National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking my friend, Chairman Smith,

for his leadership on the Science Committee in promoting STEM education. I am grateful that we are able to advance these important provisions today in a bipartisan fashion, thanks in large part to his willingness to work across the aisle.

I would also like to thank Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson and Representative Lipinski for their leadership on the committee and their thoughtful guidance on these issues.

The STEM Education Act of 2014 provides critical support to the teachers and advocates of STEM education who are preparing our students with the skills they need to succeed in our increasingly competitive global society.

As Chairman Smith said, the bill includes three provisions to support and promote STEM education in this country. It supports teachers who are passionate about STEM education, codifies the importance of informal hands-on STEM education, and expands the definition of STEM education to explicitly include computer science.

As a mother of three, I know firsthand the importance of having teachers who are engaged and passionate about being in the classroom, particularly science and math teachers.

From my own experience--my son just graduated from college with a degree in astrophysics--and from our time studying these issues on the committee, we know that when children are excited about science projects and math problems at a young age, they carry that passion with them throughout their lives. That is why we must encourage talented people to go into teaching, and this bill does just that.

It expands the Robert Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship at the National Science Foundation, so that more people who are enthusiastic about the sciences can teach our children.

I am grateful to see portions of my bill, the STEM Jobs Act, included in the legislation before us today. Currently, the Robert Noyce Master Teaching Fellowship provides mentoring, training, and financial support to people who have a master's degree in a STEM discipline and who want to enter the teaching profession.

The program is designed to ensure that these passionate individuals have the tools they need to become highly effective math and science teachers.

In Connecticut, the University of Bridgeport's Master Teaching Fellowship program is dedicated to placing physics teachers in our high-needs schools. At UConn's Teachers for Tomorrow program, we prepare teachers to effectively teach math to elementary, middle, and high school students.

The bill before us today expands the master teaching fellowships, so those working towards a master's degree are also eligible to apply. This expansion will allow more gifted individuals to be in our classrooms, preparing our children to become the next generation of engineers, scientists, and even astronauts.

However, no matter how great your math teacher is, studies show that all students thrive in a hands-on learning environment.

We are fortunate in Connecticut to have a terrific partner in informal STEM education at the Connecticut Science Center, which opened in 2009, to support STEM education in our schools.

When students visit the center, they can navigate through outer space, use lasers to learn about sight and sound, experiment with forces and motion, and explore our very own Connecticut River.

These interactive learning environments also provide structured support for teachers and for students. For example, the Connecticut Science Center trains more than 800 teachers annually. In teaching skills and content to support our school curriculum, these teachers then return to the classroom across the State of Connecticut and provide our students with the high-quality education that they need to succeed.

Programs like these are hosted by museums and science centers around the country. This bill directs the National Science Foundation to continue to award competitive grants to support these out-of-school, hands-on STEM learning experiences.

Finally, as Chairman Smith noted, this bill takes an important--in fact, a critical step forward in expanding the definition of STEM to include computer science. Computer science is a critical component of STEM education. As he noted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there will be more than 4 million computing and information technology jobs by the year 2020.

Students who study computer science can be leaders in diverse fields such as energy, manufacturing, defense, and health care. Unfortunately, computer science has all too often been overlooked at our elementary, middle, and high school levels. Even more concerning, only 25 percent of computer scientists are women, although women make up 57 percent of the workforce.

Manufacturing is the backbone of our economy in Connecticut, and I know, from conversations with our manufacturers, that they are desperate for high school and college graduates who have the computer skills necessary for our manufacturing jobs--high tech manufacturing jobs.

Our need for graduates with these skills will only continue to grow, and that is why it is so critical that we focus on building these skills in our elementary, middle, and high school students today.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud that we have put together a bipartisan bill to support an advanced STEM education. Preparing our students with the skills they need to thrive in a global economy transcends partisan politics.

Again, I want to thank Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Johnson, Representative Bucshon, Representative Lipinski, and all of the committee staff for their hard work on the STEM Education Act. This bill is an important step in securing our children's future.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson), the ranking member of the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1786) to reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 1786, the bill now under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1786, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014, introduced by my Texas colleague, Congressman Randy Neugebauer, reauthorizes the activities of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program through 2015.

This important program supports Federal research and development efforts to help mitigate the loss of life and property due to wind- related hazards.

Millions of Americans live in areas vulnerable to hurricanes, tornadoes, and other windstorms.

According to the latest data in the National Science and Technology Council's biennial report to Congress, in 2011, windstorms in the U.S. caused an estimated $11 billion in total direct property losses, injured nearly 7,000 people, and took nearly 700 lives.

In Texas, we are all too familiar with the harm that excessive wind can cause. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center, 179 tornadoes and 1,586 windstorms were reported in Texas in just the last 2 years. The effects of these disasters can be felt for years.

Initially established in 2004, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program supports activities to improve our understanding of windstorms and their impacts and helps to develop and encourage the implementation of cost-effective mitigation measures.

H.R. 1786 establishes the National Institute of Standards and Technology as the lead agency for the program, improves coordination and planning of agency activities in a fiscally responsible way, and improves transparency for how much money is being spent on windstorm research.

I want to thank Representative Neugebauer for his continued efforts to support this program. He and Representative Frederica Wilson worked together to ensure that H.R. 1786 was reported out of the Science Committee with bipartisan support.

I encourage my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of

Representatives,

Washington, DC, March 11, 2014.

Hon. Lamar Smith,

Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,

Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: I write concerning H.R. 1786, the

National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of,

2013, as ordered reported by the Committee on Science, Space,

and Technology on February 28, 2014. Thank you for working

with us to incorporate mutually agreeable changes to

provisions within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on

Transportation and Infrastructure.

In order to expedite the House's consideration of H.R.

1786, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will

forgo further action on this bill. However, this is

conditional on our mutual understanding that forgoing

consideration of the bill does not prejudice the Committee

with respect to the appointment of conferees or to any future

jurisdictional claim over the subject matters contained in

the bill or similar legislation that fall within the

Committee's Rule X jurisdiction. I request you urge the

Speaker to name members of the Committee to any conference

committee named to consider such provisions.

I would appreciate your response to this letter, confirming

this understanding, and would request that you insert our

exchange of letters on this matter into the committee report

on H.R. 1786 and the Congressional Record during

consideration of this bill on the House floor.

Sincerely,

Bill Shuster,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer), who is a member of the Science Committee and also a sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5031) to define STEM education to include computer science, and to support existing STEM education programs at the National Science Foundation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5031, the bill under consideration.

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

The STEM Education Act of 2014 is bipartisan legislation that ensures computer science is included in the definition of STEM education for programs and activities at our Federal science agencies.

The bill also supports and strengthens ongoing STEM education efforts at the National Science Foundation. I thank Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson and Representatives Elizabeth Esty, Larry Bucshon, Chris Collins, Randy Hultgren, Robin Kelly, Joe Kennedy, Dan Lipinski, and Frederica Wilson for their initiative on this bill.

Earlier this year, the Science Committee held a hearing on STEM education. The discussion that took place at that hearing helped to illustrate the importance of STEM education and why we should include computer science as a component of STEM education. Frankly, it is hard to believe it hasn't been done before.

Today, a variety of jobs from banking to business to medicine require familiarity with computer science. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, computing and mathematics will be one of the top 10 major occupational groups from 2010 to 2020; and by 2020, there will be over 4 million U.S. jobs in computing and information technology.

Unfortunately, America lags behind many other nations when it comes to STEM education. American students rank 21st in science and 26th in math. That must change for the better.

We need to ensure that young adults have the scientific and mathematical skills to strive and thrive in a technology-based economy, but we have to capture and hold the desire of our Nation's youth to study science and engineering, so they will want to pursue these careers.

H.R. 5031 also includes language to support informal STEM education programs and activities at the National Science Foundation. These activities reach students outside of the classroom and strengthen a student's engagement in STEM subject areas.

The STEM Education Act ensures that teachers working towards a master's degree in STEM subjects can participate in the Robert Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship program. This program provides more opportunities for teachers who want to strengthen their teaching skills and now will encourage more teachers to pursue advanced degrees.

A healthy and viable STEM workforce, literate in all STEM subjects, including computer science, is critical to American industries. A well- educated and trained STEM workforce ensures our future economic prosperity. More graduates with STEM degrees means more advanced technologies and a more robust economy.

We must work to ensure that students continue to go into these fields, so that their innovative ideas can lead to a more innovative and prosperous America. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to again thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. Esty) for her interest in this subject of STEM education and for her contributions to this bill as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Collins), who is a member of the Science Committee and also a cosponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other requests for time on this side, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we have no further individuals who have requested time, so I am ready to yield back if the minority is ready to yield back.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Chairman Smith's support of this legislation, as well as Ms. Johnson, the ranking member.

I rise today in support of H.R. 1786, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act. This is a very important piece of legislation because what we know is that tornadoes and tornadic-type winds have caused a huge amount of destruction and loss of life in our country.

Last year alone, there were over 1,300 recorded tornadoes in our country, causing over 70 deaths and over 1,500 injuries. These storms not only cost lives, but they also damaged property. The average is about $4 million a year, except in 2011, when we saw a bad year for tornadoes. The damage was over $28 billion. That is not just a natural disaster; it is national disaster as well.

Back in 1970, I had an opportunity firsthand to find out exactly how devastating these tornadoes can be. In my hometown of Lubbock, Texas, a tornado ripped through our community and killed 26 of our citizens. Fortunately, I was not injured. It was in an area that I lived at that time, and I had the opportunity to see firsthand the tremendous amount of devastation that can happen from these storms.

Very quickly, after that storm in 1970, Dr. Ernst Kiesling, with Texas Tech University, began to study these tornadic winds and to look at ways to build structures more effectively, to build shelters, and to really study the impacts that these storms have on building materials and what materials hold up the best.

We have been talking about statistics, but it is really about the lives of people that are impacted by these storms. When someone loses their home, they not only rebuild their home, but, in many cases, they are going to have to rebuild their lives, which is one of the primary reasons that I introduced this important piece of legislation.

What does it do? Basically, it begins to, as I mentioned earlier what was going on at Texas Tech, not only study the building materials and different types of wind activity and the material

in the structure and construction techniques that are used to apply those materials, but also to begin to have a better ability to predict how these storms form and, in the future, be able to give more warning, but just doing the research overall of how we can do better at predicting and also helping the American people do mitigation against these kinds of storms and understand the mechanics of them.

Basically, what this NWIRP does is take four agencies and pool them together in how they spend money for this important research. It takes NOAA, the National Science Foundation, FEMA, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, and basically makes sure that they are coordinating and sharing that information.

What is so important about using Federal tax dollars to do that research is to make sure that we are transforming that out into the general public. And so as we learn about these techniques and we begin to make suggestions of how building codes, building standards, and building techniques can be improved in the future, we thereby save lives and property down the road. That is an important part of this.

What we learned is that for every dollar that we spend in mitigation, we save $4 in response down the road. And so not only is this a piece of legislation that will help save lives and property, but a really novel idea of saving the American taxpayers money at the same time.

This is a commonsense piece of legislation that is bipartisan. It passed out of the committee in a bipartisan way. It will save lives; it will save money; and it will save property. I encourage my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Home and Security Committee, I rise in support of H.R. 1786, the ``National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014.''

I want to thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson for their leadership in bringing this bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, Houston is vulnerable to hurricanes that traverse the Gulf of Mexico and we have experienced powerful storms during the past decade.

Hurricane Ike heavily impacted Houston and nearby city of Galveston in 2008, causing $27.8 billion in damage, and killing 20.

Tropical storms in Texas are also known for being heavy rain producers as well as wind surge threats. For example, tropical storm Allison in 2001 dumped as much as 35 to 40 inches of rain, killing 41 people and causing $9 billion in damage.

We are currently in the 2014 hurricane season and forecasters are expecting one to two major hurricanes.

This bill amends the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act of 2004 to revise provisions governing the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP) as well as designates the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as the entity with primary responsibility for Program planning and coordination.

Congress, under the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act of 2004, designated four agencies to compromise the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Science Foundation (NSF)

The federal agencies which compromised the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction will have the following respective responsibilities.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will have the primary responsibility for planning and coordinating the program, carry out research and development to improve model building codes, voluntary standards, and best practices for the design, construction, and retrofit of buildings, structures, and lifelines.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will support research in engineering and atmospheric sciences and economic and social factors influencing windstorm risk reduction measures.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will support atmospheric sciences research to improve the understanding of the behavior of windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures, and lifelines.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will support the development of risk assessment tools and effective mitigation techniques, conduct public outreach and information dissemination, and promote the adoption of windstorm preparedness and mitigation measures.

The bill will also require the Committee to submit a progress report to Congress and to develop a coordinated budget for the Program which must be submitted at the time of the President's annual budget submission.

Finally, the bill allows the Director of NIST to establish an Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction which shall be composed of at least 7 members. This advisory committee will offer assessments and practices of wind storm impact mitigation.

This coordinated effort will greatly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of federal efforts to save lives in Houston and around the country as well as mitigate property loss.

The reasons for supporting this bill are obvious, and I ask my colleagues in the House to vote for its passage.