“President Trump’s forced government shutdown is a disservice to the hard-working professionals in the Federal government and to the American people. As Ranking Member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, I want to point out that our federal science agencies have a long history of working hard on research and education programs that return huge payoffs to the American people. Those agencies are basically closed for business today. As I’ve noted in previous shutdowns, as our competitors in other countries surge ahead in their R&D investments, we have basically shut down a large chunk of our federal science and technology enterprise. Shutting down the government is an embarrassment and the President should not be ‘proud’ of it.”