[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.
____________________