[Beth Sweet]

As much as I hate to be the one to play devil's advocate, I'm going to.

Those of you who live in Michigan know what the economy is here right now. My father works for GM. I worry every day that when he goes to work, he won't have a job when he comes home. And we aren't the only family living that way. People with 30 years at the same place are getting fired because there's no money.

And we want to put 2 million into robotics teams? Seems a little bit like a trivial matter to me, when there are so many businesses going down the tubes.

Anyone who knows me, or has read my stuff on CD knows how passionate I am about this program, how much I've sacrificed. But in this case, I'm saying no. The house and senate made a choice. I hope that they use the money that would have been used for FIRST to revive these businesses so that we don't have to worry anymore about whether or not we will have a job. Jobs mean money, healthcare and a way of life. Right now, in this state, none of that is safe, no matter how many years you've had with a company, how much education you have or how respectable a company you work for. Frankly, I think money for robotics teams should not be at the top of the money list. We don't need future planning, we need the solve the problems now.