Political Quotes

“I offer another bipartisan bill that Ms. Esty and I have introduced, H.R. 255, her bill called Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act. We are joined again on this measure by the chairman and the ranking member, who are original cosponsors of this bill. Our bill, H.R. 255, amends the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act to authorize the National Science Foundation to use its entrepreneurial programs to recruit women and to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world. The bill also includes a number of findings regarding women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, also known as the STEM fields. One finding in this bill notes that women make up almost 50 percent of the workforce but less than 25 percent of the workforce in STEM professions. We want to make sure we can do everything to improve these statistics, and we believe this bill, along with our earlier bill that we voted on, is a step in the right direction. Again, I have been happy to collaborate with my colleague, Congresswoman Esty, on this important legislation for our young women so that they may look to the stars and realize their dreams in this important field that will really be important in the 21st century. I urge my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”