Gordon Seeks Action, Support To Boost U.S. Competitiveness
March 13, 2007, WASHINGTON – At a House Science and Technology Committee hearing today on U.S. competitiveness, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon heard from expert witnesses about science’s role in our nation’s prosperity.
The panel of witnesses, which included some of the nation’s top business leaders, innovators and academics, focused on legislation Gordon introduced to address some of the challenges outlined in a 2005 report from the National Academy of Sciences. That report, entitled Rising Above the Gathering Storm, found that the nation’s status as a global leader in innovation and technology is in jeopardy unless there is action.
“Everyday, more of our nation’s jobs move offshore,” said Gordon, the committee’s chairman. “Other countries will always have cheaper labor, so we must be the source of the world’s most highly skilled workforce if we want to stay competitive.
“In order to do that, we must make a commitment to provide the next generation with the math and science knowledge they will need for the jobs of the future.”
At the hearing, the committee discussed Gordon’s 10,000 Teachers, 10,000,000 Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act. The bill, H.R. 362, would address the critical shortage of certified science and math teachers in the U.S. by offering scholarships to science, math and engineering students who commit to becoming science or math teachers at elementary and secondary schools upon completion of their degrees. The bill would also authorize summer training institutes for teachers to focus on improving content knowledge.
Norman Augustine, former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin and a co-chair of the 2005 report, testified at the hearing about the need for an increased focus on science and technology in order to keep the U.S. competitive with the rest of the world.
“This is not a one-year competition in which we find ourselves – it is a seismic change, comparable to that the nation underwent when it encountered a shift from 84 percent of its workers being involved in agriculture in the early 1800’s to about one percent today,” said Augustine.
Prior to the hearing, more than 270 U.S. companies, universities and organizations working together as a group called Tapping America’s Potential presented Congress with its American Innovation Proclamation. The University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University were among the signers of the proclamation, which emphasized support for legislative efforts to increase investment in U.S. research and improve science and math education.
Gordon said to them, “I’m worried that my six-year-old daughter and your children and grandchildren will be the first generation of Americans to inherit a lower standard of living that their parents. It’s time we stop studying this issue and do something about it.”
