National Stem Scholarship Database Act

Floor Speech

NATIONAL STEM SCHOLARSHIP DATABASE ACT -- (House of Representatives - June 06, 2007)

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Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1051, which is a bill to establish a public Web site through which individuals may find a database of available scholarships and fellowships and other programs of financial assistance for the study of science and technology and engineering and math.

Before I begin, I just want to commend the gentleman from New Jersey for introducing this piece of legislation and for his leadership in this area. I also want to commend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers) for his leadership, as well as Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Mrs. Biggert and others for their support of this bill itself.

I am a strong proponent, strong proponent of STEM education programs. Anything that Congress can do to strengthen interest in these fields is wholeheartedly welcome.

As a physician, I understand and appreciate the challenge that our Nation has in maintaining its preeminence in these fields. Encouraging our best and brightest and interested young people to choose this field of study is a positive step, and I believe this bill is a step in that direction.

As we continue to discuss new ideas for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, it's important that we develop proposals that will ensure students are informed about their options for financial aid, both from the Federal Government and from the private sector. In fact, the House has already taken one step in that direction, included in H.R. 890, the Student Loan Sunshine Act, which passed last month, was a proposal that was offered by Representative Keller, that would make it easier for students to get information on their options for Federal financial aid.

This proposal would launch a single Web site for opportunities for financial aid in fellowships and scholarships being offered by any agency within the Federal Government.

This bill simply takes this idea one step further by making sure that information about scholarships and fellowships and other forms of private financial aid is readily available to students interested in pursuing their opportunities in education and science, technology, engineering and math. As we continue to examine proposals to increase America's competitiveness, it's helpful for us to equip students interested in pursuing careers in these fields with the information that they need that might assist them in financing their education.

For these reasons and others, I respectfully ask my colleagues to support H.R. 1051.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I simply want to close and commend once again my good friend Mr. Holt for introducing this legislation and for moving this forward.

I think the discussion that we have had has been good. I think that the breadth of individuals that have signed on as cosponsors to this legislation, as well as the diversity of the background of those Members who have come to the floor today to speak on behalf of this legislation, give testimony to the importance of moving forward and having this kind of information available.

So I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1051.

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