Date: 2005-07-12
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman very much for yielding me this time. And I must say that never have I seen a resolution that demonstrates so completely the lack of understanding by the other side of what is necessary to maintain and improve Americas competitiveness in the world economy. They go through all of their whereases. but when they get to the therefores. this resolution does nothing. does nothing. They ignore what those people who are on the cutting edge of trying to improve Americas competitiveness. those companies that are on the cutting edge of competing in a world economy. their recommendations. one of the first of which is to fully fund No Child Left Behind. They are $40 billion behind the curve. But that is what the American Electronics Association says should be done first and foremost in education. Improve math and science teaching. you do nothing to improve math and science teaching. They go on to say support research and development. The permanent. the permanent R&D tax credit. not the yeartoyear funding that you provide. but the permanent. so companies can count on this. can make their economic decisions. can make their financial decisions. Improve the business climate. the stock options. which your side failed to provide for. Stop having the raids on the patent and trademark offices of the United States Government to fund the general fund. The fact of the matter is that this provides nothing. provides nothing that the industries that are on the cutting edge identify as their most important objectives. their most important priorities. and that is to provide for a dramatic and sustained improved investment in education. a dramatic and sustained improvement in the R&D of this country. nondefense related. basic R&D on a permanent basis. something you have not done in 6 years. And also they recommend. after doubling the National Science Foundation. a sustained effort at doubling the National Science Foundation. You thought it was a onetime target. and now you are cutting. You thought sequencing the human genome was a onetime event. That is the beginning. not the end of the story. That is the beginning. is the doubling of the National Science Foundation. then maintaining it. What we are talking about and what the companies have constantly recommended to us is a sustained effort and investment in education. in innovation. in health care. Universal access to health care. universal access to affordable health care. something not discussed in this resolution. something not done in the 6 years. More people are without health care now than in the 5 years that this administration has been in office. This resolution so completely misses the mark that we wonder why we would spend an hour of our time on the floor dealing with this when there are such important items. The problem is that the other side of the aisle already voted for a budget that does not make the R&D tax credit permanent. voted for a budget that cuts higher education. voted for a budget that cuts elementary secondary education. A budget that does not even get close to funding No Child Left Behind. as. again. the companies who are out there competing. not the political rhetoric on the floor. but what they have made after years of discussion. It does not even get close to an immigration policy that allows our universities to continue to attract the highly skilled students that we were before 9/ 11. That is not working. Those young people now are going to India. They are going to China. They are going to France. They are going to Germany. The are going to England. and they are not coming to the United Stats because this administration failed to take that action. Finally. the protection of our intellectual properties. The protection of our intellectual properties is so terribly important. We continue to see them hijacked on a daily basis from the automotive industry. to the film industry. to the music industry. to the computer industry. and the effort has not yet been made. That is the report on what has happened over the last 4 or 5 years in this country. That is the report of what this Republicanled Congress has done. And what does the Republioanled Congress do? They give us a resolution with a lot of "whereases." a lot of "whereases." No action. just "whereases."