[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H270-H273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INSPIRING THE NEXT SPACE PIONEERS, INNOVATORS, RESEARCHERS, AND
EXPLORERS (INSPIRE) WOMEN ACT
Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 321) to inspire women to enter the aerospace field,
including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, through
mentorship and outreach.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 321
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Inspiring the Next Space
Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers, and Explorers (INSPIRE)
Women Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that--
(1) NASA GIRLS and NASA BOYS are virtual mentoring programs
using commercially available video chat programs to pair
National Aeronautics and Space Administration mentors with
young students anywhere in the country. NASA GIRLS and NASA
BOYS give young students the opportunity to interact and
learn from real engineers, scientists, and technologists.
(2) The Aspire to Inspire (A2I) program engages young girls
to present science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) career opportunities through the real lives and jobs
of early career women at NASA.
(3) The Summer Institute in Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Research (SISTER) program at the Goddard
Space Flight Center is designed to increase awareness of, and
provide an opportunity for, female middle school students to
be exposed to and explore nontraditional career fields with
Goddard Space Flight Center women engineers, mathematicians,
scientists, technicians, and researchers.
SEC. 3. SUPPORTING WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELDS OF
AEROSPACE AND SPACE EXPLORATION.
The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration shall encourage women and girls to study
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, pursue
careers in aerospace, and further advance the Nation's space
science and exploration efforts through support of the
following initiatives:
(1) NASA GIRLS and NASA BOYS.
(2) Aspire to Inspire.
(3) Summer Institute in Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Research.
SEC. 4. PLAN.
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate a plan for how NASA can best
facilitate and support both current and retired astronauts,
scientists, engineers, and innovators, including early career
female astronauts, scientists, engineers, and innovators, to
engage with K-12 female STEM students and inspire the next
generation of women to consider participating in the fields
of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to
pursue careers in aerospace. This plan shall--
(1) report on existing activities with current and retired
NASA astronauts, scientists, engineers, and innovators;
(2) identify how NASA could best leverage existing
authorities to facilitate and support current and retired
astronaut, scientist, engineer, and innovator participation
in NASA outreach efforts;
(3) propose and describe a program specific to retired
astronauts, scientists, engineers, and innovators; and
(4) identify any additional authorities necessary to
institute such a program.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
[[Page H271]]
Virginia (Mrs. Comstock) and the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms.
Esty) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous material on H.R. 321, the bill now under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise to offer H.R. 321, the INSPIRE Act. I am pleased to lead this
effort along with the chairman and ranking member of the Science,
Space, and Technology Committee, Lamar Smith and Eddie Bernice Johnson,
as well as Congresswoman Esty.
We did pass this bill last year and now we are revisiting it since it
didn't get through the Senate.
Recently, the movie, ``Hidden Figures,'' was released detailing a few
of the unsung heroes of NASA. This movie highlights the moving story of
a group of African American women who worked at NASA at a historic time
in the 1960s as mathematicians during the space race.
Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson were featured in
the movie for their work that launched America into space.
In a recent interview with the LA Times, Ms. Johnson, who is still
living, was asked: ``At the time, did you know that John Glenn asked
for `the girl' (which would be you) to check the numbers before he took
his landmark flight into space? Did it heighten the stakes for you?''
Ms. Johnson's response: ``I knew they asked me to check the numbers.
That was what I did. They knew my record for accuracy. I knew and had
confidence in my math, so I did it. I always did my best.''
Mr. Speaker, I didn't know the story of these women growing up, even
though they were doing these things at a time when we were all watching
these things happen. But now today's young women well know that story.
It is an inspiring story. It is one of those movies Ms. Esty and I were
speaking about yesterday that were on our list of must-sees.
These women were critical to the success of our astronauts and our
space program that would eventually put a man on the Moon. Now is the
time to pass this legislation that will afford opportunities to a
future generation of women leaders who will have a similar impact on
our Nation's history, and maybe, one day, put a woman on Mars.
The INSPIRE Act authorizes the NASA administrator to encourage young
women to study mathematics, known as the STEM fields, and to pursue
careers that will further advance America's space science and
exploration efforts through support of NASA initiatives such as NASA
GIRLS, Aspire 2 Inspire, and the Summer Institute in Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Research--SISTER.
The goal of NASA GIRLS is to create a virtual mentoring project that
offers a one-of-a-kind experience to middle school students using
online capabilities.
NASA's vision for Aspire 2 Inspire was to reach out to young girls
and present some of the STEM career opportunities through the real
lives and jobs of early career women at NASA.
The SISTER program is designed to increase awareness of and provide
an opportunity for female middle school students to be exposed to and
explore nontraditional career fields with Goddard Space Flight Center
women engineers, mathematicians, scientists, technicians, and
researchers. According to NASA, 58 women have traveled in space. Forty-
nine of those have flown with NASA.
Of course, there are so many other careers available for women in
NASA, and we want to make sure all of those are available for them. We
know the stories of women like Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, but,
ironically, we didn't know these hidden figures that are behind the
scene. So now, as we move forward under this program, we hope everyone
will know about the many women and the many careers open to both men
and women in this NASA program.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 321, the INSPIRE Women Act.
This bill calls on the NASA administrator to support initiatives that
encourage girls and young women to study STEM fields and pursue careers
in aerospace. Unfortunately, women are woefully underrepresented in
many STEM fields, including aeronautics and aerospace. One of the key
barriers to women entering technical fields is self-selection out of
STEM degrees due to a lack of role models.
In the words of longtime children's advocate and activist, Marian
Wright Edelman: ``You can't be what you can't see.''
Too many girls and young women decide not to pursue studies in
technical fields such as science, engineering, and aerospace because
they look at their teachers and their role models and they see no one
who looks like them.
When students are able to visualize themselves working in technical
fields, they gain the confidence they need to take the first step in
pursuit of a challenging and rewarding STEM career, to their benefit
and to the benefit of society as a whole.
NASA, with its extraordinary STEM workforce, is in a unique position
to help close this gap. The agency has access to a diverse group of
current and retired women astronauts, scientists, engineers,
mathematicians, and innovators whose accomplishments and career paths
are just the sort of inspiration that girls and young women need.
Astronaut Kate Rubins broke barriers and boundaries when she became
the first person to ever sequence DNA in space during her spaceflight
last year.
Just last Friday, Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the
International Space Station, completed her seventh space walk.
Vera Rubin's recent passing reminded us of her trailblazing career in
astronomy in which she made the groundbreaking discovery of dark
matter.
As has already been mentioned by my friend and colleague, Barbara
Comstock, the newly released movie, ``Hidden Figures,'' highlights
through the pioneering story of early NASA mathematicians and engineers
Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson that women have
been instrumental to our aerospace enterprise since its inception.
NASA has developed a number of programs aimed at leveraging its
inspirational workforce to encourage girls and young women to pursue
STEM degrees and STEM careers. This includes the NASA GIRLS program,
the Aspire 2 Inspire program, and the Summer Institute in Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Research, or SISTER program.
H.R. 321 instructs the NASA administrator to continue supporting
these and other programs that encourage women and girls to study
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as to pursue
careers in aerospace.
Additionally, the bill calls on NASA to develop a plan for how it can
best facilitate and support current and retired astronauts, scientists,
engineers, and innovators to engage with K-12 female STEM students.
Although retired engineers, astronauts, scientists, and engineers are
invaluable to inspiring the next generation of NASA scientists, I am
especially glad and thankful to my colleague for including early career
female astronauts, scientists, engineers, and innovators in this plan.
It is very important for America's young girls to have experiences
interacting with young women who look like them in the STEM fields.
I thank my Science, Space, and Technology Committee colleague,
Representative Comstock, for her leadership on the bill, as well as our
esteemed chairman, Lamar Smith, and our wonderful ranking member, Eddie
Bernice Johnson.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Costello).
[[Page H272]]
Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of
H.R. 321, the INSPIRE Women Act, and commend the leadership of
Congresswoman Comstock and Congresswoman Esty on this bill, which I am
pleased to also cosponsor.
We should be doing all we can to encourage young women who wish to
study or follow a STEM career path, and Congresswoman Comstock has
introduced this commonsense bill to achieve that goal.
H.R. 321 would require NASA to support astronauts, scientists, and
engineers who have retired in their efforts to encourage young women
who are interested in studying or working in a STEM field.
Mr. Speaker, innovative thinkers are critical to our country's
success in the modern global workforce. But we have heard the
statistics. Women make up half of the U.S. workforce and half of the
college educated workforce. Yet, only 25 percent of women who attain
degrees in the STEM field actually end up working in STEM jobs.
That is why I support this bill and that is why I think the aims of
this bill are very laudable and could go a long way toward closing that
gap. It is an important effort to improve retention of women studying
and working in STEM fields.
I thank again Congresswomen Comstock and Esty for their leadership.
Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson), my ranking member.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of
H.R. 321, the Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators,
Researchers, and Explorers Women Act.
I want to express my appreciation for the leadership of Congresswoman
Esty and Congresswoman Comstock.
This bill would help ensure that the incoming administration
continues to promote and strengthen important programs at NASA to
inspire and mentor girls and young women to pursue studies and careers
in STEM areas.
Despite progress in the right direction, women remain largely
underrepresented in STEM fields because they continue to face cultural
and institutional barriers throughout their studies and career
progression.
H.R. 321 would support existing programs at NASA that encourage young
girls and women to study STEM fields and pursue careers in aerospace.
{time} 1600
These programs include NASA GIRLS, a virtual mentoring program;
Aspire to Inspire, a program connecting young girls with women in STEM
careers at NASA; and a summer institute program that increases
awareness and exposes young, middle school girls to the STEM careers at
NASA.
H.R. 321 also calls on NASA to develop a plan for how best to use its
current and retired workforce to mentor female K-12 students. What
comes to mind are the inspirational women who are featured in the new
movie ``Hidden Figures.'' Those brilliant and brave women opened the
door for so many who followed. We must continue to support our great
women in STEM who dedicate their time to mentor the girls and young
women who will be our next scientists, engineers, and innovators.
I thank my colleagues again--Representative Comstock for her
leadership on this bill and Representative Esty. I strongly support
this bill and encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
pass it.
Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, again, I thank my esteemed colleagues for
their leadership on this, in particular, Representative Comstock from
Virginia and the ranking member.
This is a very laudable bill that plays an important role in
inspiring the next generation of STEM engineers and scientists, and I
am pleased that we are able to offer this again. This did pass in the
last Congress. Unfortunately, it did not make it through the Senate. I
am delighted that we are moving early in this session and would urge
all of my colleagues to swiftly pass this, to send it to the Senate,
and to get it on the President's desk and make sure these important
programs are supported long into the future.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, we have had over 65 cosponsors this year
on the bill, as was mentioned by my colleague. It had strong bipartisan
support last year and it has also been introduced now in the Senate, so
we certainly hope it will move through quickly.
Eileen Collins, who became the first female to command and pilot a
spacecraft, was asked to give advice to future astronauts. She stated:
My advice to young people is to go into the field you are
most interested in. If you love your job, you will do well in
your job.
I think what we have all discussed here today is, when you can see
that job and when you can see people who look like you--see women and
people from all walks of life in those positions--and the Internet
allows us to do that now, then you can really have that kind of
exposure, which is quite exciting.
I appreciate the opportunity to, once again, present this bill, and I
ask my colleagues to join me in support.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, science, technology, engineering and
math are critical to America's future prosperity.
Women are unfortunately underrepresented in STEM careers. Despite
representing nearly half of the college-educated and total U.S.
workforce, women account for less than 25 percent of America's STEM
workforce.
Supporting women's involvement in the fields of aerospace and space
exploration should be an important part of NASA's mission.
Current NASA programs such as NASA GIRLS and NASA BOYS are important
and give young students the opportunity to interact and learn from real
NASA engineers, scientists, and technologists.
They provide virtual mentoring that use commercially available video
chat programs to pair NASA innovators with young students across the
country.
H.R. 321 builds upon this success. It leverages NASA's talent pool of
current and retired astronauts, and early career female scientists,
engineers, and innovators to inform and inspire young women to pursue
their dreams in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. One
day, these young people will push the boundaries of space.
Space can be a catalyst for inspiring young girls to enter the STEM
fields. By doing our part to support their engagement in space with
this legislation, we are investing in the futures of our daughters,
nieces, and grandchildren.
I again want to thank the bill sponsor, Research and Technology
Subcommittee Chairwoman Comstock for her leadership on this topic. I
encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 321,
the INSPIRE Women, Act.
I support this legislation because Article 1 Section 8 of the United
States Constitution states our duty ``To promote the Progress of
Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and
Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries . . .''
This includes the education of our next generation of women
considering participation in the fields of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics and to pursue careers in aerospace.
Statistics show that women remain underrepresented in the science and
engineering workforce, although to a lesser degree than in the past,
with the greatest disparities occurring in engineering, computer
science, and the physical sciences (NSF, Science & Engineering
Indicators, 2014).
1. Female scientists and engineers are concentrated in different
occupations than are men, with relatively high shares of women in the
social sciences (58 percent)
2. biological and medical sciences (48 percent)
3. relatively low shares in engineering (13 percent)
4. computer and mathematical sciences (25 percent) (NSF, Science &
Engineering Indicators, 2014).
Women make up 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce, but are much
less represented in particular science and engineering occupations
(U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Women in the
Labor Force: A Databook, 2014):
1. 39 percent of chemists and material scientists are women;
2. 27.9 percent of environmental scientists and geoscientists are
women;
3. 15.6 percent of chemical engineers are women;
4. 12.1 percent of civil engineers are women;
5. 8.3 percent of electrical and electronics engineers are women;
[[Page H273]]
6. 17.2 percent of industrial engineers are women; and
7. 7.2 percent of mechanical engineers are women.
These statistics show that measures need to be taken in order to
promote women participation in the fields of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics and to pursue careers in aerospace.
H.R. 321 will support NASA GIRLS and NASA BOYS, virtual mentoring
programs using commercially available video chat programs, to pair
National Aeronautics and Space Administration mentors with young
students anywhere in the country.
NASA GIRLS and NASA BOYS give young students the opportunity to
interact and learn from real engineers, scientists, and technologists.
H.R. 321 will also support the ``Aspire to Inspire'' Program (A2I),
which engages young girls to present science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) career opportunities through the real lives and
jobs of early career women at NASA.
H.R. 321 also promotes the Summer Institute in Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Research (SISTER) program at the Goddard Space Flight
Center designed to increase awareness of, and provide an opportunity
for, female middle school students to be exposed to and explore
nontraditional career fields with Goddard Space Flight Center women
engineers, mathematicians, scientists, technicians, and researchers.
Let me close by urging all Members to join me in voting to pass H.R.
321.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Comstock) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 321.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________