In Science Committee Hearing, Ranking Democrat Haley Stevens Stands Up for Research and Michigan Innovation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In opening remarks at a House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee hearing this week, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology, pressed the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to prioritize Michigan manufacturing and stop the Trump Administration’s reckless cuts to federal research.
Ranking Member Haley Stevens (D-MI)
Subcommittee on Research and Technology
House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
“Advancing America’s AI Action Plan” | January 14, 2026
A transcription of Ranking Member Stevens’ remarks is below:
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, for holding today's hearing, and of course, thank you to Director Kratsios for joining us today as well. OSTP has always held a very special place in my heart, and is an agency or a division of the White House that we are grateful to have a connection to on this committee. And it is also very important that our thoughtful discussion today will be around implementing the administration's AI plan while protecting American workers.
We all know that you can't talk about AI innovation and American competitiveness without talking about Michigan manufacturing, and you can't talk about the future of manufacturing without talking about the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST. NIST is the “little agency that could” and is at the forefront of our efforts in artificial intelligence, quantum, robotics, and advanced manufacturing.
Thanks to the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 that many of us in this room helped write and pass, NIST is bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to America to develop the next generation of AI chips right here at home. NIST’s semiconductor work is also critical to the administration's AI plan, and we don't want to see the agency being undermined, something that has long been supported by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Just to shine a light here, and this is the work of our committee, this is what we do, we have authorizing ability, and it's important to just shine a light: The budget for the Fiscal Year 26, it slashed NIST funding by $325 million, and we're eliminating 500 jobs from the agency's lab program. We know, so many of us, how sacred this work is and how important it is, even when you just have just a handful of researchers working on these matters. The cuts hinder NIST’s AI-related efforts; they're going to weaken cyber security and privacy standards, something I have legislation on, and limit advanced manufacturing, physical infrastructure, and resilience innovation.
And given the shared goal of supporting the growth of advanced manufacturing—our next generation, this is something we see alive and well in Michigan, continuing to grow through our supply chain, the design of not only products, but also our factory floors using AI applications—I'm really alarmed that the administration is trying to eliminate NIST’s manufacturing extension program. They repeatedly tried to do that last year. The MEP program is designed to support, well, not just Michigan, but all of the nation's small and mid-sized manufacturers, to see them adopt advanced technology and compete on the global stage. And so in 2024 alone, just the MEP center in Michigan created or saved 5,000 jobs. Yet, like every other MEP center, it was on the chopping block.
What makes even less sense is that the administration's constant attacks on domestic chip manufacturing and the CHIPS and Science Act, which we should be all singing loud and proudly, the uncertainty that the manufacturers are facing, despite clear congressional desire to bring chip manufacturing back to America has been really frustrating. I was surprised to learn that we're seeing the arbitrarily-cancelled, semiconductor-focused Manufacturing USA Institute in December that happened, and that's stalling a lot of progress.
I could go on, but we're losing talent and institutional knowledge. We're shrinking, and frankly, we're destroying our research capacity and undermining global competitiveness, all while we're supposed to be touting how we can lead on AI. So I'm going to do everything I can in this subcommittee, Mr. Chair, for accountability, to stand up for science, the science that Michiganders and our manufacturers rely on every day, so we can continue to innovate and build. And I just want to thank every NIST public servant, the people in this room, and the people in the department. And with that, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll yield back.
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