senator feinstein as well as senator murphy as well as senator schatz, we all worked together last week and got a result. as i said at the beginning, senators shouldn't get a pat on the back for doing what we're supposed to do any more than boy scouts should get a merit badge for telling the truth, but we have done what we are supposed to do. it's an encouraging sign. i hope it sets a precedent. bipartisan majorities in congress have for several years now appropriated record levels of taxpayer dollars f government-sponsored research, science, and technology. this hasn't always been noticed. president trump has signed two of these appropriations bills, and i want to suggest that the president include government-sponsored research science and technology as part of his america first agenda. a principal reason the united states produces 24% of all the money in the world for just 5% of the people -- that's us -- is the extraordinary concentration of brainpower in the united states supported by federal dollars through our national institutes of health, our national laboratories, the national science foundation, and other agencies. senator gardner of colorado dropped