For the claim that 'there is too few qualified people in the US' to be a scientific claim, it needs to be falsifiable. In other words, what evidence do you need to see, in the future, to convince you that yes, now there are enough qualified people? What data-points will you use?

My entire problem is that all of the data-points I've seen used so far are extremely questionable, and there doesn't seem to be enough people questioning them.

The fact that US students have dismal scientific knowledge to a naive person suggests, but in reality in no way proves, that the US has, or will one day have, a shortage of scientifically qualified people.

I hope there are enough intelligent people who are uncomfortable about making the leap of faith from 'US students have bad science grades' to 'the US will experience a shortage of scientifically-qualified people'.

Any redesign of the education system needs to be grounded in science, not fashionable rhetoric.