Bart Gordon

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Let me inquire, how much time is left?

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. First let me say, Madam Chair, to my friend and ranking member, I am not sure what the technical corrections are that he is concerned about, but I assure you that we will certainly start working on that to clean up any language that needs to be cleaned up. Additionally, I rise to support this good amendment. Scientists and engineers at the Federal science agencies have the experience and expertise to contribute greatly to STEM education. Whether it is through helping a teacher with a hands-on activity in the classroom, assisting with a local robotics competition, or serving as a mentor to a student, there are a variety of ways in which Federal scientists and engineers can volunteer their time to help improve STEM education. This amendment would increase volunteerism by scientists and engineers working in Federal agencies and would encourage the agencies to provide administrative support for those scientists and engineers to volunteer their time. I urge my colleagues to support this good bipartisan amendment.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, Mr. Salazar's amendment would provide DOE with the authority to conduct training for energy auditors, field technicians, and building contractors so they can understand and promote the use of renewable energy and energy-efficiency technology. Energy efficiency and conservation will have the greatest near-term impact of any approach to our energy security and global climate change concerns. Today's buildings consume 40 percent of our country's energy, more than any other sector of the U.S. economy. A new study by scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory examined the workforce needs of the energy-efficiency service sector and found that there is a shortage of formal training programs in energy efficiency. This same study found that the building and construction trades and contractors have limited awareness of the energy-efficiency service sector. That is why this amendment adds technical training for energy professionals to the Department of Energy education programs authorized under this section, and it makes a good bipartisan bill even better.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although I do not oppose the amendment.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I want to congratulate the gentleman from Illinois for his outstanding amendment. It would instruct the Secretary of Commerce to give special consideration to innovation clusters that partner with local workforce investment boards. It makes a good bipartisan bill better. I also want to congratulate the gentleman from Illinois for his recent win in the 3-mile Capitol Challenge. I think after 20 years it is a good thing we have a new winner, and I wish him good luck for the next 18 years. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I have amendments en bloc at the desk.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, this is a very good en bloc set of amendments that again makes this bipartisan bill even better. I think one of the byproducts of having such a very good bill is we have so many organizations, over a thousand organizations and major companies that have endorsed the bill, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, Information Technology Industry Council, Business Roundtable, Council on Competitiveness, National Venture Capital Association, TechAmerica, TechNet, Technology CEO Council, the Telecommunication Industry Association, the Biotechnology Industry Association, the Aerospace Industries Association, the Computing Technology Industry Association, the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, the National Defense Industrial Association, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. I can go on and on. In the university area, the American Council on Education, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, Association of American Public Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. This is a very important bill for our country and it is for our competitiveness and for our kids and grandkids, and it is going to create jobs in the short term, in the intermediate term, and in the long term. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly), a constructive player in this good bill.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus).

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlelady from Maryland (Ms. Edwards), a new member of our Science and Technology Committee, but one that has made a great contribution in a short time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I yield the gentlelady 30 seconds more.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), a cardinal on the very important Appropriations Committee.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chairman, has my time expired?

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Yes, Madam Chairman.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I will just reclaim a small part of it. I just want to thank my ranking member, Mr. Hall from Texas, for the gentlemanly way that he has conducted himself today and in all of our meetings. Maybe it is because I am from Tennessee and he is from Texas, but we share a lot of the same views. We have the same interest in seeing that our country move forward in this 21st century. I don't have grandkids yet, but I know that for his kids and grandkids he wants to see us move forward. For my 9-year-old daughter I want to see us move forward. As I say, we agree most of the time. Every now and then we don't. But no one could have a better partner, and I thank him for his cooperation on this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of this good bipartisan amendment by my friend from Arizona (Mr. Flake) and Mr. Quigley from Illinois. This amendment recognizes the importance of attracting and retaining the best and brightest young scientists from around the world here to the United States. The ability of our Nation to innovate and to compete in a global economy is built on a foundation of basic research. Our universities' postdoctoral fellows, master's and Ph.D. students serve as the engine that drives our research enterprise. It is essential that we retain these STEM workers in the U.S. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan amendment, which makes a bipartisan bill even better, and I think it's the reason, Madam Chair, that this bill has received so much support. Over 1,000 major organizations and companies have endorsed this bill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Business Roundtable, the Council on Competitiveness, the National Venture Capital Association TechAmerica, TechNet, Technology CEO Council, Telecommunications Industry Association, Energy Sciences Coalition, the Biotechnology Industry Association, on and on and on. So this is a good amendment to a good bill, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chairman, we're coming to the end of the discussion on this bill, so let me just--again, I want to thank the staff, the minority and majority staff, the Members who have put so much time into this. This is not only a good substantive bill; it is a good bill by process. We had 46 hearings on this bill resulting in three different subcommittee bipartisan markups that went to a full committee bipartisan markup, which brought this bill to the floor today. This is a good bill. In 2007, the original authorization received 367 Members that voted for it. I hope that we will be able to see that same type of vote again. Then it went to the United States Senate because this is not only a bipartisan bill; it is a bicameral bill. In the United States Senate there were 69 cosponsors, and it received a unanimous vote on the Senate--on the other body's floor. Much of that credit goes to Lamar Alexander from Tennessee and Jeff Bingaman. And I told Lamar Alexander the other day that if he can get 69 cosponsors again and get a unanimous vote, that I will nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize and special envoy to the Mid East. He did yeoman's work, and I'm sure he will do it again. This is a good bipartisan bill and should get a good bipartisan vote. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I withdraw my point of order and rise in opposition to this motion.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, let me also take just a moment to thank the minority and majority members of the Science and Technology Committee for the many hours they've put in to making this bill a very good bipartisan bill. And also I want to thank the staff members who have put in even more hours to making this good bill. Now let me take just a moment to tell you why this is an important and a good bipartisan bill. There are 6.5 billion people in the world. Half of those that are working make less than $2 a day. Now, if we try to compete in a global economy on that type of labor, then you're going to see your kids and grandkids wind up with a national standard of living less than their parents. So we can't win in terms of wages. We have to win by having a higher technological base here. In the last few years, you've seen that the public sector dollars have been stagnant in terms of our investment in research and development. And on the private sector level, they've actually gone down. Why does this matter? Because the rest of the world is increasing their investments in research and development, and the importance to us here in this country is that 50 percent of the growth in the GDP in our Nation since World War II has been a result of research and development. But we have to have more than just R&D. We have to have a workforce that can work at that higher level, and that's what this bill does also. There's a great STEM educational piece that will help not just Ph.D.s, but it will help those high school graduates, junior college graduates, and college graduates to work that higher level. So what does all this mean? There's a cycle. The cycle is that you invest in R&D. R&D gives you innovation. Innovation gives you jobs, which creates the type of standard of living and revenue that allows us to reduce the deficit as well as to continue the R&D again. Another important part of this bill is the energy independence. Right now we have to reduce our dependence on our foreign oil for our economic as well as our national defense. And I don't want to trade our dependency on foreign oil to foreign technology. Now let me get to some of the criticisms of this bill. We said, Well, it's a pretty good bill. As a matter of fact, it's a very good bill, except that it costs too much. Well, let me remind you that in 2007, 367 Members of this body voted for the original authorization. In the other body, there were 69 cosponsors of the original authorization, and it passed unanimously. But we recognize these are difficult economic times, and so we made some changes. This bill has been cut by 10.3 percent from the bill that you voted for in 2007. That is $9.6 billion. Now tell me, what authorization has been cut by over 10 percent? This is the only one. Mr. Hall has very good concerns about our veterans, and every day when we see him, we see him as an example of those World War II veterans. So language was put in the bill both for scholarships for individual veterans and also for those institutions. Let me read this to you, For the purposes of the activities and programs supported by this Act and the amendments made in this Act, institutions of higher education offering STEM research education activities and programs that serve veterans with disabilities shall receive special consideration and review. And on and on. So we have taken care of that. Now let's get down to the heart of it. And quite frankly, it saddens me to have to go into this. I mean, it saddens me that when we look at our kids--I have a 9-year-old daughter, and what about her future? What about your family's future? Oh, we're going to hide behind this little bit. We're going to gut this bill for this little bit. A few days ago there were some NSF employees who were patching pornography. Of course that was bad, and they were disciplined. Throughout the whole executive offices, there is filtering on that now. Nobody seriously thinks that we don't want to deal with pornography here. For God's sake. And when it gets to the conference, we'll take care of that even more. Everybody raise your hand that's for pornography. Come on, raise your hand. Nobody? Nobody is for pornography? Well, I'm shocked. So I guess we need this little bitty provision that means nothing; that's going to gut the entire bill. This is an embarrassment, and if you vote for this, you should be embarrassed. I yield back the balance of my time. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I object.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order.