Date: 2006-02-15
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I am claiming this time on behalf of myself and other colleagues who will be joining me shortly to talk about what really has made America such an economic power in the world and such a leader in both economics and in innovation. and that is in the 1960s when President Kennedy made the case to send a person to the Moon and to bring that person back safely. it was more than .a moon shot. It was an expression of optimism about the talent in this country and about the resources in this country. In the process of sendingthat individual to the Moon and back. we also built a great infrastructure. We built a great infrastructure that consisted of one of the great publicprivate partnerships in the history of the world. a partnership between our academic institutions. our research institutions. the private sector. .and the U.S. Government. In putting that partnership together. we created both the physical resources to create the rocket ships and the infrastructure at NASA. and also the intellectual basis and foundation to make the discoveries necessary. That is where America has been for the last 50 years. It has ridden out on the point of scientific discovery. of the discovery of knowledge. the acquisition of knowledge. and in the resulting innovation. in the resulting economic growth and the world leadership in those areas. It has served this country well. It has made it the richest country in the world. It has made it the strongest country in the world because of that innovation. because of that scientific discovery. Some of that was done through the National Science Foundations. Some of that was done through the National Institutes of Health. the National Institutes of Medicine. in conjunction with other research facilities and with the private sector. It was very interesting as the Demo. crats started to consider the need for reinvestment in Americas innovation infrastructure. and we thought about what would it mean at this time to push ahead for the next generation of innovation. the next generation of innovators. the next generation of manufacturing jobs in this country. the next generation of other jobs in this country and the economic growth that could continue to drive the American standard of living for Americas families. As we talked to those who had been so very successful in the world of technology and biotechnology and venture capitalists who have gone forth to try and fund these bright young people arid their ideas. those people who today are the CEOs and the presidents and the founders of some of the most successful companies in the history of the world. American companies in the technology field and the biotech field. it is interesting that all of them fully understood that they were the inheritors. they were the inheritors of that publicprivate partnership. of that investment that was made in the scientific discovery. that investment that was made in new young mathematicians and scientists and engineers. the fact that this country decided that it was important enough for our national security. for our. economic security. that we would fully pa: peoples way with fellowships so they could spend their full time in the quest -of that new knowledge. those skills. those talents. and achieved their Ph.D.s and other advanced degrees in math. science. and engineering. All of these people today recognize that when they were starting their companies in the garages of California. in the" small business parks of New Jersey. in the small business parks and the university research labs across this country. they were the inheritors of that investment made by this Nation. They also told us in these meetings that they felt in that publicprivate partnership the public side had been lagging. the public side had not been keeping up with the kind of investments that were going to be necessary if we in fact were going to have longterm. highrisk. highreward research taking place in this country. the kind of research that does lead you to the next generation of innovation. to" the next generation of jobs and economic growth and world leadership. that we need to reinvest in that. They talked about how we doubled and this Congress made a decision on a bipartisan basis to double the budget of NIH. But they also made it clear that the doubling of the budget wasnt simply a onetime target. it was the beginning. of the process at the National Institutes of Health. at the National Institutes of Medicine. They also noted when we decided to double the budgets at the National Institutes of Health. we did it at a cost to the physical sciences. that the physical sciences also had been lagging. It is interesting we see after now having achieved the bipartisan goal of doubling the budget of the National Institutes of Health. we see in the Presidents most recent submission a diminishment. a cutting of that budget of the National Institutes of Health while the President is talking about increasing the physical sciences. the budgets of the National Science Foundation and the other governmental research. This cannot be a robPetertopayPaul effort. It cannot be that. This cannot be done by robbing the physical sciences to help the life sciences or robbing the life sciences to help the physical sciences. A great country must make advances in scientific discovery in all of these fields. and clearly. clearly. that needs to be done if we are going to attract private capital to partner up with the Federal dollars in the basic researches across the agencies of this country. We also talked with them about what would be the driver of much of the new innovation. what would give them a task which would generate new scientific discovery and innovation. and many of them said we have got to deal with the energy problem in this country. The technology is a big part of America becoming more energy independent and trying to achieve a sense of energy independence over the next 10 years. in alternative fuels. in alternative technologies. in alternative energy sources. rather than simply relying on the fossil fuel policy of the current administration and the current budget of this country. Those kinds of investments in energy. They also thought we should try.to recreate a longterm. highrisk. highreward research facility within the Department of Energy so people could go out on the edge again of the kind of knowledge that had to be acquired if we are going to achieve the goal of energy independence. But. once again. you dont do it on a nickelanddime policy. You have to make a sustained major commitment. When you double the budget of the National Institutes of Health and you are looking for the kind of research that is so critical to preventative medicine. to dealing with the new communicable diseases that are traveling around the world and the health care of this. country. you have to make a sustained investment. If you are going to do it in the physical sciences. you have to make a sustained investment. So that is what my colleagues and I would like to talk about. how America turns to the next generation and provides them the promise and investment in their talents. their skills. and their future: We think we can do that by looking at what has led tothis American model of success. We will also talk about the fact that this model is under challenge from countries in Asia. from India. from China. from Korea. from Japan. from Taiwan. that the idea that America is number one. the position we hold in the world today. in innovation. in Nobel prizes. in patents issued and copyrights. that that is not a position that is ours by birthright. It came because of the investment and the hard work. That is now being challenged from all across the world. People are now able to take the American model and leapfrog it because of the technologies. because of the scientific discovery that we have made. I see one of my colleagues from New Jersey. Mr. RUSH HOLT. who participated in the drafting of the innovation agenda for the Democratic Caucus. an agenda that has received wide acclaim from the private sector in terms of our ability to go forward again on a new and higher level of sustained effort at scientific discovery and innovation and economic growth. I am delighted to the yield to the gentleman.