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February 07, 2023

Ranking Member Lofgren Echoes President Biden’s Call to Support Science in SOTU

(Washington, DC)—This evening, President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union Address to a Joint Session of Congress. Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren attended the speech, and was joined by her guest, Dr. Tammy Ma, a plasma physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF) and lead for LLNL’s fusion energy initiative.

“This evening, President Biden reaffirmed our commitment to press forward with our greatest endeavors to Congress, the nation, and the globe,” said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). “Last year, during his State of the Union speech, President Biden called for us to bring a competitiveness package to his desk for his signature. We did that with the once-in-a-generation CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law this past August. From bringing manufacturing back to the US, to building opportunities for all in STEM, and strong support for our innovation efforts across the nation, CHIPS and Science has put the United States back on track to lead in science and technology. However, in order to achieve what we’ve set out to do with the CHIPS and Science Act, we must follow through by fully funding it. 

Ranking Member Lofgren continued, “during World War II, our country marshalled all available scientific resources and expertise with the Manhattan Project. Today, we face even greater challenges—not in war, but to save our planet from climate disaster. President Biden was right to call for urgent efforts to transition to a clean energy future in his State of the Union address. The tremendous work of LLNL and my guest, Dr. Tammy Ma, who leads LLNL’s fusion energy initiative, in achieving fusion ignition two months ago is a vital piece to the clean energy puzzle. Congress must accelerate investments in scientific research to build on recent successes and move our country forward.”