for their important work on this bill and all my colleagues on the science and technology for their hard work. during these difficult economic times, it's more important than ever to make sure the united states has the ability to compete globally. that's why this legislation is so sorely needed and which is why i included language in this bill that encourages cooperative agreements between small businesses and our national labs. our national laboratorieare developing new technology that could change the way we generate energy, keep our airports safer, and make our hospitals healthier. my language will make sure this technology gets into a competitive marketplace, to encourage economic development and create jobs right here in america. the competes act also makes key investments in science education, ensuring that our students are prepared for the jobs of the future. for too long there's been a divide that has kept minority students out of these fields. we must close this divide and make sure that this generation of students has the opportunity to be the next generation of scientists, researchers and

investors -- inventors. that's why i included language in this bill to help hispanic institutions and other minority serving institutions. the america competes act will drive innovation, support small business, increase american competitiveness and create jobs and urge my colleagues to support this important bill. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: madam chairman, i recognize congressman bilbray from california for five minutes. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. mr. bilbray: thank you, madam speaker -- madam chairman. i regretfully stand up today in opposition to this bill. it's not because of the major portions of this bill. i want first of all, i want to thank the chairman for getting as much of a bipartisan bill as possible. he worked hard on this bill. the entire years he's been

chair, he's done a lot that many talk about, to make the bipartisan effort. sadly, madam chair, i have to oppose this bill for one major issue and that is this bill does not take the effort to make sure that the billions of dollars in this bill do not go to illegal employers who are creating a crime problem in my district and around the country. all we've asked for is the ability to assure our constituency that none of the tax money that we're putting in this bill, that this effort will be diverted into illegal activities, such as hiring people that are illegal present in the united states. as every member of congress knows, the federal government requires that all federal apartments, including members of congress, use the e-verification system to assure -- at least make the effort to avoid the situation where

federal tax dollars are deemed averted into illegal employment. the united states issued a requirement requiring contractors to use the e-verify system to make sure that those tax dollars don't go to contractors hiring illegal employees. all we wanted in this bill is to include a provision that would allow us to ensure the constituency that the same could be said about the expenditure of billions of dollars. i have to say i really feel -- i really feel remorse for having to stand up now because there's been such a great effort to try to get it across and do the right thing. all i have to say, madam chair, is i hope the chairman who knows how we feel about this is successful in the future as this bill moves forward. and including a provision in this -- in this bill that all employers, all contractors, all

grantees do the right thing and the appropriate thing by using e-verify to make sure that federal funds are not used in illegal activity. and so as we move forward, i would ask that the chairman's mark be looked at an opportunity to include the e-verify requirement, that when we go to conference the e-verify will be looked at as a possibility at that level, and before we impto final adoption that we include e-verify in this, because i think what's happened in the last few weeks with the outrage across this country, both sides being very upset, the major thing they're upset about is that congress is not taking the opportunity to do those little things that common sense and common decency says we should be doing as legislators and addressing the real source of the immigration problem, the illegal immigration, that's the illegal employment. and if we can't even find enough -- require those who are

getting federal grants and federal grantees to play by the -- guaranteees to play by the rules, how do we go to our constituency saying we really do care? so i ask, madam chair, we sadly vote against this bill. even with all its great packages, until the essential part of this is done, and that is requiring that everybody who gets a loan guarantee, everybody who gets a grant, anyone who gives a job out under this bill needs to make sure that it's going to an american or legal resident who has the right under the law to be employed in this country. and until we do that we don't have the right to ask the american people to pay for this bill. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam chair, i yield one minute to mr. lipinski -- dr. lipinski for a

colloquy. the chair: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. lipinski: thank you, madam speaker. section 404 of the bill reorganization the nyse laboratories, including manufacturing and construction research. as you are aware, nist has current research on fire safety. the restructuring of the research lab prevents nist from engaging in this important fire resear. mr. gordon: the gentleman is correct that nist enables safer fire codes and safer equipment for fighters. nothing in this restructuring provision will limit nist from preventing their work. mr. lipinski: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: madam chair, i reserve the balance of my time.

the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i tell my friend from texas that we have no further speakers. mr. hall: i beg your pardon. i didn't understand the chairman. mr. gordon: we have no further speakers. mr. hall: i yield back my time, madam speaker. the chair: the gentleman has yielded back the remainder of his time. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from tennessee yields the balance of his time. all time for general debate has expired. pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. it shall be in order to consider as an original rule -- bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule, the amendment in a nature of a substitute in the rule, modified in the rule, printed in part a, in house report 111-479, the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. no amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute is in order except

those printed in part b of the rule and a amendments en bloc described in section 3 in section 1444. the amendment shall be designated by the designee, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. it provides that the chair of the committee on science and technology or his designee may offer amendments en blocin consisting of amendments printed in part b of the rules committee report not earlier disposed of. amendments en bloc shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for 40 minutes equally divide and controlled by the chair and ranking member . the original proponent of an amendment included in such amendments en bloc shall insert

a statement in the congressional record immediately before disposition of the amendments en bloc. it is now in order to consider amendment number 1 printed in part b of house report 111-479. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. gordon: madam chair, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in part b of house report 111-479 offered by mr. gordon of tennessee. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1344, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon, and a member opposed, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam chair, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gordon: the amendment i'm offering today makes a handful of technical and clarifying changes and a few substantive

additions to the underlying bill. most of the changes were the result of negotiations with our republican colleagues following our full committee markup. we agreed to work out several issues during the markup so let me tell you about these agreements first. mr. neugebauer, who wished to ensure that we were leveraging as much private funds as we could in implementing the noyce teacher scholarship program, i agreed to split the match into two requirements. the result is a small institutions are also able to participate in this critical program to train stem teachers, and the large institutions can more easily raise matched funds, -- raise, match funds or stretch dollars further. there was an agreement between dr. lipinski and mr. inglis. they found a good way to make sure that they would be -- there would not be double dipping into federal funds in order to carry out the prize-winning research. mr. olson requested some changes in the arpa-e language

and we went ahead and agreed to the changes in this amendment. mrs. biggert had some concerns about the energy innovation hubs and wanted to make sure that the consortia -- we made those constructed changes for her. the amendment also included language to clarify the application of existing law which prohibits the use of funding appropriated to programs in the underlying bill for lobbying. i want to thank dr. broun for his passion on this issue and for working with me to make this clarification. finally, this amendment is also -- includes a clarifying change requested by dr. bartlett for one of his own amendments in the committee and on stem internships. it adds one new section to the bill. this section requires the director of nist to submit a report to congress, examine the use of modeling and simulation by small and medium-sized manufacturers. there is great potential in use

of high-performance computing resource by small and medium-sized manufacturers, but their use is relatively limited. this study would look at the current utilization of these resources, examine the existing barriers to their use and make recommendations for addressing these barriers. i want to thank chairman wu, chairman lipinski and congressman garamendi for their work on this issue. now, let me talk about the part of the manager's amendment that i think will be a topic of discussion on both sides of the aisle today. mr. hall rightfully wanted to do something about veterans in this bill. he offered an amendment to the committee that gave veterans preference when applying for any scholarship, fellowship under this bill. and the amendment was happily accepted unanimously in the committee. he also offered an amendment to help enable veterans who want to pursue stem studies. i know mr. hall was trying to do the right thing, but when we read this language we didn't think the amendment actually

helped disabled veterans in the way mr. hall intended. so we had some discussions in the committee, and at the end we decided to accept the amendment as is but continue to work together heading to the floor. staff traded several versions of the language back and forth over the next 10 days. i talked to my staff, mr. hall talked to his staff and unfortunately we could not come up with an agreement on which language would be most helpful to our common goal of helping disabled veterans without causing other unintended consequences. our shared goal is to encourage and incentivize colleges and universities to provide stem programs to disabled veterans and recruit more disabled veterans to those programs. by giving them special consideration in review of proposals when they do. however, we have to be careful not to dilute the notion of special consideration so far that every institution in the country can qualify. if everyone is special, no one

is special. we also want to hold institutions accountable for serving their disabled veterans in the stem programs. if we give them special consideration without holding them accountable, there's no incentivize to actually make sure that veterans get the benefits of the federal grant funds. unfortunately, every sincere effort to probe veteran language that we made was rejected. once again, where is the accountability? how do we know that a single disabled veteran student is benefiting from a federal stem program because the institution has this? we don't. that's the problem with the language. it's unfortunate we could not come to an agreement, but we took mr. hall's latest offer with only small changes and included it in the manager's amendment. i still think we can do so much better for disabled veterans. our language may be improved for mr. hall's language, but it still doesn't go nearly as far as i'd like it to go in holding

institutions accountable. i hope to continue to work with mr. hall to ensure we have in accountability as we move forward. finally, we borrowed language from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to ensure that no funds authorized under this bill can go to child molesters. this is a straightforward amendment incorporating a few suggestionsm and a small number of other changes to make the bill better, and i urge its adoption. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: madam chair woman, i rise to claim time in opposition to this amendment, although i do not intend to oppose it. the chair: without objection. mr. hall: the manager's amendment reflect many things from technical changes, recommendations from outside groups, agreements reached between our side of the aisle and theirs and items that as the majority they're able to

add unilaterally. i want to thank the chairman for working with our members on agreed upon changes between the full committee markup and now, including the nonfederal matching requirements under the noyce scholarship program, clarifying language on internships programs and nist pilot program. reinstating the cap on the maximum number of arpa-e employees and instituting a prohibition of lobbying in the act. i only wish we could have continued the good open dialogue this past week, particularly with our concerns. i remain disappointed that the veterans with disabilities language that was agreed to unanimously by voice vote has been substantially changed. i do strongly feel the language in this amendment greatly

weakens the intent of the underlying billism also want to express my concern about the amendment's modification of language in the loan guarantee program, specifically, it strikes language directing the attorney general to take appropriate actions to collect unpaid principal and interest on loans that are in default. it's key to protecting taxpayers for bad loans. given the problems the past couple of years, i'm concerned with the removal of this very standard provision, they could be setting the loan program up for guaranteed failure. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: the gentlelady -- or chairman, madam chairman, i yield two minutes to the

gentlelady from california, a very active member of our committee and a champion for women and minorities, ms. woolsey. the chair: the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. woolsey: madam chair, i rise today in strong support of h.r. 5116, the american compete -- the america competes re-authorization act. i want to commend chairman gordon for his hard work in bringing this bipartisan bill to the floor and i want to thank ranking member hall for his help and his cooperation. i believe in science and i believe that with enough support our scientists can solve almost any problem put in front of them. but madam chairwoman at the end of the day this bill is about jobs. investments in basic and applied research, green manufacturing jobs, high risk, high reward technologies that lay the ground work for clean

energy economy and create thousands of new jobs in the united states of america. jobs that we will have a work force prepared to fill because a center priest of this effort encourages more girls and unrepresented minorities to become involved in science, technology, engineering and math, stem, education, at the k through 12, undergraduate and graduate level. so then those students will be able to choose a stem career. i'm pleased that this bill includes stem provisions because without bringing women and minorities into the work forest with high tech engineering and math education, we won't have the work force we need to compete worldwide. so madam chairwoman, h r. 5116 supports these innovations that will not only change the way to

generate energy, but will also leave a cleaner and healthier world for our children and for our grandchildren. so i urge my colleagues, join me in supporting chairman gordon and ranking member hall in green jobs by voting for h.r. 5116. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield two minutes to mr. peters of michigan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. peters: i rise today in support of the america competes act this will enhance our nation's competitiveness, bolster research and science education and support the needs of small businesses in america's 21st century manufacturing sector. small businesses have created nearly two out of three new jobs in our country in the past 15 years. small businesses will fuel our economic growth and small and

mid-sized manufacturers are particularly important to creating substantial job growth. manufacturing accounts for more than half of u.s. exportsed on provides millions of people with well 46 paying jobs. a healthy manufacturing base is critical to the american middle class and must be a key component of our economic security. in order to maintain competitiveness in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, manufacturers must adapt to this this act does that by providing support to a highly important initiative that provides $10.5 billion in sales per year. it requires matching investments from states and small businesses but as a long

and deep recession continues to take its toll, states like michigan and many businesses have found it increasingly difficult to continue to meet the cost share requirements to participate in the program. the competes act reduce this is burden to allow struggling businesses to remain active in the program. reducing small business cost and continuing an effort proven to create jobs makes good sense. i'm grateful to my friend, congressman ehlers, for working with me on this bipartisan idea and to chairman gordon, ranking member hall and chairman wu and ranking member smith on the subcommittee who supported including m.e.p. support in the final bill. in addition to supporting m.e.p., compete supports broad manufacturing initiatives such as providing new loan guarantees to provide access to capital. i hope my colleagues join me in supporting this bipartisan legislation that strengthens american manufacturing and competitiveness.

i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i continue to reserve. the chair: the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. hin hoe safment the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. hinojosa: i rise today to urge my colleagues to support h.r. 5116, the america competes act. chairman gordon, i commend you and the members of the house science and technology committee for bringing this legislation to the floor. more than ever, our nation must invest in the scientific and technological building blocks that bolster american competitiveness in the 21st century global economy. the america competes reauthorization act of 2010 achieves this and more by fostering innovation, supporting manufacturers and industry, preparing a stem work force and creating jobs. i want to recognize

representatives eddie bernice johnson, ben ray lujan, sylvester reyes, co-chair of the diversity and innovation caucus and other members of the caucus for their leadership in enhans -- enhancing diversity issues in this bill. this represents a great leap forward in serving the underrepresented minorities and women in the stem fields. as subcommittee chairman for higher education, lifelong learning and competitiveness, i'm pleased that america competes will more fully integrate our nation's minority serving institutions into these partnerships. this bill complements our work on student aid and fiscal responsibility act and our efforts to improve science and math late lith rahcy in public schools. in 2007, i introduced a partnership known as pals because our high schools needed

to be properly equipped to provide low income and minority students with laboratory experiences that will foster their talents and lifelong interest in science. there's no doubt we must redouble our efforts to engage our young people in stem education in their early years. i applaud chairman gordon and the committee for including this program in h.r. 5116. i urge my colleagues to support the america competes act. our nation's future competitiveness depends on it. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the -- the chair: the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield myself such time as i may consume and i want to inform my friend, mr. hall, i share his interest in finding a way to run down any defaults and collect those. we were told our committee didn't have jurisdiction to require the attorney general to do that. let us continue to work

together to find ways to accomplish what we both want to do. and i have no further speakers, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman reserves. mr. hall: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the antidepressant offered by the gentleman from tennessee. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed. to does the gentleman ask for a recorded vote? pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. gordon: i ask unanimous consent to have amendments en

bloc at the desk. the clerk: amendments en bloc number one, offered by mr. gordon of tennessee, consisting of amendments three, four, five, 11, 18, 19, 20, 25, 27, 39, and 47, printed in part b of house report 111-479. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house -- the chair: pursuant to house registration lution 14474, the chair yeck nices the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: let me say this is a block of amendments that have been well scrutinized by the majority, we feel they're good amendments and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i rise in opposition to the en bloc amendments before us, though i do not intend to oppose. the all 11 of the amendments are noncontroversial and we are

generally supportive. i will not oppose these and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i have no further speakers. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i yield back the balance of my time. mr. gordon: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question son the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, the amendment is agreed. to -- is agreed. amendment number two will not be offered at this time. it's now in order to consider amendment number six printed in part b of house report 111-479. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition?

mr. hall: mr. chairman, i will act as his designee. mr. chairman, i rise to support this amendment this amendment would -- the chair: the gentleman will suspend. the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: part b, amendment number six, printed in house report 111-479, offered by mr. hall of texas. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas and a member opposed each will control five minutes. mr. hall: i rise to support this amendment. this amendment would strike title five of this bill which creates bigger government and calls for more spending that goes well beyond research and development. in particular, i want to note our strong objection to the regional innovations clusters program created by title 5.

not only does it fund activity well beyond r&d. it's so loosely written virtually any type of organization would be able to undertake any type of activity. the bill would reduce funding available for high priority r&d programs with the department of commerce such as those at nist. i strongly support this amendment and urge its adoption and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i rise in opposition to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gordon: mr. chairman, dr. broun is a valued member of our committee, we have had a number of discussions as he's been very active. we agree on some things. we don't agree on others. we compromise on some. this is one we are not able to come to agreement on.

all the provisions, what this would do, this would strike the title 5 of this bill. all provisions in title 5 are aimed at looking at creating real world economic value for research and development. title 5 includes three important provisions to help spur innovation in this country. it creates a loan guarantee program at the department of commerce for small and medium-sized manufacturers psyching to innovate and retool for the 21st century to remain globally competitive. it establishes an office of enterprise at the department of commerce to help turn good ideas into new businesses leading to economic growth and job creation and finally it establishes a regional innovation program at the department of commerce to empower local communities to leverage regional strength. this is a good bill but this amendment would take away from the bill and i reserve the balance of my time.

. mr. hall: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from texas. the gentleman reserves. mr. hall: mr. chairman, i would like to support this amendment. the amendment would simply strike title 5 of this will bill, which creates bigger government and calls for more spending. and at this time, i yield back. the chair: the question is on

the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the nos have it. mr. hall: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 7 printed in part b of house report 111-479. for what purpose does -- the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. gordon: i rise as the designee for mr. boswell and mr. michaud and have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. gordon of tennessee. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1344, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. gordon: this amendment has been before the public and would ensure that the biomass technological systems and related courses are included in the list that would be encompassed by the energy systems, science, engineering program at the department of energy. and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i rise to claim time in opposition of this amendment, although i do not intend to oppose it. i have no objection to this amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: mr. chair, i yield such time as he may consume to the the gentleman from iowa, mr. boswell, the author of this very good amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. boswell: i hope i convinced the ranking member.

i appreciate your hard work. you have been doing excellent work for all of us, for our country and i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the chair: without objection. mr. boswell: this amendment provides for stem education that will move our nation forward. this is the best investment we can make for the quality of life for all americans. this legislation will bring greater innovations and to our nation's economic vitality. this amendment is very simple would offer a modification. this amendment ensures that the department would expand energy-related courses that biomass technology systems be utilized. it will guarantee that the scholarship programs offered under this program will be used by students moving forward in

the study of biomass technology systems. it is an important part of our economy. there are important biofuels and ending our dependence on foreign oil. however, ethanol is just one piece of the larger puzzle. we are seeing alternative fuels and production that can be used for maximum use. as leaders in agriculture, we have access to resources and expertise to produce advanced biofuels, biopower and bioproducts. moving forward we will study the production of biomass and produce plants that maximize the best return possible when harnessed. supporting this amendment will ensure that this technology can

expand and will help students, teachers and scientists and move forward with this innovation and bring us closer as we look at alternative sources. i urge my colleagues to vote on behalf of students, innovation and energy independence. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: it's a good amendment and i suggest its approval. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to.

the speaker pro tempore: amendment number 8 printed in house report 111-479. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. gordon: i rise as designee for mr. davis and i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: part b, amendment number 8 printed in house report 111-479 offered by mr. gordon of tennessee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon and member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. danny davis' amendment will ensure the students enrolled in two-year certificate, associate or baccalaureate programs would also call for a report on agency approaches to increase minority participation in stem careers. this has been well reviewed. this is a good amendment. and i would recommend it for passage. and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i rise to claim time in opposition of this amendment. i'm not sure that we need the -- to fund ever another study. this would look at two-year colleges. but i have a bigger concern with

the difficulty of nsf to report data. the universities collect this data and it's my understanding there would be various issues with even having them do what this amendment proposes. mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: mr. chair, i yield to the author of this bill, mr. davis. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: i thank chairman gordon and ranking member hall of the science and technology committee for their work to develop and promote policies to strengthen our nation's competitiveness in stem. in particular, i applaud the chairman for his leadership in broadening the participation of individuals and institutions that are underrepresented in stem. you and your staff actively engaged with me and other

members of the congressional black caucus to listen and address our concerns and we appreciate that. i also want to recognize and thank dalia on your staff for sharing her expertise and being responsive. this includes multiple provisions that respond to concerns raised by multiple reports. stem experts and members of the congress that strongly efforts to meet the growing demand for u.s. workers with stem skills and to improving american competitiveness globally. the amendment that i offer along with my colleagues congressmen griff, honda and killedee build upon the provisions of the bill to increase access of minority students to end the capacity of minority institutions to provide stem opportunities. i am pleased that this amendment

is supported by multiple higher education including the american association of community colleges and hispanic colleges and universities, the institute for higher education policy, national association for equal opportunity in higher education, the presidents and chancellors, the thurgood marshall college fund and the negro united college fund. i thank the chairman and ranking member for their responsiveness and the tremendous work they have done on behalf of all americans to make us the most competitive nation that we could possibly be. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and

the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 10 printed in part b of house report 111-479. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition? >> i have an amendment. the clerk: part b, amendment number 10 printed in house report 111-479 offered by mr. markey of massachusetts. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1344, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. markey and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. markey: thank you very much. the amendment i'm offering today along with the gentlelady from california, ms. capps would add a new r&d program specifically focused on increasing our nation's capacity to turn new innovations into new jobs, a

clean energy consortium would be regionly based selected by the secretary of energy through a competitive process and include research universities, national labs, industry and other state and nongovernmental organizations with expertise in clean energy development. moving to commercialize industry is critical for our ability to compete for jobs in china and india. the faster we bring clean energy technologies to market, the faster we end our addiction to foreign oil from the middle east. our amendment will connect professors with producers, inventors with investors to move energy innovation out of the lab and into the factory. unlike research, biotech and defense, this must break into a deeply entrenched market at a

competitive cost in order to be successful. we need policies that can help overcome the valley of death where great ideas frequently stall before they have reached the critical proof of concept stage. that's what we do in this amendment. we have worked with business, universities and venture capital groups in developing this legislation. it has received endorsements from the national venture capital association. the clean economy network. the companies across this country that want to focus on this energy sector create millions of new jobs want this as part of the plan that we put together to make sure that it's not just research, it's research that turns into jobs rapidly in our country. at this point, i would like to reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas.

mr. hall: i rise time to claim time in opposition to this amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hall: this amendment creates a new program to pursue commercialization of clean energy technologies. this is not necessarily the problem. we all agree that clean energy technologies are worth pursuing. the problem, however, is that the clean energy technology program created by this amendment is duplicative of another new program in the bill, the energy innovation hubs program and i'm opposed to the hubs program because it is duplicative of r&d activities. the amendment duplicates a program that is already duplicative itself. these programs are expensive and expand the bureaucracy which is already too large. we need to be streamlining d.o.d.'s r&d programs, not

creating new ones. i oppose this amendment. i reserve. mr. markey: how much time is remaining? the chair: three minutes remaining and the gentleman from tax as has four minutes -- texas has four minutes remaining. mr. markey: at this point, i yield to myself for three additional seconds. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. markey: this commercialization program complements, strong long-term support for basic and applied research is critical to developing the scientific breakthroughs to meet our energy challenges. but additional focus on commercialization will ensure that there is a pathway to the market. it creates the link between r&d and economic development and job creation. without it, i do not believe america can win in this sector. and i reserve the balance of my

time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. markey: i yield one minute to the gentlelady, mrs. capps. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. capps: thank you, mr. gordon, for your work on this bill and i want to thank mr. markey for your leadership on clean energy issues. rise in support of the markey-capps amendment included in our legislation. this would complement the clean energy advancement goals of the america competes act by creating a regional clean energy consortium program. this will bring together networks of research universities, labs and others to accelerate the commercialization of new clean energy technology. it will stimulate clean energy development and create jobs in

places like the coast of california which i represent. the green coast g.c.i.z., in my district is built on this model and is eager to expand further into the clean energy sector. this will support the efforts to create jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment and i yield back to the chairman. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i reserve. mr. markey: could the chair inform us of how much time is left on either side? the chair: the gentleman has 1 1/2 minutes, the gentleman from texas has 4 1/2 minutes. mr. markey: would it be possible for me to ask the gentleman from texas to draw down his time a little more before we come to the end of the speakers on the democratic side? the chair: the gentleman from texas.

mr. hall: mr. chairman, the clean energy consortia language, quote, support collaborative cross discipline in development areas not served by the private sector in order to accelerate the innovation of clean energy technology. that's clearly dubely kative, i've stated that many my opening remarks. it supports, quote, multidisciplinary collaborative reserge and advanced energy technologies in areas not served by the private sector. i think this is probably the most operative language for the two programs. i do detect a difference. i reserve the balance of my time, sir.

the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. markey: mr. chairman, i yield 30 seconds to the chairman of the science committee, mr. gordon. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gordon: as i said earlier in the day, i don't want to trade america's dependency on foreign oil for america's dependency on foreign technology. for us to get energy dependence, there's a variety of ways to go about it. i support mr. markey's amendment and i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. markey: i'll be the final speaker on my side. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. mar -- the gentleman has yielded back. mr. markey: excuse me. i apologize to you.

the gentlelady from wisconsin requested 30 seconds of our time and i don't know, mr. chairman, procedurally what is the proper way of going if by annapolis consent could ask the -- the minority to be -- mr. hall: would it be helpful if i he re-claim my time? mr. markey: that would be great. mr. hall: i reclaim my time and reserve the balance of my time. mr. markey: i thank the gentleman and i yield 30 seconds to the gentlelady from wisconsin. >> i support this amendment and this bill. i want to speak on the previous amendment that passed en bloc which included a provision for which i'm responsible that included the great lakes. while the great lakes are not just mere lakes, they're inland seas and they contain the

greatest source of fresh water on earth and despite their size, they're extremely vulnerable, the stressors from environmental pollution, ecological alterations and climate change. in addition to that, they're a great source of economic development and with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i would observe -- i inquire of mr. markey if he has other speakers. mr. markey: i am now the last speaker. mr. hall: then i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. mr. markey: i am going to reserve the balance of my time pending the completion of the -- the chair: the gentleman from texas has the right to close. mr. markey: the gentleman from texas has the right to close? then let me -- how much time does the gentleman from texas have remaining? the chair: the gentleman has three minutes. mr. markey: i think i have 30 seconds remaining? the chair: the gentleman has 45

seconds. mr. markey: i would ask the gentleman from texas if he could come down a little bit closer to one minute and perhaps we could complete the debate process in that very succinct fashion at the conclusion of the discussion. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i don't have a long closing remark, probably not over 30 seconds or a minute. i reserve my time. mr. markey: ok, great. i yield myself the balance of my time. again, it's just to make this point. that we must find a way in our country to have a plan in china, on monday, they decide to do something, on friday it starts to happen. we need a plan. we need a plan to put together our inventors and our investors. we need a plan that puts together our professors with

our producers. we need to find a way in which we telescope the time frame it takes to create jobs in solar, wind, and all of these new industries that have the potential of creating two million new jobs in our country or millions of jobs in china. that's our choice. and if we don't take this opportunity, then young americans are going to wonder in a few more years, why we didn't put together a plan. that's what this amendment is. it's a pilot project. but it's one that will then have to be modeled in area after area around our country to ensure that we move fast to capture this renewable energy revolution that is -- that is very rapidly going to overtake this planet in the same way the dot com revolution did in the 1990's. vote yes on the markey-capps amendment. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. chairman, i continue to oppose the

amendment. it's duplicative of several other programs and i urge my colleagues to oppose it. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question son the amendment offered by the gentleman from massachusetts. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from massachusetts will be postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 12 printed in parking lot b of house report 111-479. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. miller: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: part d of house report 111-479, offered by mr. george miller of california. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 13474, the gentleman from california, mr. miller and a member opposed each will control five minutes.

the gentleman from california is recognize. mr. miller: i yield myself three minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. miller: in much of the history of the united states, certainly the most recent history of the united states, we have built our economy on the backs of the best and brightest this country has to offer, to go to research universities and other universities and develop grants from federal agencies for the national science foundation, n.i.h. and other agencies to do the research necessary to drive basic discovery and to drive from that discovery innovation and from that innovation economic growth and to serve this economy and serve this nation very, very well over the last 50 years. we have a problem here. we have a situation where the best and the brightest people among the most talented, a select group of people, the post-doctoral individual, people who have had their master's degree and ph.d.s in sciences and engineers and

mathematics and a whole range of fields participate in that research. in many instances they write the grants for that research. the grants are awarded to universities based on their work. those grants provide for escalators so the principal investigator and the post-doc he hire, those bright graduates of our university system to run the lab, do the research to assist that individual that they be provided for. and yet we find out that in many instances, universities are withholding informs that these students have an absolute right under state law to have and that right is to understand how they are paid and the availability of money in these grants for their increases. most of these grants, the federal institutions and others require thattest taka lators be built into. the universities require when the post-docs and principal investigators write these grants to submit to the federal

government and the agencies that they include an escalators. what do the universities do, in the case of university of california berkley, they take 53% in overhead charges. on a $1 million grant they get an additional $500,000 to administer that grant. they take that chair of thest ta kate lohr -- escalators for themselves but don't pass it on to the brilliant young people who are also now, because they postponed having a family, and buying a home, they now become among the lowest paid people in the re. all this amendment says is that they're entitled to the information under the law that the university should have to provide it. the university of california has been telling these post-docs and telling the congress of the united states for over a year that they would provide this information and they have failed to do that. so what we're saying is that these students are entitled to the information.

it creates no new light, creates nothing new in collective bargaining. this is not the purpose. the purpose is, the information that they're entitled to under the law, this is really about the very contracts the yufrlte is administers. a year later, after requests by both members of congress and the post-doctorate graduates, they're told that the information is not available. if the information isn't available, it raises questions about the overhead, the $850 million that the university of california took for the purposes of administering these grants. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hall: under the miller amendment, any public university receiving funds under this bill would be required to maintain a, quote, information policy, unquote,

wherein they would have to produce any documents or information that a union requests within 15 days or face the threat of losing federal funding. additionally, it places a bureaucrat at a grant awarding agency, say the national science foundation, in charge of determining whether a union was entitled under state or labor law, local labor law, to the information it requested and whether the university should lose federal dollars because it has not given to the union every bit of information it asked for. should n.s.f. be determining whether a university is fulfilling its obligation under state and local labor laws? i ask that question. also, aloe the -- although the amendment applies to all schools receiving grants under this bill, the bottom line, mr. speaker is that this is a political issue, specific to one university, the university of california, it's my understanding that the university of california has been negotiating a contract with the united auto workers for some time.

these negotiations are completely a function of california state law, they have nothing to do with the federal government. rather than attempting to exercise any right or remedy under state law, the u.a.w. has chose ton involve my friends on the other side in threatening the university with federal dollars to buckle to the union's demands. this is all i have to say about this. i find this amendment troubling and i urge its defeat. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. miller: mr. speaker, members of the house this has nothing to do with labor law. the question is whether the post-doctorate employees of the university who are involved in running these very sophisticated labs and experiments and research, whether or not they get the information that they're entitled to under the law. .

if these young people are not able to provide for themselves, we are going to take talented people and leave the scientific field. they will get these grants because they are the best grants. they were peer reviewed. this is a science worth pursuing in the interest of this country in a whole range of fields, whether space, energy or food, whatever it is. that's the point. and yet these people among the lowest-paid people in the country with the most education, the most talent. all we're saying is give them the information so they can see if there is any restriction of passing through a portion or whatever they agree to of the escalateors built in. . the graduate students not

entitle todd that information, it's not fair and will be discouraging to extremely talented people that we placed a bet on. this legislation places a bet on the intellectual talent and curiousity and the skills of these individuals to drive the next generation of innovation, to drive the next generation of economic growth, to drive the next generation of discovery. that's what this is about. that's what it should be about. but we can't do that by mistreating the very talent pool that is so critical to our success. this is just a simple request for information. it does not provide any additional rights to anyone that don't exist today. and i think it's time that we recognize the needs of these individuals, of their families, if we're go to go retain them in the scientific endeavor of which they've spent most of their lives pursuing and they are very

accomplished at this and vital asset to this nation. and i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. and i want to thank the chairman of the committee for his support of this legislation. hall hail reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is out of time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california -- mr. miller: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: the ayes have it. pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed.

it is now in order to consider amendment number 13 printed in part b of house report 111-479. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the clerk: part b amendment number 13 printed in house report 111-479 offered by mr. reyes of texas. the chair: the gentleman from texas, mr. reyes and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes mr. reyes. mr. reyes: i urge my colleagues to support the america competes authorization act of 2010 and the reyes-connelly amendment. i want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly and i thank chairman gordon and ranking member hall and their staffs on the science

and technology committee for their hard work on the america competes legislation. this legislation is vital to our nation's long-term competitiveness. this noncontroversial amendment to this legislation will accomplish two goals. first, it would require the science, technology, engineering and math coordinating committee under the office of science and technology policy to describe in their five-year strategic plan the approaches that each stem agency will take to conduct outreach designed to promote widespread public understanding of career opportunities in stem fields. second, the amendment requires the establishment in the maintenance of a publicly accessible online data base or a stem.gov, a federally sponsored stem education programs. stem.gov would be a

one-stop-shop where students, teachers and researchers would be able to access information on all of the opportunities available in stem fields. all stem programs are listed in different places online with different programs. and this amendment would simply consolidate the information for easier access in one location. mr. chairman, it is important that we increase awareness of all the availablopportunities in stem fields and that is exactly what this amendment does. to that end, i would urge all my colleagues to vote yes for the reyes-connolly amendment and yes on the final passage of this legislation. your vote will go a long way in showing americans that congress is serious about making america more competitive now and in the future. with that, i resevere the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman

reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i rise to claim time in opposition although i do not oppose it. i have no opposition nor objection to this amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. reyes: i would yield such time as he may consume to mr. connolly of virginia. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. connolly: thank you, mr. speaker. let me start by thanking my colleagues for this important legislation, both the chairman and ranking member. as the co-chair of diversity and innovation caucus, my colleague from texas has been a champion for stem education particularly in our underrepresented communities. chairman gordon and members of the science and technology committee have shown leadership on this issue as well. our amendment requires the new stem coordinating committee created in this legislation to work with each agency under its

jurisdiction to promote public awareness of public opportunities in the stem fields particularly within the federal workforce. we have a hard time filling position in the science, technology and engineering and math fields and i believe part of the trouble is that one, people don't know they're out there and two, they don't realize careers are available in public service. clearly we can do better. our amendment calls for new outreach strategies to women, latinos, african americans, native americans and other students from other underrepresented communities in the federal workforce. even in minority-majority like prince william county and fairfax county are working hard to make sure it reflects the diversity of our student body. it would require the stem coordinating committee to create and maintain an online searchable data base for all stem education programs that benefits students, teachers and general public. we are providing tremendous opportunities but more people need to know about them and be

excited about them for them to be successful. my experience has showed me that investments in education of our children attracts families and jobs. the schools and communities in my district have made significant investments in the stem programs whether thomas jefferson high school in fairfax or the new school of innovation park in prince william county. that is why fortune 500 companies have brought companies to northern virginia and we have the highest concentration of technology-related jobs in the united states, half in northern virginia. this bill will support those local efforts and better position our region and our nation to be a leader in the global economy. i join my colleague from texas and urge my colleagues to support this important amendment. and i yield to the distinguished manager. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his

time. the gentleman from texas. mr. reyes: i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. mr. hall: could i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. gordon: i have amendments enblock at the desk. the clerk: amendments enblock, number 2 offered by mr. gordon of tennessee consisting of amendments 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 35, 42, 43, 49, 23, 24, 46, 48

and 9 printed in part b of house report 111-479. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1344, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon, the gentleman from texas, mr. hall each will have 20 minutes. mr. gordon: this a good amendment and i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california, ms. sanchez. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. chairman, for the time allotted and what a wonderful day and i believe it's going to really bring our whole nation out. today, we face so many mounting global challenges, international security, revising the global economy, health, environment, wars going on and american leadership in response to these challenges depends on national policies such as the legislation we're debating today. the american competes act

strengthens stem education in order to prepare our future workforce to excel and exceed in an international economy. future generation's ability to address 21st century global matters efficiently and effectively will depend on their preparation and responsiveness to international affairs. today our schools lack some of the tools necessary to enhance united states' competitiveness. essentials to our economy and really to our international success. and so i firmly believe that our nation's leadership role in innovation depends on the education we provide in today's classrooms. in fact, one of my top legislative priorities is h.r. 3359, u.s. and world education act. it has many of the types of things that this bill has. to this end, the amendment that i'm offering today would include the membership of elementary school and secondary school administrative associations to

be part of the president's advisory committee on stem education. my amendment would add language to include the expertise of kindergarten through 12th grade, school principals and administrators to the president's advisory committee provided under section 302. the amendment will strengthen section 302 by ensuring the valuable contributions if for those who are in the system, those administering that to bring back their ideas and tell us what is going on because evidence suggest that kids lose an interest in stem in those grade levels. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. thank you, mr. chairman. and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i rise in opposition to the en bloc amendments.