Chairman Gordon Comments on the President’s Address to the Joint Session of Congress

(Washington, DC) – Tonight, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress, with a focus on the economy, energy, healthcare, and education. Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) made the following statement:

“The path to creating jobs and rebuilding our economy is through the scientific discoveries that will break our addiction to foreign oil, through the technological advances that will give our manufacturers the edge, and through the improvements in education that will ensure we have a workforce prepared to step into 21^st century jobs.

Our Committee will work aggressively to advance the new technologies that will help us meet our growing need for energy we produce at home. I look forward to overseeing progress at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), which was funded in the Recovery Package.

The president requested Congress send him a market-based cap on carbon pollution. Our Committee held a hearing today on current systems of monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gas emissions. Measurement, reporting and verification are the backbone any plan to control greenhouse gases.

With regard to healthcare, our Committee will oversee the creation of technical standards that will create a safe, seamless system of electronic health records. Health IT could create jobs and benefit the thousands of people a year who suffer due to medical errors, improper diagnoses, or being prescribed incorrect medications due to lack of a comprehensive family medical history or poorly maintained records.

I look forward to working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues, as well as the president, towards these ambitious goals, to restore our economic competitiveness, and to create the jobs of the future.”

For more information, please see the Committee’s website.

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Bart Gordon, Chairman
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