Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 4254, the Women in Aerospace Education Act, as amended by the Senate. I speak on behalf of the bill's sponsor, Representative Steve Knight, who could not be here this afternoon, but he has worked for more than a year to get the bill across the finish line. H.R. 4254, directs NASA and the National Science Foundation, through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, to use their fellowships and internships to encourage more women to get aerospace experience while they are training to be science and mathematics teachers. These teachers are then better equipped to educate and inspire students to pursue studies and careers in aerospace. Twenty percent of U.S. aerospace engineers are of retirement age today. They are beginning to exit our workforce, which will create a shortfall in our national security preparedness. Meanwhile, women represent only about one-quarter of all science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM workers, and only about 15 percent of all aerospace engineers. We need to improve our STEM education pipeline from ensuring STEM classes are available to students at a young age to encouraging young Americans to pursue the completion of a degree in STEM fields. Attitudes about career paths are formed at a young age. The role models and young leaders from which women learn have an enormous impact on future decisionmaking.…”