Title: 100 Years of Women in Congress Act
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
100 Years of Women in Congress Act
This bill amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to designate as Jeannette Rankin Women and Minorities in STEM Fields Program Grants the current research and extension grants to increase participation by women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 382 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 382

    To amend the Department of Agriculture program for research and 
        extension grants to increase participation by women and 
   underrepresented minorities in the fields of science, technology, 
    engineering, and mathematics to redesignate the program as the 
   ``Jeannette Rankin Women and Minorities in STEM Fields Program''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2017

  Ms. Meng (for herself and Mr. Zinke) introduced the following bill; 
           which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Department of Agriculture program for research and 
        extension grants to increase participation by women and 
   underrepresented minorities in the fields of science, technology, 
    engineering, and mathematics to redesignate the program as the 
   ``Jeannette Rankin Women and Minorities in STEM Fields Program''.

    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 ``100 Years of Women in Congress 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The first woman elected to Congress, Representative 
        Jeannette Rankin from Montana, was elected on November 7, 1916, 
        almost four years prior to ratification of the 19th Amendment 
        to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote.
            (2) Jeannette Rankin was not only a pioneer in national 
        electoral politics, she was also a pioneer as a woman in 
        science, graduating from the University of Montana in 1902 with 
        a Bachelor of Science degree in biology.
            (3) 100 years after the swearing-in of Jeannette Rankin, 
        109 women serve in the 115th Congress, more than at any other 
        time in our Nation's history. While this improvement is 
        commendable, women hold only 20 percent of the seats in 
        Congress, far below their relative share of the American 
        electorate.
            (4) According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women 
        make up 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Gains have been 
        made in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 
        (STEM) fields over time, but women still comprise only 39 
        percent of chemists and material scientists, 28 percent of 
        environmental scientists and geoscientists, 16 percent of 
        chemical engineers, and 12 percent of civil engineers.
            (5) More must be done to encourage women to run for elected 
        office and to enter STEM fields.

SEC. 3. JEANNETTE RANKIN WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN STEM FIELDS PROGRAM.

    Paragraph (7) of section 1672(d) of the Food, Agriculture, 
Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5925(d)(7)) is amended to 
read as follows:
            ``(7) Jeannette rankin women and minorities in stem fields 
        program.--Research and extension grants may be made under this 
        section to increase participation by women and underrepresented 
        minorities from rural areas in the fields of science, 
        technology, engineering, and mathematics, with priority given 
        to eligible institutions that carry out continuing programs 
        funded by the Secretary. Any grant made under this paragraph 
        shall be known and designated as a `Jeannette Rankin Women and 
        Minorities in STEM Fields Program Grant'.''.
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