Darlene Hooley: “I thank Chairman Gordon for giving me a chance to speak on this important legislation. I applaud your leadership and…”

“I thank Chairman Gordon for giving me a chance to speak on this important legislation. I applaud your leadership and that of your subcommittee Chairs on these issues and for the expediency by which this conference report was put together. America's greatest resource for innovation resides within our classrooms in Oregon and across this country. We must give our students more opportunities to be highly trained in math and science and technology so they can turn ideas into innovation. Too many of our family wage jobs go overseas and too many of our children are falling behind their international counterparts in math and science achievement. With this legislation, we've taken bold steps to increase America's global competitiveness and to ensure that we have a robust, world-class science and technology workforce here in America. The key to the United States maintaining its position at the forefront of global innovation and technology is to get more students interested in the science and math fields. This legislation does just that. I urge the passage of this conference report.”