At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) spoke to Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick about science cuts and quantum computing.
00:00Mr. Ivey. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to follow up, Mr. Secretary, with respect to the chair's questions about EDA. You mentioned 80 programs with respect to, it sounded like maybe the same 80 programs you were talking about for MBDA.
00:20Yeah, from the GAO, and I'll send you that report. You've asked for it, I will find it, and I will send it to you. Okay. I appreciate that. Real quick point, you know, the prices will come down point with respect to the impact on small businesses and retail and the like. I just want to say that, you know, I've got a lot of small businesses. I'm sure there are plenty across the country who can't wait.
00:43You know, they're really up against the wall right now. The wolf is at the door. Their businesses are at risk of being shut down. So the faster this resolves, the better. I know you mentioned July 9 with respect to the tariffs, and that can't come soon enough.
01:02And I hope that whatever happens on July 9, there is some effort to pay attention to what's happening to these businesses in the country.
01:11They're multinational, you know, corporations, they'll survive. But smaller businesses that are really, you know, struggling to make ends meet, they don't have that luxury.
01:23They don't have that kind of margin. Real quick on NIST, and you heard, I think, from both sides of the aisle with respect to the need for a budget that gives more detail.
01:35And actually, I just saw you testified. I think you said you're reviewing all 5,700 contracts that, I don't think it was FEMA, but it was NOAA.
01:49And you said you're reviewing all of them. And so someone who's going to...
01:54All above $100,000.
01:56Okay. Someone who pays that level of attention to detail when you were a CEO, I'm sure that you demanded something better than the skinny budget when you were making corporate decisions for your business.
02:08You had to. And I know that when you go through these contracts in the way that you are, that's the attention to detail that we want to actually provide in our roles here in Congress.
02:18And in functioning and carrying out our aspect of the appropriations process.
02:23So please give us that level of information so we can do our job carefully and closely, too.
02:30And then real quick point with respect to NIST.
02:34Again, in the skinny budget, there's a $325 million reduction under that category.
02:41I don't really know where the money's coming from.
02:44But NIST is a critical agency, as you know, with respect to cyber and quantum and the like.
02:51You got a letter from, I guess, in concern about this, Software and Information, Industry Association, CCIA,
03:00ITIF, Center for Data Innovation, a bunch of private industry leaders, TechNet, raising questions about where these cuts are going to come from and what's being done with them.
03:14The work done at NIST is not just a matter of maintaining technical excellence.
03:17It's a direct investment in ensuring that American industry continues to set the global benchmark for innovation.
03:24And we emphasize that NIST's work represents a high-value investment that directly contributes to U.S. economic growth, competitiveness, and technological leadership.
03:36We caution that downsizing NIST or eliminating these initiatives will have ramifications for the ability of the American AI industry to continue to lead globally.
03:46So, I share those concerns.
03:49I'd like to add to the record this article, Eric Geller, NIST loses key cyber experts in standards and research, for the record.
04:00NIST is playing a critical role in our competition with respect to AI for quantum across the board.
04:06I don't know what cuts you're talking about making with respect to them because of the level of or lack of detail with respect to the budget.
04:14But please be careful in the cuts that you make here.
04:19I don't know that any of them are justified necessarily.
04:23I can't really tell.
04:24But cutting NIST at this time, and that chart I tried to show you that you couldn't see, the quantum competition, we need all hands on deck.
04:36This is a critical time for the United States right now.
04:38So, making cuts to those industries or to those aspects of the government, they're such key players with respect to the industries.
04:48This couldn't be a worse time to do it.
04:50So, I appreciate your leadership on this and hope that you will continue to make sure that the United States can take a leadership role in these industries.
04:58We are not cutting in quantum.
05:02We are not cutting in AI.
05:04But there are old programs that need to be reexamined and that money can be used better.
05:09And the last thing I would say is we keep talking about small businesses.
05:1490% of our businesses are American businesses.
05:18And we keep talking about 10% that import.
05:20If you build in America, you're being protected by the tariffs.
05:23It's good for small businesses in America that build in America.
05:2690% of them build in America.
05:28Not all businesses build in America, as you just heard.
