[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H273-H275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PROMOTING WOMEN IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACT

  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 255) to authorize the National Science Foundation to support 
entrepreneurial programs for women.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 255

       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 ``Promoting Women in 
     Entrepreneurship Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds that--
       (1) women make up almost 50 percent of the workforce, but 
     less than 25 percent of the workforce in science, technology, 
     engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions;
       (2) women are less likely to focus on the STEM disciplines 
     in undergraduate and graduate study;
       (3) only 26 percent of women who do attain degrees in STEM 
     fields work in STEM jobs;
       (4) there is an increasing demand for individuals with STEM 
     degrees to extend their focus beyond the laboratory so they 
     can be leaders in discovery commercialization;
       (5) studies have shown that technology and 
     commercialization ventures are successful when women are in 
     top management positions; and
       (6) the National Science Foundation's mission includes 
     supporting women in STEM disciplines.

     SEC. 3. SUPPORTING WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURIAL PROGRAMS.

       Section 33 of the Science and Engineering Equal 
     Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (10);
       (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (11) and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(12) encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit 
     and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory 
     and into the commercial world.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
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. 255, 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 offer another bipartisan bill that Ms. Esty and I have introduced, 
H.R. 255, her bill called Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act. We 
are joined again on this measure by the chairman and the ranking 
member, who are original cosponsors of this bill.
  Our bill, H.R. 255, amends the Science and Engineering Equal 
Opportunities Act to authorize the National Science Foundation to use 
its entrepreneurial programs to recruit women and to extend their focus 
beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world. The bill also 
includes a number of findings regarding women in science, technology, 
engineering, and mathematics fields, also known as the STEM fields.
  One finding in this bill notes that women make up almost 50 percent 
of the workforce but less than 25 percent of the workforce in STEM 
professions. We want to make sure we can do everything to improve these 
statistics, and we believe this bill, along with our earlier bill that 
we voted on, is a step in the right direction.
  Again, I have been happy to collaborate with my colleague, 
Congresswoman Esty, on this important legislation for our young women 
so that they may look to the stars and realize their dreams in this 
important field that will really be important in the 21st century. I 
urge my colleagues to support the bill.
  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. 255, the Promoting Women in 
Entrepreneurship Act.
  Our bill encourages the National Science Foundation to use its 
successful entrepreneurial education and training programs, such as the 
Innovation Corps, known as I-Corps, and Partnerships for Innovation, to 
inspire, recruit, and support women scientists and engineers who are 
interested in turning their laboratory discoveries into commercial 
technologies.
  Mr. Speaker, you may ask: Why is it that we need a bill like this? We 
have these programs. Doesn't everyone know that we need more women in 
the STEM fields?
  The answer is twofold:
  Number one, we have a workforce shortage. If you take the field of 
advanced manufacturing by itself, in New England, there are 16,000 
positions that are open currently. We have people who are looking for 
work--many of them women. They don't have the skill sets to meet that 
open job need right now, and that is a need for America to fill those 
jobs; so, number one, we need our qualified workforce with appropriate 
skills to meet the jobs of today.
  We also need to think about the jobs of tomorrow. We are a 
wonderfully diverse country. Over half of our workforce is made up of 
women and people of color--historically, chronically, still--
underrepresented in the STEM fields. There are problems we aren't even 
addressing and solutions we haven't thought of if we don't have more 
women with these power tools of the STEM skills to address the 
challenges and opportunities that this country is facing; so it is both 
a moral and an economic imperative that we equip more young women, and 
that is what our bill aims to do here today.
  I have heard time and time again in my district, in which we have a 
lot of small startup companies and major universities, about this 
challenge that we face of bridging that gap between the laboratory and 
what happens in the commercial workforce. Through my work, I have 
formed a STEM advisory council and have met with them for the last 2 
years. Among these are the problems they identified: limited access to 
capital, a lack of women mentors in the STEM fields, unmanageable 
expectations for work-life balance, and unconscious biases against 
women in the sciences. These are among the sorts of issues for which 
the I-Corps and the Partnerships for Innovation have been designed--in 
order to help close that gap to deal with these issues.
  I want to give you examples of two of the women in my district with 
whom I have met who are benefiting from these programs and why we need 
to have more of them and the kind of difference that they will make.

[[Page H274]]

  The first is Zengmin Xia. She is a student at the University of 
Connecticut, and she helped the Wei Laboratory secure a National 
Science Foundation I-Corps grant to commercialize her work on tissue 
engineer scaffolds, innovative work which is going to help with bone 
repair and regeneration. She attributes her success to her female 
adviser and mentor, Professor Mei Wei, who encouraged her as a young 
woman to carry out her path forward in the biotech world. She helped 
her make that transition from the lab and the classroom out into the 
commercial world. She was lucky that she had a mentor with the 
experience to help close this gap.
  Claire Leonardi is the CEO of Health Esense, which is a digital 
health startup firm in Avon, Connecticut. She received seed grant 
funding and gained access to hands-on training workshops to learn how 
to market her technology to consumers. She is now equipped with the 
tools to take her discovery and bring it into market.
  Both of these women scientists are examples of the kind of 
innovation, the kind of economic engine, and the problem solving we 
need all Americans to participate in. That is what is at stake. That is 
why we are proposing this. This is not simply about having a poster 
with a diverse group of scientists to hang on the wall at the Air and 
Space Museum and inspire young people. That is important, but it is 
also important to build on the good work we have already done with the 
National Science Foundation--to really provide that equipment, those 
tools, those mentors, the training, and to take those lab discoveries, 
the basic R&D, and commercialize it.

  I am very excited that we are reintroducing this bill. It passed with 
overwhelming support in the last Congress. Once again, sadly, it did 
not pass in the Senate, but we will start early in this Congress. I am 
delighted to be working again with my colleague, Mrs. Comstock; with 
the ranking member, Eddie Bernice Johnson, who is here today; and with 
Chairman Smith, who is detained with other committee work.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 
H.R. 255, the Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act.
  The bill helps to build on STEM education and mentorship programs, 
such as those highlighted in the INSPIRE Women Act.
  More women are pursuing STEM degrees and careers overall, but they 
continue to be underrepresented in many STEM fields. This is especially 
true in STEM fields with high entrepreneurship rates, such as 
engineering and computer science. Women who successfully complete 
degrees in these fields and want to turn their research and their 
talents into building new companies and creating new jobs then 
disproportionately face new hurdles, such as obtaining access to 
credit.
  Unfortunately, because of these barriers, it remains as important as 
ever for our Federal science agencies to support programs and provide 
grants with the goal of encouraging, inspiring, and supporting women in 
STEM at all levels of their education and training, including 
entrepreneurship education and training.
  H.R. 255 ensures that longstanding entrepreneurship education and 
training programs at the National Science Foundation continue to 
encourage and recruit women who are looking to move beyond the 
laboratory and commercialize the results of their research. If we are 
serious about growing our economy, it is just common sense that we 
would encourage all of our best and brightest--male and female--to 
commercialize their best ideas and create new companies and new jobs.
  I thank my colleagues Representative Esty for her leadership and 
Representative Comstock for her leadership on this bill. I strongly 
support the bill and encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
to support it.
  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1615

  Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank Congressman Comstock, 
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson, and our Chairman Lamar Smith, and 
I would urge my colleagues to support this worthwhile piece of 
legislation. It is wonderful to be able to start out the legislative 
session with important legislation that will help make a difference. 
Not only the lives of the individuals who receive these grants and this 
training but the entire country benefits when we have more women and 
more young women trained in these fields and able to operationalize and 
commercialize their discoveries to the benefit of all Americans and, in 
many cases, the entire world.
  I urge my colleagues to adopt this and vote in favor of this 
important resolution.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Esty and 
Congressman Johnson and appreciate their passion on both of these bills 
and their leadership and, once again, being able to join with them on 
inspiring the next generation of women leaders in the STEM fields.
  As was noted by my colleagues, there is such a shortage of people to 
fill these jobs in general. Now this will equip more women to be able 
to be prepared in these important fields that will allow us to be 
leaders in the 21st century economy.
  I would like to thank our staff--particularly we have our female 
staff here who have been very active on our bill, as well as a male. We 
are fortunate to have female leadership on our staff, also, and we 
thank them.
  I know, in working on a program that I have had over the past 4 
years, a young woman's leadership program, NASA, space, and astronauts 
have been some of the most popular people that our women in junior high 
and high school have liked to meet, hear from, and really be able to 
see themselves in those roles and to talk to women who have actually 
been leaders in those fields.
  So I appreciate the opportunity to join with my colleagues now in 
giving that opportunity to the next generation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 255, the Promoting 
Women in Entrepreneurship Act. I thank my Science Committee colleagues 
Ms. Esty, who authored the bill, and Research and Technology 
Subcommittee Chairwoman Comstock for their initiative on this issue.
  H.R. 255 authorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF) to use its 
existing entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women and help 
them develop their research and technology ideas for the marketplace.
  STEM education is critical to our country's economy and global 
competitiveness. A well-educated and trained STEM workforce promotes 
our future economic prosperity.
  These STEM workers have the potential to develop technologies that 
could save thousands of lives, jump-start new industries, or even 
discover new worlds.
  That's why I authored with Ms. Esty the STEM Education Act, a new law 
that strengthens science, technology, engineering and mathematics 
education efforts at federal science agencies. It also, for the first 
time, expands the definition of STEM to include computer science. The 
bill was signed by the President in October 2015.
  Unfortunately, studies show that only 26 percent of women who attain 
degrees in STEM fields work in STEM jobs.
  H.R. 255 encourages NSF to tackle this problem. It enhances women's 
ability to translate their enthusiasm, scientific expertise and 
research ideas into tangible products and businesses.
  Inspiring American students to seek science and math careers is a 
goal shared by Republicans and Democrats alike. Some of the most 
energizing and exciting moments of my Science Committee chairmanship 
have been interactions with young people who want to pursue STEM 
studies and careers.
  At various Committee hearings and robotics competitions in my 
district, I have encountered motivated, talented young people who want 
nothing more than an opportunity to pursue their dreams. And, in some 
cases, change the world with their ideas.
  Their passion for learning and science reminds me of why I enjoy 
serving in Congress and on the Science Committee.
  I again thank Ms. Esty and Chairwoman Comstock for their work on this 
bill. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 255.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 255 the 
``Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act.''

[[Page H275]]

  As a Senior Member on the House Committee on Homeland Security who 
sits on the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, 
and Security Technologies, I know well of the need to encourage and 
train women to thrive in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and 
Mathematics (STEM) fields.
  Promoting diversity in the STEM professions is more than just an 
idea; it requires an understanding that there is a need to have a 
process that will ensure the inclusion of all minorities and women in 
all areas of American life.
  Studies have found that women make up almost 50 percent of the 
workforce.
  Studies note that 23 percent of STEM workers are women; however, 
women make up 48 percent of workers in all occupations.
  Only 26 percent of women who do attain degrees in STEM fields work in 
STEM jobs.
  According to the most recent available data women are less likely to 
focus on the STEM disciplines in undergraduate and graduate studies.
  In 1991, women received 29.6 percent of computer science B.A.'s, 
compared to just 18.2 percent in 2010.
  Jobs in computer systems design and related services, a field 
dependent upon high-level math and problem-solving skills, are 
projected to grow 45 percent between 2008 and 2018.
  There are approximately 6 million women and minority owned businesses 
in the United States, representing a significant aspect of our economy.
  My home city of Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world, 
knows the importance of professionals in the STEM industries.
  It has been reported that the highest-paying STEM occupations are 
petroleum engineers with an annual salary of $147,520, architectural 
and engineering managers with an annual salary of $138,720, natural 
sciences managers with an annual salary of $136,450, computer and 
information systems managers with an annual salary of $136,280, and 
physicists with a reported annual salary of $117,300.
  There is an increasing demand for individuals with STEM degrees to 
extend their focus beyond the laboratory so they can be leaders in 
discovery and commercialization.
  Women deserve a fair shot in the STEM programs in this nation.
  In addition, I believe that work needs to be done to modernize key 
contracting developmental programs designed to increase opportunities 
for women, minorities and low-income individuals who pursue STEM 
degrees and STEM job training.
  I support programs at the National Science Foundation that have 
worked to reduce the current barriers and ensure women have the support 
they need in the STEM fields.
  Mr. Speaker, we should encourage women to pursue degrees and careers 
in the STEM fields so we can continue to compete in the global economy.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Marchant). 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. 255.
  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.

                          ____________________