PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY AND THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES...
Cory Gardner (Republican, CO) \u2014 2019-10-29

. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is one of the Nation's premier research agencies in the Federal Government. Colorado is lucky to house the second-largest contingent of NIST staff in Boulder, where they work on issues like telecommunications, biosciences, forensics, and quantum information science and technology. prgtoken NIST's Boulder campus, and their affiliated NIST/JILA partnership, has won three Nobel Prizes and three National Medals of Science. These preeminent experts were charged with continuing to build on the successes in the National Quantum Initiative Act, which passed into law just this last Congress. prgtoken But in order to remain competitive globally, competing against countries like China, the United States has to continue its robust investments in science and research and development, and that is going to require investing in our science facilities as well. prgtoken When I was able to travel to the NIST facilities in Boulder, I witnessed a trash can and giant trash bag used to collect rainwater from a leaky roof. Nobel scientists--prize-winning scientists working there. It is harmful to think that it is okay for this great country to have Nobel Prize-winning scientists working in a facility that can't even keep them dry because the roof leaks. prgtoken While I am grateful to the Appropriation Committee's attention to increasing the construction and facilities budget for NIST in recent years, we have a lot more work to do. That is why, in light of the National Quantum Initiative, I introduced an amendment to the Appropriations bill to provide an additional $161 million for construction and renovation costs for NIST projects. prgtoken In partnering with universities, like the University of Colorado at Boulder, NIST can continue to expand their work on issues like quantum in renovated and new state-of-the-art research facilities. That benefits the United States and will retain and grow our competitive advantage around the globe. prgtoken Another issue that I continue to hear about in Colorado, that we were able to address through the appropriations package before us, is affordable housing. It is an urban issue; it is something that you face in Boulder or Denver or Colorado Springs. But it is an issue that I hear in some of the smallest communities, as well as the biggest communities. prgtoken So Senator Young and I have been working on an amendment that deals with affordable housing. We know we have a relationship between the lack of affordable housing and issues relating to health, education, nutrition, and job outcomes. And those issues, combined with homelessness and lack of affordable housing, combine with other issues to create strains on government and other social services. prgtoken The amendment we have offered will help us better understand those challenges and the root causes of and lack of affordable housing, and help us understand the effects of the affordable housin