[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 3083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            PELL GRANT MATH AND SCIENCE INCENTIVE ACT, 2001

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cantor). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Keller) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. KELLER. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I filed legislation called the 
Pell Grant Math and Science Incentive Act of 2001, and I rise today to 
speak in favor of this piece of legislation. I would like to tell my 
colleagues about what it is, why we need it, and who is supporting it.
  Under this bill, a low-income college student who qualifies for a 
Pell grant would be eligible for an additional $1,000 grant that he 
would not have to pay back if he has demonstrated a proficiency in math 
and science while in high school.
  Let me tell my colleagues why this legislation is desperately needed. 
We have a problem with filling high-tech jobs in the United States 
right now. Currently, there are over 300,000 high-tech jobs that are 
unfilled in the United States because we just do not have the math-and-
science-educated workforce to fill these jobs. This is costing 
businesses $4.5 billion a year in loss of productivity. Now, we do what 
we can to increase H1B visas. Currently there are over 100,000, so we 
go to foreign countries and allow their high-tech people in to fill 
these jobs, but yet we are still 300,000 jobs short. We desperately 
need college graduates trained in math and science.
  I learned this firsthand when I held a high-tech conference in my 
hometown of Orlando, Florida. At this conference was 75 leaders from 
the education community, high-tech industry, and political leaders, as 
well as leaders from Congress. What I learned there was one thing: what 
is most important to the high-tech business folks is having a well-
educated workforce that produces graduates from our local universities 
who have experience in math and science. It does not have to be a 
specific computer major, not a specific Internet major, but someone who 
can do trigonometry, calculus, and basic science.
  I also went and met with Silicon Valley executives, and I learned 
from them that the reason they are in Silicon Valley is because of 
Stanford and Berkeley. They have a steady stream of high-tech workforce 
produced there. They told me that the main thing they need is math and 
science graduates.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a second reason for this legislation. We have a 
desperate need for more math and science teachers in this country. We 
will need to hire over 2 million teachers in the next 10 years. The 
biggest shortage we have are math and science teachers.
  According to a survey just completed of large city school 
superintendents, 97 school districts in the United States require more 
science teachers today, and 95 percent of the school districts need 
more math teachers today. So we desperately need to help those low-
income folks who may not otherwise go to college, but who have the 
ability in math and science to open the door of college to them and to 
provide them with this additional grant.
  Now, who supports this legislation? Well, President George W. Bush is 
one. President Bush campaigned on the platform of providing an extra 
$1,000 for first-year college students who have demonstrated 
proficiency in math and science. In fact, his position is laid out in 
detail on his Web site: www.georgewbush.com. A second key supporter is 
the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers), who this House knows is one 
of the gurus here in terms of math and science education and is a 
strong supporter of this legislation.
  Perhaps the best part of this legislation is that it pays for itself. 
Right now, companies pay over $100 million a year collectively to 
provide for H1B visas to provide a short-term solution for the lack of 
high-tech workers. We can take that money and use it to fund this Pell 
Grant Math and Answer Incentive Act and would not have to raise any 
taxes and yet fix the long-term problem with the short-term money here.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to sign on as cosponsors for this 
important piece of legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote 
for it. It will make a meaningful difference in the lives of our young 
people who need help going to college; it will make a meaningful 
difference in the lives of high-tech folks who need additional workers, 
and it makes good common sense.

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