⚡NIMITZ TECH NEWS FLASH⚡

“Member Day Hearing”

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

March 11, 2025 (recording linked here)

HEARING INFORMATION

Witnesses and Written Testimony:

• The Honorable Bill Foster (D-IL-11), Member, U.S. House of Representatives.

HEARING HIGHLIGHTS

IN THEIR WORDS

SUMMARY OF OPENING STATEMENTS FROM THE COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEE

• Chairman Babin emphasized the importance of the committee’s work, noting that global attention on their jurisdiction has never been higher. He outlined the committee’s agenda, highlighting the need to advance space exploration, scientific discovery, and emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence. Chairman Babin expressed confidence that the committee would maintain America’s leadership in science and technology.

• Ranking Member Lofgren underscored the importance of federal research and development in building a strong future, emphasizing STEM workforce development, energy technology, and domestic manufacturing. She stressed the committee’s long-standing tradition of bipartisan cooperation as the best way to tackle critical scientific challenges. She also paid tribute to the late Representative Sylvester Turner, acknowledging his contributions to the Committee.

SUMMARY OF WITNESS STATEMENT

• Rep. Foster began by highlighting his background at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and his work leading congressional tours of national labs, emphasizing the transformative impact of firsthand exposure to scientific research. He discussed his legislative focus on improving infrastructure investments for national labs and warned of the risks of neglecting critical research facilities. He also raised concerns about the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, stressing the need for the U.S. to lead in AI, robotics, and quantum computing to maintain scientific and economic competitiveness.

SUMMARY OF KEY Q&A

• Chairman Babin asked Rep. Foster how his legislative effort to modernize the Department of Energy’s National Laboratory infrastructure would align with the existing Science Laboratories Infrastructure (SLI) program at DOE. Rep. Foster responded that he did not have the specifics in front of him but explained that maintaining infrastructure was critical to smoothing out the boom-and-bust cycles of scientific funding and workforce management.

• Ranking Member Lofgren asked how instability at federal science agencies, including DOE, NIST, NSF, and NIH, would impact innovation and workforce retention. Rep. Foster explained that unpredictability in these agencies made it harder to attract and retain talented scientists, as they could instead choose more stable careers in private industry. He highlighted the negative impact of sudden job relocations or layoffs, particularly at national security-related research institutions, and warned that the U.S. risked losing scientific leadership to other countries due to declining support for immigrant scientists. Ranking Member Lofgren ended by citing an analysis by Idaho Labs which suggested that 85% of GDP growth was directly linked to science and technology innovation and emphasized the need to maintain those investments.

• Rep. McCormick highlighted his shared interest in digital identification as a tool to enhance voter security and prevent fraud. Rep. Foster responded by discussing the economic benefits of secure digital identification, noting that countries with national digital IDs experienced measurable GDP growth and that much of this technology was developed by NIST.

• Rep. McClain Delaney expressed concerns about potential staffing cuts at NIST, NIH, and other research agencies and asked how Congress could better coordinate with these institutions to drive innovation and public-private partnerships. She also asked how Congress could better support AI and quantum computing development. Rep. Foster responded by arguing that Congress’s committee structure was outdated and failed to reflect the modern economy. He suggested reforming the system to better align legislative oversight with major economic sectors. He also noted that the federal government could not match private sector investment in AI but should focus on setting regulatory safeguards and ensuring AI systems aligned with individual user interests rather than corporate profit motives.

• Rep. Hurd asked how the Department of Energy’s National Labs could measure success in innovation and whether there were reliable metrics to guide federal funding decisions. Rep. Foster stated that there were no simple metrics for scientific progress, as major breakthroughs often took decades, and stressed the importance of allowing national lab directors autonomy rather than imposing bureaucratic performance measures. He also pointed out the fundamental tension between short-term political cycles and long-term scientific investment, arguing that Congress needed to elect more members who understood the value of sustained funding.

• Rep. Riley delivered an impassioned statement defending the CHIPS and Science Act, emphasizing its importance for American manufacturing and economic security, particularly in upstate New York. He criticized past trade policies that outsourced jobs and vowed to fight against any efforts to weaken the law. Rep. Foster agreed with Riley’s concerns. He noted that AI and automation would continue to reshape the labor market and stressed the need to address wealth distribution as technological advancements reduced the need for human labor.

ADD TO THE NIMITZ NETWORK

Know someone else who would enjoy our updates? Feel free to forward them this email and have them subscribe here.