house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h r three sixty three which the clerk will report by title a bill to authorize appropriations for basic research and research searches the structure in science and engineering and for support of graduate fellowship and for other purposes pursuant to the rules of il is considered the first time the gentleman from tennessee mr gordon and the gentleman from texas mr hall each will control thirty minutes and the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee as soon as we can  talking about rising above the gathering storm the report charts their course for continuing american prosperity in the decades to come i recommand that my colleagues heed the warning of this report and pursue policies to every man its four major policy recommendations one of those recommendations is to and i quote sustain and strengthen the nation's tradition no commitment to loan term basic research that has the potential to be transformational to maintain the flow of bill h r three sixty three we've identified several of these action adams that have broad bipartisan support in this jam and if we could ask for a little more german is correct the house is not in order  with the staff and members who are carrying on conversations on the floor please take their conversations to the cloakroom the gentleman from tennessee thank you mr a chance that courtesy we call the bill the sowing the seeds through science and engineering act and i want to thank my colleague mr hall from texas ranking minority member of the committee on science technology we have to craft the current version of this bill six weeks ago the committee voted unanimously in favor favorable report this bill since then we've heard from such groups as the business roundtable of the council of competitive expressing their support for the bail these organizations represent a broad spectrum of business interests understand that new technology ideas are necessary for the u s prosperity and a global twenty first century economy in fact some economists have estimated that half of the economic growth of the united states as world war two can be attributed to technological innovation h r three sixty three is needed to prevent the united states from falling behind other nations whose national commitments to research are increasing just as ours have been decreasing the fear is not just about falling behind scientifically it's about falling behind economically the first three sixty three focus on support for early career scientists and engineers through grant programs at the national science foundation and the department of energy these grants will identify and support our best and brightest young researchers how reward research that is transformational or highly innovative by focusing on young researchers we promote new ideas and research on the front tiers of knowledge  also supports graduate student training grants for individuals interested in research areas relevant to industry's technological needs establishes a presidential award for innovation creates a planning mechanism for maintaining the nation's major research facilities authorizes the national science foundation to support research on innovation direct report reports on federal efforts to recruit new scientists and engineers identifies nasa as a key player in the national competitors policy this bill doesn't merely seek to fund all of science it focuses on cost during the most innovative elements of the scientific enterprise is through research such as these that we lay a foundation for future of global economic competitiveness in the future a healthy scientific and technological enterprise spawns innovation creating jobs that pay good wages and produces products that make our lives better we must pave the way to that future and i urge my colleagues to support this bill the speaker i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman competitiveness agenda package i'm pleased that this congress continues to advance innovation agenda that the president laid out two years ago primarily this bail enhances the faculty early career development program at n s f to help researchers establish a lab and pursue risky research in emerging fields that establishes a simular program at the department of energy it also ensures that funding increases proportionately to the overall in s f budget for the in integrative graduate education and research trainer ship which supports graduate students in cutting edge in a disciplinarian fiel again most of this bill was part of a republican led bill effort in the in the last congress to incorporate many of the suggestions in various innovation and competitiveness report without necessarily reinventing the wheel to do so while h three sixty three is similar to what we did last year it does have some additions that were never vetted at the committee level and have some concern with that per se process i hope that if we continue the reauthorization process for in s f the  work with me as he always has and as he does and awaken thoughtfully pass good legislation as we move forward with specific regard to h r three sixty three i do thank the chairman for working with this to restore a few of the provisions that had been previously accepted by the committee particularly a nest report language in a sense of the congress that nasa also have a role to play in the united states innovation and competitiveness it's important mr chairman that our nation continue to lead the world in technological innovation to that and in we should support legislation that advances basic science research at the national science foundation and the department of energy research conducted by these young scholars will yield countless advantages americans understand that's where to become energy independent will need solutions that promote clean affordable and reliable american energy resources and that's why the competitiveness is gender last year and that's why i continue to support this through he's been a constructive partner and i want to continue that partnership and now mr speaker mr chairman i yield this giffords from arizona valued member of our committee two minutes general a d is recognized for legislators came together and asked the national can of the academy's for a list of the top ten action items the policy makers must take in order to ensure that america stays globally competitive their report which was produced called rising above the gathering storm found that the us would stand to lose our global competitiveness if we did not act immediately one of their recommendations was to invest in research in an effort to quote sustain and strengthen the nation traditional commitment to long term basic research that has the potential to be transformational to maintain the flow of new the fuel the economy provide security and hands the quality of the light this bill does exactly that this legislation provides early career awards for scientists and engineers at the national science foundation and at the department of energy young researchers and scientists can shift paradigms break out traditions and think of new ideas within their field and it's just outside of the box thinking that we must promote the early career wars in this bill reward young scientists for engaging in both high risk but also high reward research that is transformational and innovative this does not fund all science this bill focuses on fostering the most innovative of elements in the scientific enterprise with countries such as india and china becoming more and more competitive we have to take every action storm it looked at ways in which the federal government could enhance our country's science and technology enterprise so that we can continue to grow and prosper in this global marketplace in addition to a direct mandation with respect to k twelve education the commission came to the conclusion that there is a general lack of research in science and engineering in america country must face the reality that china and india are making significant strides and pouring major resources into science and engineering therefore in order to stay competitive we need to not only encourage young students to get excited about the possibilities exist with technology advances but we also need to support young scientists research since younger scientists are more likely to do innovative and transfer made of work it is in our country's best interest to ensure that these young scientists indeed have the support that they need mr speaker the sowing the seeds through science and engineering research all those rewards for younger students in order to encourage them to continue their work in the fields of science and engineering this legislation also strengthens federal support authorizing n s f to support research on innovation and again i want to emphasize that truly believe in order for a great nation to remain competitive in the ever advancing global marketplace we need to sustain and strengthen our commitment to long term basic research this is research that has the potential to be transformational in maintaining the flow of new ideas that fuel our economy provide security and enhance the quality of bill and i ask all of my colleagues to do the same mr speaker before act concluded and hopefully i won't run out of time but i did want to at this point to say that as much as i am for this bill i have to regard to to providing scholarships for the merrick scholarships for advanced students at our high schools we already do that through the department of education and it's a very well funded program but more importantly mr speaker the reason i'm opposed to the amendment in a way it contradicts what we just did in h r three sixty two where we said we will give these grants to these students to encourage them to study and pursue math and science engineering type of advanced degrees in college with a payback a tuple one payback if they go into the teaching profession and i community where we have that great need for outstanding math and science teachers and so with that mr speaker again i support the bill i'm opposed to the jeweler brand amendment for the reasons outlined a year back my time so much time has expired the gentleman from tennessee let me thank my friend dr gingrey for his support for this good bipartisan bill and i yield two minutes to another active member of our committee mr mcnerney from california gentleman from california recognized for how long two minutes thank you mr speaker i raised today in strong bipartisan support of h r three sixty three sowing the seeds through science and engineering research before for my election to congress i spent my entire academic and professional career as a scientist as a mathematician and an engineer i was put particularly concerned while i read the sobering conclusions of the national academies rising above the gathering storm about america's declining competitiveness in science and technology blade based global economy report calls for an immediate action to maintain america's competitive advantage and i agree with those recommendations we are already moving forward to carry out some of the report's recommendations in an effort to renew interest in scientific developments h r three sixty three will provide grants to support young researchers in the early stages of their careers to engage in the high risk high reward innovative research that challenges existing assumptions the bill also establishes a presidential innovation award the scientific  stimulate scientific and engineering vance's in public interest as a nation we face many daunting and almost overwhelming challenges solutions to which will require serious and dedicated scientific research conclusive research can take years so we must work now to inspire today's students and researchers to take up such scientific pursuits this bill provides just the right kind of specific incentives to compel young researchers from texas three men and women from texas is recognized for three minutes thank you chairman i rise today to support this bill and thank chairman gordon and ranking member hall felt texan for their hard work and leadership on this issue i think we can all agree on the importance of ensuring america is competitive in science and engineering and as the national academy of sciences report rising above the gathering storm warned this country is in danger of losing its leadership role in these fields last year i sponsored the research for competitiveness act to address this issue and fortunately that legislation did not come to the floor of the house after being passed by the science committee however i'm pleased in this congress in a bipartisan fashion to note that h r three sixty three incorporates sections from last year's bill that establish early career grants for young scientists and engineers these grants will encourage scientists and engineers in the early stages of their academic careers to establish innovative lines of research this approach continues the successful model of partnership between the federal government and america's universities as you know many of the technologies we enjoy today such as breakthroughs that enabled e commerce to become a reality in the one nine hundred ninety s are based on research initially conducted at universities like the university of texas in my hometown of austin when we fund these programs such as these we are investing in mines and helping create the next generation of america's high tech workforce therefore i strongly support this legislation and yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back the balance of this time the gentleman from tennessee thank you mr mccall for his support for this good bipartisan bill and i go three minutes to another texan miss johnson who is an active sixty three this soaring the seeds to science and engineering research act this legislation was based on policy recommendations from the rising above the gathering storm report to congress by the national academy of science one of the greatest challenges new research is faced is getting a grant funding for their research and dallas the university of texas ours medical school has four nobel lara's where they earn them right there and dallas airs it at least one baylor university and others a new stellar research institutions and they compete at the national level of grants and perform award winning scientific research these univers depend on federal research funding when when new faculty are hired a research universities in texas and elsewhere they are expected to be able to write a grant proposal grants successfully when funding from federal agen such as the national institutes of health national science foundation department of energy and others a quarter of the n h the average age at which the and best a gator first obtains are a one major grant funding is age forty two if students are earning ph d s in their late twenty's that means there are many years of struggle before they can establish themselves and eventually become poor parents of at these universities as a result research vigorously as a comparative overseas are doing we wouldn't have such a problem h r three sixty three targets young investigative grants support at the national science foundation department of energy and scientific consume i thank the gentleman for yielding and i with pleasure arise to support this bill the national science foundation for years has been one of the primary sources of research funding for outstanding research in this nation in addition the department of energy office of science has been a leader and a certain areas particularly high energy particle physics but also a number of other physics areas including the high energy light sources such as we have at berkeley and a few other labs i strongly support these programs but a difficulty  developed over the past few years is that we have some early career researchers some young people just entering the field and they really have difficulty in obtaining funding because the tendency of the reef reviewers at the national science foundation and the department of energy office of science is to say well we have this group of very well known good researchers we know their backgrounds we know they can produce we know how well they do we should just give them the money and we don't know for sure but the early researchers now i don't think they actually say that but unfortunately i think it's in the back of the minds of the peer review folks as they consider proposals expert just personally personally with my son who is a young scientist and had trouble breaking into the field and had a number of proposals denied before he finally received funding even though he had made some national strides and was well known in the field yet it was difficult to get the funding these programs will be very very helpful to support early career researchers but there's another aspect that we need some new thinking and some change and that is the fact that more and more science is becoming interdisciplinary where you may have buy out biology in physics or by a physics and you have relationships between biology and chemistry or chemistry and physics you can go on and on there are all sorts of different variations sometimes you may need five or six different disciplines represented in the research program to really cover to cover all the aspects of the research when you submit a proposal usually you're required to specify one field and if you especially specify interdisciplinary sometimes the other fields are not adequately resent represented on the peer review panel these are perhaps exceptions but nevertheless we have to make sure that all these bright young scientist or those wishing to branch out into another discipline  for example having a very good background in physics and deciding they can really do some good work in bio physics so we need to take account of that and this bill will provide that within both the national science foundation and the department of energy i strongly support this bill i believe both agencies know and assess the parts and i'm sure that the department of energy office of science also supports this today and i yield three minutes to the chairman of the subcommittee own research and sachs dr baird from washington state the gentleman from washington is recognized for three months i thank my friend and chairman this is a good day for science and research and that means it's a good day for the united states of america and for our economic prosperity and for our children's future as chair of the research and science subcommittee rise today in support of h r three sixty three the sowing the seeds through science and engineering act and i want to commend chairman gordon for his strong leadership on this bill that we're considering now and on the one that passed earlier today i share chairman gordon's absolute commitment and believe that we must take bold steps now to ensure that american students and workers are prepared for the careers of the future and that our nation is equipped to compete in the global economy to accomplish this however we must make sure our young scientists receive the support they need that's why as many of our prior speakers have pointed out it is critically important to invest in the minds of young researchers now because not only of the highly productive but one day they'll fill the ranks of our senior established and groundbreaking scientists on which our country's economy competitiveness and indeed our national security depend that's why i'm so pleased we're considering h three sixty three today the bill will ensure continued innovation by supporting outstanding researchers in early career stages and ensuring the graduate students in research fields and particularly important to our future competitive this that they all receive adequate funding i also share ranking member commitment to the importance of interdisciplinary scientific studies which he so well articulated this bill in the one before that we considered already and passed today are critically important the future prosperity of our country share chairman gordon's commitment to them urge passage and i also would like to take this opportunity briefly to express support for the amendment soon to be offered by mr brown of new york her amendment will require the national science foundation to institute a program to award scholarships and finance technology engineering or mathematics to undergraduate scholars as a former teacher of undergraduate scholars and researchers i know how important this stage is to career development and i support her commitment to it applaud her offering  finally listening to the voices of the twenty first century i want to hold up this document that claims one hundred ten the congress is a congress that will move the innovation agenda it's a member of the former member the science committee i remember as the century turned in two thousand listening to c e o s who indicated the crisis in both teaching understanding and creative in math and science and technology let me rise and belatedly say that i've certainly supported the last legislative initiative dealing with ten thousand teachers and ten million mines that we just recently passed but i am delighted to be able to support the sowing the seeds to science and engineering research act of two thousand and seven and to say this science is in fact the work of the twenty first century but we are falling behind we don't need to hear this is to six again of how many engineers china graduates for example compared to the united states this workforce cannot be prepared for the twenty first century without actual investment by this country in understanding that without researchers and scientists and engineers we do not create work clearly even though these might be considered passe and simple but the light bulb the typewriter the car all innovative aspects of our  airplanes created eon that years and decades of work this legislation in particular provides an opportunity for research in the amendments that provide an opportunity for research for undergraduate scholars we have texas southern university that has a transportation study program it has a pharmacy school all mere small aspects of science which has a solar energy project that i was proud to take members of congress to in two thousand and one there are budding opportunities all over america but what was me do what must we do to ensure that it works we've got invest we've got to provide the resources we have to encourage not only students but teachers and then research is that their work is valued nasa and i'll move to the moon all concentrates on having those who will be researchers technologists our readers of software and yes we hope astronaut and so i applaud this legislation for what it does for engineers and scientists and and physicians who are pioneers of the work of the twentieth century and now can be prime years of the work of the twenty first century i believe that we have a step further to go we need geologists even though as we look at global warming we must find ways to be able to be in fishnet in the securing of energy balancing the securing of mass what we call the resources of the ground as well as nuclear as well as solar and so i think this is and i go back to balance my time the gentleman yields back all time for general debate has expired for show it to the rule of the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in the bill shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule and shall be considered read no amendment to the committee amendment is in order except those printed and house report one one zero dash nine nine each amendment may be all for it only on the water printed in the report by a member designated in the report shall be considered as read shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent of the amendment shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question  is now no wonder to consider amendment number one printed in house report one thousand and ninety nine for what purpose does the gentleman from texas around him and i have an amendment to today ask the clerk roll designate the amendment and then number one printed in house report number one ten dash ninety nine offered by mr hall of texas pursuant to house resolution three eighteen the gentleman higher learning eligible applicants or tenure track faculty and will allow the existing faculty early career development program to be designed and designated as a mechanism for awarding  such grants that we're talking about here we also require the director of the n s f that located at least three and a half percent of funds appropriated for the n s a of research and related activities it can't for the purpose and the bill now this amendment would modify the three and a half percent allocation provision to include the following calls quote except to the extent that a sufficient number of meritorious grant applications have not been received for a fiscal year and of quote i did this out of concern at the bail required the allocation of three point five percent of the funds appropriated to their early career awards for science and engineering without taking into can't there may be years in which there are not sufficient meritorious grant applications in that area and then s f could use the funds more effectively maybe in another area i hope my good friend chairman garden and my colleagues will join me in support of this amendment mr chairman i pervades provides a way for them to use the phone to another areas if they're not used to reprogram yes let me thank you and i just wanted to mention and i know this is not in the bill but i just wanted to mention a school district that i've been working with where i've tried to draw and private interest in helping with math and science labs and i know that as we look at the innovative agenda i want to make sure we don't frighten away the private finance or is as well  this happens to be a large energy company and i'm going to hopefully say to them i hope that you haven't abandoned the commitment to the north or as independent school district where we were committed to science labs and math labs and math scholar teachers so it's tracking the same innovative this of this particular bill and i think that we can work together as a partner i want to support the gentleman's amendment and i thank you and i yield back i'm in from tennessee thank you ms jackson lee for your for your addition to  this informational session here and once again let me say that i think mr hall has a good amendment and i support that amendment and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back to june back to bounce my time the question is on the amendment offered by the friend chairman gordon for reporting these two critical bills out of the science committee one focused on math and science education and the second on science and engineering taken together these two bills are critical step toward restoring our american technological base as well as giving students engineers and researchers the tools they need to compete in the global economy and their great way to kick off the innovation agenda and effort that's vital to america's competitiveness economy and security and an effort the new democratic coalition which i chair is proud to be leading i am very proud to offer a bipartisan amendment with my good friend judy biggert of the science committee our amendment would expand eligibility for national science foundation early career awards to thousands of scientists and engineers previously deemed in algebra all these men and women have followed alternative career paths such as working part time or not academic settings or have taken a significant career break or other leave of absence in particular are amendment would level the playing field for women scientists who have taken maternity leave and for scientists and engineers who have taken internships worked in industry  or who have pursued entrepreneurial efforts the amendment would also expand the scope of the presidential innovation award to recognize and reward innovations that result in intellectual property that significantly enhances economic competitiveness of the united states i strongly support speaker pelosi and chairman gordon's efforts to promote a strong innovation agenda that grows our economy and creates more jobs i appreciate working with judy biggert on this issue and i ask my colleagues to support our amen the general a d is recognized for five minutes thank you mr chairman i rise today in support of the tauscher bigger and bigger it amendment to h r three sixty three the sowing the seeds through science and engineering research act  pleased to work with my colleague from california mr sure in developing this amendment she deserves the credit for the substance of it i just happen to think she had a great idea and i'm honored to lend my support mr chairman we face a world in which our economic competitors and asia and europe are making significant new investments in their own research capabilities in terms of both infrastructure and human capital these investments are beginning to pay off as asian and european countries challenge us leadership in the sciences no matter how it is measured by number of patents one article submitted to scientific journals nobel prix prizes won the percentage of gross domestic product dedicated to research and development and even the number of degrees awarded report after report from the national academies to the task force on the future of american innovation has concluded that we need more people with scientific expertise and engineering talent if we are to counter this threat only our national security and our economic competitiveness are at stake unfortunately the number of undergraduate degrees and ph d s awarded in the united states in science and engineering has been flat are stagnant over a decade and of those undergraduates who have tain a degree in science or engineering only twenty eight percent actually go on to get their graduate degree or pursue a career in science and engineering that's why this amendment is so important it expands eligibility for the as n s f early career awards to thousands of scientists and engineers who have thought of followed alternative career paths such as working part time or a non academic settings or who have taken a significant career break but want to get back into the lab for instance over twelve thousand men and women with doctorates in science or engineering currently are not working because of family responsibilities according to the most recent statistics compiled by n s f of those over eleven thousand are women who may be raising children or caring for a sick parent imagine the countless benefits of just getting these eleven thousand women back into the lab but this amendment has the potential to do so much more than that it provides an opportunity for thousands of other people with scientific expertise and training men and women who do get the support to get the support they need to reenter the scientific and engineering workforce and get back to doing the scientific work that is so important to the competitiveness of our nation this amendment also recognizes and rewards those scientists and engineers whose innovative ideas and hance the economic competitiveness of the united states it does so by making them eligible for the presidential in innovation award created by this bill mr chairman by creating additional opportunities to expand the ranks of scientists and engineers and rich and rewarding them for innovative ideas that make the nation more economically competitive this immense amendment strengthens our ability to innovate and it is our ability to innovate that has made and will make america the envy of the world in terms of our freedoms  friend for yielding but more importantly i thank you for bringing this amendment to before us it really is an example of why diversity of collaboration helps you make better decisions this was a nation that we simply overlook and with  it the amendment is agreed to chairman first i want to thank the chairman of the committee of science and technology mr chairman gordon for putting forward h r three six three which will increase america's competitiveness in the world by strengthening our science and research base i offer this bipartisan amendment to build the pipeline for our country's future teachers scientists engineers and researches researchers by proposing twenty five hundred scholarships each year of full tuition to any state university or college my management is based on the national academy of strong recommendation for the federal government to develop an undergraduate scholarship program for students studying science technology engineering and mathematics this amendment will create the recommend a recommended scholarship program through the national science foundation under the amendment and undergraduate student who be who comes from a family with an income less than seventy five thousand dollars maintains at least a three point zero grade point average and is studying science technology engineering or math they receive up to two years of pay tuition at that state university since the year two thousand and one tuitions at state universities have risen by forty one percent making the task of paying for college much more difficult scholarships for bright students will increase the number of students who will have the resources to go into the stem fields and achieve their god given potential having a homegrown educated workforce will be crucially important to the future strength of america's economy not only by allowing families and students who are financially stretched to continue their education at high quality programs such as nanotechnology program at suny albany city delhaize college of technology or the psycho technology program at suny plastered all colleges that are very important to my district in upstate new york but because by educating america's students in these fields we will ensure that america retains our competitive advantage in the science field around the world my upstate new york district is beginning an exciting new economic revival based on the high tech sector and we need to maintain a local wood work force that is skilled in engineering and mathematics investment in higher education and science are some of the most important investments our government can make and i engineering and mathematics degrees the standard degrees to receive scholarship a student has to be a junior or senior at a four year public institution have at least a three point zero grade point average come from a family with an income of seventy five thousand dollars or less and be a citizen or a permanent resident alien with no felony convictions generally am supportive of marriage scholarships and while this particular concept sounds good it's duplicative it's almost identical programme alright already exist at the department of education it's called the science and mathematics access to retain talent grant and is part of the president's american competitiveness initiative  weight budget request for the scholarship program is one point two billion we don't need to add another two hundred eighty one million dollars scholarship program at another agency that achieves essentially the exact same thing k twelve teaching profession a requirement for the scholarship is it they give back to society by obligating to teach two years for every year of scholars