10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act

Floor Speech

10,000 TEACHERS, 10 MILLION MINDS SCIENCE AND MATH SCHOLARSHIP ACT

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Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I commend the distinguished chairman of the Science Committee and the ranking member for their leadership in bringing this legislation to the floor with strong bipartisan support. This is indeed a great day for the Congress because we are here to talk about the future. I always say to people when they come, You visit Washington, you see all these monuments to people who lived a long time ago; but when you come to the floor of the Congress, what we are here to do is to make the future better for the next generation.

Central to that is a strong economy for our country. We have had a bipartisan commitment to an innovation agenda, a commitment to competitiveness to keep America number one. We know that innovation begins in the classroom, and that is why the legislation on the floor today is so important.

For some of us of a generation when I was a student, President Kennedy talked about putting a man on the Moon. It seemed impossible at the time.

When he said it, when he made his announcement, he said the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we are first, and therefore we intend to be first. Our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves and others as well, all require us to make this effort. It was with that our country made a strong commitment to science and technology, and within 10 years a man was on the Moon and safely returned.

Here we are again in this new century, all these many years later, recommitting to an innovation agenda. We have to talk about how we grow our economy to create new jobs here at home for the 21st century. We certainly have a commitment to trade, and that is important to us.

We can only succeed in the international global economy if we are competitive and if we innovate. We cannot innovate without the investment in education, the investment in science and technology.

Our effort for an innovation agenda began nearly 2 years ago outside of Washington, meeting all over the country with leaders and CEOs in many fields, whether it was biotech, high-tech, the academic community, venture capital, entrepreneurs, young people and telecommunications sector people who are creating jobs for the 21st century. We held forums in Silicon Valley, in Seattle, and in Boston, in Chicago, northern New Jersey, North Carolina's Research Triangle, El Paso, Texas, to name a few.

Using the expertise and advice that we heard from the outside, emphasizing a focus on public/ private partnerships, emphasizing a focus on the entrepreneurial spirit that is the hallmark of our country, we adopted an innovation agenda that will help create a new generation of innovators, an educated skilled workforce in the vital areas of science, math, engineering and information technology.

Thank you, Chairman Gordon, for your extraordinary leadership in this area and bringing this legislation to the floor. I also want to commend Chairman George Miller for his leadership and focusing on STEM as well.

The agenda will help to make a sustained Federal research and development commitment that promotes private sector innovation, spur affordable access to broadband technology, achieve energy independence, strengthen our national security, protect our planet by developing emerging technologies for clean and sustainable alternatives, and provide small businesses with the tools they need to engage and encourage entrepreneurial innovation and job creation throughout our economy.

This is what was important to us. Again, pointing out the importance of education to all of this, I am very pleased to come to the floor to support the legislation that is on the floor today.

Once again, I want to thank Mr. Hall for his leadership in this area. I take special pride in the fact that this effort is bipartisan. The President has spoken on any number of occasions, in his State of the Union addresses or in other settings, about his commitment to this investment in the future.

Hopefully we can move these pieces of legislation along to his desk for his signature and on to better public policy to promote the United States as number one with an innovation agenda for the future.

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