On the recordMarch 19, 2010
Let me rise and support the legislation that has been offered by my friend and colleague from Texas, and a senior member of the House Science Committee, to celebrate African Americans who have overcome significant obstacles to enhance innovation and competitiveness in the field of science in the United States. Frankly, this debate is appropriate and timely, as we are discussing the status of NASA and the opportunity to inspire and to ensure that our scientists and physicians and those with inventiveness have the opportunity to show those talents and to produce on behalf of the American people. As a 12-year member of the House Science Committee and the Subcommittee on Aeronautics, I know the value of research and the providing for a safe and secure place for the intelligence of America. I want to cite as part of this legacy of African Americans Dr. Lovell Jones, who heads the minority health center at M.D. Anderson, and has made great strides in the research dealing with cancer in minority populations. Dr. Bernard Harris, an astronaut, who has led in establishing new businesses around research and knowledge that he was able to expand on as an astronaut in the NASA human space program. The late Dr. Ron McNair, who was trained as a physicist, came from South Carolina, whose beginnings were enormously humble, and yet he was able to achieve greatness through his studies at MIT, and then ultimately he came to become an astronaut, and of course we lost him in the line of duty.
