Neal Dunn: “I thank my good friend from Oklahoma, Mr. Lucas, for yielding to me. H.R. 425, the Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers…”

“I thank my good friend from Oklahoma, Mr. Lucas, for yielding to me. H.R. 425, the Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers Act, is about helping expand veterans' job and education opportunities in the sciences. The bill directs the National Science Foundation to develop a veterans outreach plan and publish data on veterans' participation in mathematics, science, and technology in its annual ``Science and Engineering Indicators'' report. The bill also updates the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, its fellowship programs, and the cyber grant programs to include outreach to veterans. Additionally, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is tasked with overseeing an interagency working group to examine how to increase veteran participation in the STEM career fields, including addressing any barriers for both servicemembers and their spouses. In the next 5 years, between 1 million and 1.5 million members of the Armed Forces will separate from the military, according to the Department of Defense. Many of these veterans will be seeking new careers, and by a great margin, veterans cite finding employment as their number-one need when separating from Active-Duty service. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupations in STEM fields are projected to grow to more than 9 million jobs by 2022.…”