ok good morning everyone the committee will come to order pursuant to notice the committee on science technology meets to consider the following measures h r twenty twenty nine the networking and information technology research and development act of two thousand nine hundred seventeen thirty six international science and technology corporation act two thousand and nine and h r seventeen o nine the stem education coordination act of two thousand and nine now i would like to thank  members elders and other members of the research and science education subcommittee for their work and to improve these bills at subcommittee level and i think we should also in a stance just thank jim wilson i hope that you will pass it on to him for leaving good legacy  to us which was which was certainly improved with our current staff and members while the subject matter varies greatly there is a common theme in all three of the bills before us today they all strengthen interagency coordination process to achieve a set of goals that no one agency can achieve on its own in fact this theme cuts across many of the priorities of the science technology committee this congress beginning with the national nanotechnology initiative bill passed the house in february to the national water research and development initiative act of two thousand and nine that passed the house by boat of four hundred thirteen to t n just last week h r twenty twenty eight the networking information collaboration of more than a dozen federal research and development agencies for a current total federal investment of approximately three and a half billion dollars as of may sound like a lot but the european union is investing seven billion dollars over the next five years in cyber physical systems alone to ensure that we make the most effective use of our own resources to remain in a a leader in these fields is critical that these many agencies come together to develop common goals and well defined strategies to networking and information technology r and d h r twenty twenty strengthens the interagency strategic maning process formally authorizes the national coordination office that oversees and enforces this process requires that a wide range of industry and academic stakeholders have input into the process given how rapidly this field evolves a regular and comprehensive look at the night of the program but congress is timely and i want to thank mr hall bring to do sing this important piece of legislation with nate and i urge my colleagues to support it h r seven hundred thirty six the international science technology cooperation act of two thousand man would create a committee under the national science technology council to coordinate international s m t activities at our federal agencies by bringing together the department of state and the r and d activities to focus on the international component national already priorities a similar committee in the one thousand nine hundred lots some important initiatives most notably in the area of infectious diseases is critical that we don't miss opportunities to leverage our resources against those of other nations to tackle today's greatest global challenges including energy and water and to strengthen the contribution of u s science technology to our national security there is no existing entity whose primary purpose is to look across the federal government for such n s t c to coordinate stem education activities across the federal government when half the world's workers earn less than two dollars a day we cannot compete own numbers to stay competitive we must keep feeding the marketplace with new ideas that lead to new u s companies and had and knew how paying jobs this foundation for this innovative economy twenty first century skilled workforce the federal government can play an important role in stem education at all levels because of the written richness s m t resources at our science agencies it may not surprise you to learn that our science agencies have little had little idea what other science agencies are funding in terms of stem education and often don't even communicate between offices within a single agency this is not an acceptable situation mr hollis join me in reducing this bill because we agree that agencies need to be sharing best practices with each other elevating their programs for effectiveness and general generally making more efficient and effective use of taxpayers dollars and i want to thank mr hall and the chair and ranking member of the research and science education subcommittee colleagues and staff for their hard work on these bills and i look forward to improving them and even further with your members today and i am aest recognize mr hall who will soon be recognizing his  technology research and development program we're also marking up legislation improve stem education court nation among the federal agencies and a bill to coordinate science and technology initiatives that can help foster international cooperation all of these bills do exactly what this committee should be doing ensuring that our government is effectively and efficiently using federal science and technology dollars to guarantee we stay on top of cutting edge research both domestically and standard education cord nation act twenty twenty and seventeen zero one and i also want to thank you for maintaining regular order with both h r seventeen o nine and h r seventeen thirty six and giving everyone opportunity to work on these at sub committee level first that's the way you work things out when it comes to stem education in particular i think we're all better served to have dr elders involved in the beginning as he begins and bring so much to the table along this line i know that all of both of our staff have worked diligently to get these bills to where we are today and i look forward to a discussion of proposed amendments not thank you back thank you mr hall where would i consider h r twenty congratulations chairman gordon one for the twentieth consecutive year the capital challenge a three mile race i think you ran it in sixteen fifty eight was it that was a few years ago  no not quite that this year but still twenty consecutive years and he certainly doesn't look at but the chairman is now sixty years old and this isn't a struttin their accomplishment and i just want to express my congratulations twenty the networking information technology research and development act of two thousand and nine recognize myself i think that this bill has been adequately described already in our earlier remarks and i think mr hall for his remarks and also probably a very good point in his remarks is in that is the regular order of going through a committee process i think that i have to say that i think we've done a good job of that these last few years and i think because of that we get better bills but it also puts work subcommittee chairs and ranking members and i want to thank them for the for the time i don't think we've ever called upon our ranking members and our so committee chairs to do as much as we have here recently and it helps us to do a better job i now recognize mr hall to present any remarks on the bill mr chairman how ready mentioned and i'm pleased to join you and the original co sponsor and networking and information technology plays an enormous role in our everyday lives all fun and ways we don't even realize even more significant it's a vital importance their homeland security and our economy the legislation is a combination of recommendation from the peak cast report and feedback we receive from hearing witnesses in numerous organizations you know we have people come here to testify before so and it takes their time to drive here to where they depart from and they've taken them a lot of years to get capable and qualified to come and give us information and then they give us their time to be here so we're very fortunate to have that type of cooperation with the chairman because the chairman invites some and they do us a great service actually a ccordingly we draw a lot of testimony from them and it finds its way into the bailiffs so they do a good job for us and with the addition of the manager's amendment i think it's a good solid base and h by the way i ran the mile jim moran and i both ran them out years ago together we ran a ten minute mile he ran his and for does anyone else wish to be recognized i ask unanimous consent that the bill is considered as read and open to amendment at any point and that the members performance computing with the phrase networking and information technology the scope of the original program established in one thousand nine hundred one has expanded beyond r and d and half performance or supercomputing to include research and development in all areas of networking and information technology the change in terminology more accurately reflects the breadth of the current program and urge my colleagues at this minute is there further discussion on the amendment if no the vote o  are critical to our american economy unfortunately the current education pipeline does not meet the demands of these crucial industries there are two major challenges that must be addressed if we're going to remain competitive with other countries when it comes to computing first we need to get more students exposed to innovative engaging and rigorous computer science curriculum at the through twelve level and second we need to ensure that more of these students are girls and minorities it's only by increasing well under represented minorities is what i should say it's only by increasing the diversity of didn't those who are being brought into the computer science fields that we will be able to fulfill the need for this wide range of jobs that's why i'm offering this amendment to h r twenty twenty the networking and information technology research and development act this man does two things one  t requires night or d as part of its required strategic plan to include diversity goals and programs to bring in more women and unrepresentative minorities and two it requires a national science foundation to better coordinate and expand its education programs in the area of computer science education was a special focus towards including more girls and minorities is clear we need to get more women involved in computer science in fact in two thousand and eight only seventeen percent of advanced placement a p computer science test takers were women even though women represented fifty five percent of all a p test takers participation in computer science a p tests among under represented minorities has increased in the past decade but it is still only at eleven percent compared to one thousand percent of all a p test takers mr cheney chairman these low participation numbers are truly disturbing we must do more to strengthen computer science curricula and to expose and attract a more diverse population of students to computing of the case through twelve level this amendment is an important step towards these goals  offered by mr lew on mexico as unanimous consent to dispense with the reading that objection so ordered i recognize the gentleman for five minutes to explain his amendment thank you mr chairman my amendment today promotes collaboration between our federal laboratories and higher and higher learning institutions and industry so that laboratories and higher learning institutions research and development activities can assist industries commercial development efforts our national labs are making tremendous technological advantage at dances every day and we must take advantage of their discoveries and support their innovative research programs to improve america's economic competitiveness in my district los alamos national laboratories has been utilizing supercomputers to analyze a cyber physical interface for many years in addition mr chairman los alamos is at the forefront of modeling our nation's energy grid down to the substation level and to understand how to better manipulate and control the operating systems in mechanics our national laboratories are the world's leaders in advanced applications of super computing technology and software by mamet's they will ensure that their expertise and the resources and expertise of our colleges and universities are included in this legislation and that's united states continues to benefit from their his willingness to modify his amendment to make sure we're not inadvertently missing a potential research breakthrough opportunity thank you i'd like to ask mr lew on a question were you related the man will lose mr chairman that's that's an interesting question i'm actually a little hot on both sides of the family and the former secretary former member of congress mind well a little high on his teach history and my second grade elementary teacher and mr littlejohn is actually a  distant cousin on mom's side of the family's or i'd like to hear from your father new mexico or from the south is something you understand i don't really know what you were telling me the answer yes i don't want to rag on young men run anyway there any other amendments if no then the vote is on the bill h r twenty twenty as amended all those in favor say aye aye oppose no opinion the chair the eyes have it recognize mr hall now for motion mr chairman i move this to committee favorably report h r twenty twenty as amended to the house with a recommendation to bail is amended to pass furthermore i move that staff be instructed pair the legislative report and make necessary guys have it the bill was fabre reported without objection a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table members will have two subsequent calendar days in which to submit supplemental minority or additional views on the measure we will now consider h r seven thirty six the international science and technology cooperation act of two thousand and nine i recognize the gentleman from washington to describe this bill thank the chairman very much and i want to thank my colleagues who've worked very diligently on this particularly diplomatic community as well the question really is how can we use our substantial scientific and technological resources to promote our diplomatic agenda and vice versa but iraq who is the vice president for global engagement at arizona state university has been a vocal advocate of this and defines what he refers to as the four d's of international collaboration discovery diplomacy decisionmaking and development in addition norm new writer who's been a leader in this field  said international cooperation in s and t can be highly effective soft power instrument for a constructive foreign policy h r seventeen thirty six the international science and technology cooperation act would reconstitute a committee on international science and engineering and technology under the national science and technology council a renewed and reinvigorated cise it would facilitate the end identification and building of international partnerships to meet any or all of these the jap objectives by strengthening inter agency coordination among the technical agencies and between the technical agencies and the department of state specifically h r seven hundred thirty six with charge cise that with planning and coordinating international s and t research and training partnerships identifying opportunities for new international partnerships that serve both domestic s m t missions and foreign policy goals and working with international s n t counterparts to establish such partnerships finally the bill would require an annual report to congress on sites it activities again i want to thank my colleagues and our outstanding staff for their work on this thank the chairman again and would urge yes it's thank you dr baird you know i think passion was the certainly the right term you have spent a great deal of time this is going to be a mark of years the other march but this will be one one mark and in congress not just this bill but what you've done in the area not only will it help to improve relations between countries but many of the research goals we  want to attain particular area of energy are expensive and it is tough to do just with one nation and here we both share the cost and the in a lack in the intellectual ability so this is very good i thank you and i now recognize to present your remarks on the bill mr chairman as you have said there has been well said international science and technology cooperation is an incredibly important issue and one that presents not only great prospects  collaboration for scientific breakthroughs but also cultivates promising diplomatic opportunities and sometimes even unpredicted challenges i appreciate the work that the research and science education subcommitte first began using science as part of diplomacy and that played a key role in bringing the soviet union and the united states closer together and eventually ended with the downfall of the discovered that there is no one in the state department who is representing science in dealing with other countries we have managed to change that since but there still is still needs strengthening and identified in coordinating activities within the federal government which mutually benefit our scientific enterprise and our foreign policy goals is a valuable mission and i am pleased the full committee is considering this legislation today and i would also like to acknowledge the work of the former subcommittee chairman still very good for pursuing avenues that the science and technology committee can use to support the intersection and expansion of science and diplomacy today's legislation reestablishes a committee under the national science and technology council designed to coordinate and plan international science and technology activities we have worked to ensure that high level officials from the department of state and the office of science and technology policy will provide the leadership necessary to make such collaboration's more successful across the federal government i look forward to seeing this in action i also look forward to monitoring the food of this committee and will continue to support this bill as it moves closer to becoming law i think we have a golden opportunity to return to the golden age of the seventy's and eighty's and really set a good cooperative efforts with many nations and bringing all the nations together as a result and with that i will yield back thank you dr elders for thank you for your long history working on this you know certainly if our majority and minority can work together on this bill other countries can work together on important  underscore the port point mr taylor says just made about cooperation there are so many areas right now that we need to cooperate internationally in terms of science community and mr barrett just very involved with scientific research dealing with the oceans and that's not something we should be doing our own that should be a joint effort with other countries and  should look to other countries to play an important role in whatever research we have with the ocean most people in this committee understand that i have a keen interest in near earth objects and the fact that there may be some asteroid or comments are meteorite that might hit the earth and that we should be prepared for that and in order to accomplish these ends we need to be working with say that you are near earth object is does anyone else wish to be recognized and then i ask unanimous consent the bill is considered as read and open to a member at any point that objection so ordered are there any amendments you know we make jay leno look serious no then the vote is on the bail h r seven hundred thirty six all those in favor will say i six as amended to the house with recommendation that the bill to pass for the more i move that the staff be instructed to prepare the legislate report and make necessary technical and conforming changes the chairman take all the necessary steps to bring the bill before the house for consideration questions on the on the motion to report the bill favorably those in favor of the motion will signify by saying ah no as have it and the bill is for a reported that objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table members will have two subsequent calendar days in which to submit a supplemental minority or additional views on the measure we will now consider h r seventeen zero nine the stam education coordination act of two thousand and nine and  recognize myself to scrap the bill science technology engineering and math stem education is one of the most critical issues facing our nation today difficult economic times served to remind us the importance of education because we simply cannot compete in an increasingly global economy without a highly skilled twenty first century workforce real improvements and stam education requires commitment bad the local state and federal  level state local school districts and teachers all over the nation working in the trenches every day to improve the quality of stem education for our students and while our federal agencies all have worthwhile programs in place to share knowledge and passion for stem with students there is little communication or collaboration among the agencies with regard to their stamp education work and becoming question clear that rather than reinvent the wheel agency by agency there is a desperate need for a forum in which they can come together to discuss findings on the most effective research based education programming share tools for improved dissemination create common metrics for committee on stem education under the national science and technology council charged with coordinating the stem education programs and activities being funded to the federal mission agencies specifically h r seventeen o nine would charge the committee with developing a stem education strategy to plan to specify and prioritize annual and long term objectives and to develop common metrics to be used to assess progress of the programs and activities included by agency the bill also charges the committee with establishing and maintaining a comprehensive him a tory a federally sponsored stem education activities this valuable database will include assessment of the various programs and activities and will have to sta occasion community learn what the federal government has to offer family the bill will require an annual report to congress including a description and funding level stem education programs and activities at each of the participating federal agencies for both the previous and the current fiscal years and i would like to thank ranking member hall dr pinsky and dr regulars who have joined me in co sponsoring this good bipartisan bill and i urge my colleagues to support it of those stamp programs in the federal government that are effective and and could service model for other agencies as it is i guess first and eliminate those programs that are duplicative even wasteful this bill goes a long way support the science technology engineering and math education coordination act of two thousand and nine i've been involved since in stem ed since roughly one thousand nine hundred sixty seven and taught for twenty years and by choice taught courses and non scientist my scientist colleagues thought i was crazy for being willing to do that but they were delighted because it meant they didn't have to do it but i thought one of the principal things i could do is educate teachers well enough so that they could teach well in the classroom and that's how i took this path one of the simplest ways to improve stem education at this point is to keep better track of what the federal government is doing already to strengthen our innovation capacity through through through programs spread across the federal government and there are many such programs the academic competitiveness council report of two thousand and seven revealed a snapshot of stem programs across the federal government but the information it provided was only the tip of the iceberg a sustained comprehensive inventory of federal stem programs remained elusive later in two thousand and seven the national science board recommended the creation of a standing committee of the national science and technology council with the responsibility of coordination of stem education activities across the federal government i pleased that this recommendation will be a reality when the legislation before us today is signed into law i believe that increased transparency it will be helpful to stem practitioners in the federal government and to the public it is very important that we recognize that there is strength and versity of stem education programs each one may have a new parent meet a unique goal for improving stem education conversely programs a similar goals may new unique population age group each one can successfully control tribute to the broad goal of strengthening our nation's capacity for creativity and innovation by shedding light on the breast goals methods and successes of federal stem education programs we will be able to better support our economic and national security the ultimate aim of all this coordination is of course to prepare superior materials and make them available to teachers across the nation who can through the means provided by this be alert and aware of what is happening in the developments of science and mass teaching and i believe this this bill go a strong supporter of this bill this year china will graduate seven times as many engineers as we graduate and about half of our engineering graduates will be chinese students so this clearly clearly is that issue of national concern is important if this bill isn't as hard as we work on this what we really need in our country is a cultural change a society gets what it appreciates and the reality is that as a society we just don't appreciate academic achievers in these areas bright young boys are called geeks and nerds and pretty girls won't date them and bright girls have to play dumb to get a date is this dumb this is really dumb we need a cultural change and let's hope that it starts here thank you very much mr chairman will the gentleman yield yes if you have to the i just want to make it clear on the record that i am a nerd and i am proud of it and i also married a and open to be a member at any point and that the members proceed with the members in the order the roster without objection so ordered the first amendment on the roster is the amendment offered by the gentle lady from texas are you ready to proceed with your amendment technology council as you know this committee will be responsible coordinating federal education programs in the area of science technology engineering and math that is commonly called stam courses the committee also  will be asked to develop a five year strategic plan for stem education and i am in that indicates that common metrics will be used to assess progress and achieving the objectives of the strategic plan and in addition the admin it states that the director of office of science and technology policy should encourage and monitor the efforts are participating agencies to ensure that their strategic plan is developed and executed effectively and for the  report to congress describe it is below my name it also states that descriptions of progress shall include a description of the outcome of any program assessments completed in the previous year it is clear  that the office of science and technology policy will taken to take a greater role in coordinating our federal standard education programs and while i support this goal allows or believe it is critically of critical importance to measure the success success of every dollar that we spend on stem education we must see quantifiable results the accountability must exist for every single program and members  answer to our constituents to ensure their federal investments are making a difference is my hope that the office cells of science and technology policy takes on this coordinating role that will also encourage agencies to do regular performance assessments of all programs that we support it is the responsibility of this committee to ensure these programs are succeeding committee this committee i call me a nerd because this committee handles about the most exciting and timely issues that really challenge each of us to be critical and strategic thinkers and i think it's because of your oversight leadership that we accomplished the work before us so effectively and efficiently and bipartisan fashion and with a little bit of humor mr chairman almost a year ago the national action council for minorities and engineering nack me released a report revealing the number of minority students pursuing stem degrees and careers has flattened out or even declined in recent years the report noted that the percentage of bachelor's degrees in engineering awarded to african american students declined significantly from one thousand nine hundred five to two thousand and five from three point three percent down to two point five percent it also found that while three key under represented minority groups african americans latinos and native americans constitute some thirty percent of overall undergraduate student population in the united states they receive only about twelve percent of the degrees awarded in engineering my amendment would require the committee formed by the bill to establish update and maintain an inventory of the participation by under represented minorities in federally sponsored stem programs and activities this amendment will ensure that this committee has solid and up to date information on minority participation and once we receive the information we can better assess the role this committee needs to take to increase minority participation in these programs president obama has made a significant commitment to science and technology which the commitment to stem programs and we should take all steps necessary to make sure our minority students are not left behind in the field of science math and technology this in fact i think will be our mark on the twenty first century and i read just this morning that according to the nation's report card by the national assessment of educational progress compared to two thousand and four there was no significant change in the gap in mathematics scores between white students age nine and their black and hispanic counterparts we really need to close this gap again i thank the chairman and the staff are working with me on this amendment and for your commitment to the stem programs and i urge miss johnson have been leaders in that for some time this committee i mean we can i can witness ourself as we try to have built the staff here we've had difficulty in those areas and so that's why one of the reasons that we have worked to try to increase the representation within minorities and women and again it's it's good for our country and it's the right thing to do  will direct the proposed committee on the national science and technology council to describe in its annual report how we can better disseminate federally supported stem resources throughout the country this will ultimately nurture teacher talent increase professionalism and provide teachers with the new ideas to increase stem from participation the demand for a stem literate workforce will only increase in the future the viewer of labor statistics estimates that science and technology jobs will increase by twenty six percent compared to fifteen percent for all other occupations from two thousand to two thousand and twelve additionally computer science and mathematics are projected to increase by thirty nine percent the more support a teacher receives the more organized well planned and well prepared they will be we must increase awareness of what is available to train teachers in science technology engineering and math so we can provide our nation's future with better materials and ideas that improve lesson plans in order to receive in order to raise standards prepare strong educators and motivate more students to pursue to pursue stim it is imperative to effectively distribute the available federally supported resources for a nation's teachers children who are taught by educators with proper certification and mentors by professionals are more likely to succeed and prosper in an increasingly technologically advanced society mr chairman i do ask for support of this amendment and i instructed to repair the lead study report and make necessary technical and conforming changes and that the chairman take all necessary steps to bring the bill before the house for consideration questions on the motion to report the bill favorably those in favor of the motion will signify by saying i am apt as having the bill is is favor reported that objection the motion is going to is reconsidered is laid upon the table the members will have two subsequent counter days in which to submit supplemental minority or additional views on the measure should all go home take credit for the these are these are good bills and once again i hope you're not disappointed that we're not arguing and fighting and you know and having a big round rumpus here but that doesn't mean that these are good thoughtful bale's they went through the regular order