Krishnamoorthi, Lofgren, Stevens Request Assessment from Commerce Department on Plans to Uphold U.S. Competitiveness in Light of Reported Mass Layoffs at NIST

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the CCP, Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Research and Technology Subcommittee on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick expressing concern over the reported mass layoffs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and requesting a Commerce Department assessment of how the Department plans to maintain U.S. economic and technological competitiveness in impacted sectors. 

The members request a briefing on this assessment, along with information on the shifting status of the Commerce Department’s workforce and approach to competing across critical industries. 

In the letter, the members write, “The firing of such a substantial portion of staff from NIST, particularly probationary staff and postdoctoral fellows hired recently to address urgent national needs, will undermine implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act and directly jeopardize our ability to compete with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in critical industries.”

The full letter can be viewed here.

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