Ranking Member Lofgren's Opening Statement at Hearing on Biotechnology Innovation and Biosecurity
Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) opening statement as prepared for the record is below:
Good morning. Thank you to Chairman McCormick and Ranking Member Sykes for this hearing. Thank you to our witnesses for appearing today.
I want to start, Mr. Chairman, by asking unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the American Society for Microbiology, one of our country’s oldest and most respected scientific societies. I agree wholeheartedly with Ranking Member Sykes that the voices of the scientific community need to be heard in this discussion, and ASM has a valuable perspective on these issues.
One of the things that they point out in their letter is that the McKinsey Global Institute has estimated that as much as 60% of the physical imports to the global economy could in principle be produced biologically. That is a stunning possibility, and I see that one of our witnesses is connected with Dr. Endy. Visiting Dr. Endy's lab at Stanford – it is mind-blowing to see what the possibilities are.
This Committee has long and really impressive legacy of bipartisanship and oversight for biotechnology and biosecurity. Our bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act had several provisions tasking our agencies to support research on the safety and security implications of engineering biology. In this Congress, we approved H.R. 3029, a bill to support nucleic acid screening research at NIST. This bill has since passed the full House and I urge our counterparts in the Senate to take it up. We are also looking closely at the legislative ideas catalyzed by our colleagues from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology.
For years, this Committee has maintained a deep understanding of, and respect for, the spirit of openness that animates life science research. Republicans and Democrats alike have taken biosecurity and safety seriously, while understanding that to be the world leader in biotechnology, we must be tactful of how we legislate and perform oversight on biosecurity. Unfortunately, the term “strategic” does not adequately define the actions of the Trump Administration and how it has approached these issues. Ranking Member Sykes talked at length about many of these concerns. I will focus instead on what is at stake for us to lose.
One of the things I want to talk about, Mr. Hodges, is your work with Dr. Endy at the Hoover Institution. Dr. Endy was part of the research community that contributed to the development of one of the very first synthetic cells created entirely from scratch – a remarkable achievement for American life science. And when I texted him congratulations, he did text back saying, "We beat China."
So that was a good step forward. Dr. Endy importantly recognizes that the U.S. cannot, as he says, “ride the breaks” on biotechnology innovation and expect to remain a world leader. I remember touring the lab. There is a little sign that one of the scientists made that says, "The Wright brothers didn't need a license."
I just want to say a final thing on a concern that I have that's not really in the purview entirely of this Committee. And that's the fact that for years, we in the United States have benefitted from the fact that 80% of foreign-born STEM researchers have wanted to stay in the United States and become Americans with us. For a variety of reasons, hostility towards immigrants, lack of visa availability, the number of people coming from other countries to get their PhDs in STEM has dropped. And the number who want to stay after has also dropped precipitously. That is bad news for our country. A little under 50% of American Nobel Prize winners were Americans who are here by choice. Americans born in another country who decided to become one of us. Losing that will harm us and it will not only harm the research done here, but also our international partnerships and our dialogue and transparency.
So with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you for this hearing on this important topic.
###
Previous Article