Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the ``No Child Left Inside Act,'' H.R. 3036.

The 21st century global economy increasingly requires scientific and environmental literacy. Unfortunately, due to the narrowing of curriculum under ``No Child Left Behind,'' schools are struggling to offer a comprehensive curriculum inclusive of environmental education.

I applaud Representative Sarbanes for championing H.R. 3036, to help ensure our students are prepared to make informed decisions that impact our future, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important bill.

I share the gentleman from Maryland's passion for environmental literacy and environmental education, which are also priorities in a bill I introduced, H.R. 1728, the ``Global Warming Education Act.''

I believe that education is essential to ensuring that the public understands both the short- and long-term environmental consequences of dangers such as global warming.

In my bill, I sought to establish a grant program to create educational materials, develop climate change curricula, and improve the dissemination of scientific developments in the area of global warming, along with providing practical learning opportunities for people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds.

The ``No Child Left Inside Act'' will also establish grants to help environmental education become more effective and widely practiced, and it will provide professional development and training for teachers to incorporate environmental education activities as part of school curricula.

It is critical that America fosters an environmentally aware citizenry equipped to make informed decisions that will ensure a secure environment for our future generations.

This is why I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to recognize the importance of environmental education by supporting H.R. 3036.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in very strong support of the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2007. S. 2135 addresses the ongoing struggle to protect children from the horrors of war. The recruitment, enlisting, or conscripting of children in any armed force is unacceptable. Child soldiers face increased mortality rates as well as emotional and psychological damage that are often irreversible. The time has come for the United States to once again uphold justice and stand up for defenseless children who are at risk of losing their childhood, their families, and their physical and emotional well being.

Currently, more than 250,000 child soldiers suffer at the hands of exploitative, ruthless military commanders. Too often, their cries for help are stifled by poverty, ongoing armed conflict, and political instability; it is our responsibility to take up their cause and punish those who have participated in their torment to the extent possible. There is widespread disagreement on the particulars of what might constitute justification for war or aggressive military action, but it is almost universally acknowledged that children should not be used as combatants in such conflicts.

It is imperative that the United States sends a clear and firm message condemning the use of child soldiers and showing our willingness to take the necessary measures to respond to those who would use children in this fashion. Passing S. 2135 is a significant step forward in holding perpetrators accountable for their actions, particularly in light of the fact that the United States has not yet ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which expresses the wide-ranging opposition to the use of minor children as soldiers. Children in any country deserve the same opportunity to succeed and thrive at life; I believe this bill will solidify our commitment to a higher moral standard.

By passing S. 2135 we have the opportunity to join the many nations fighting the scourge of child soldiering which is why I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 2135.

Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 560, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to speak in very strong support of H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was a critical step forward in the ongoing struggle for equal rights for women. The time has come to make common sense adjustments to the act in order to make it more effective in fighting gender-based employment and pay discrimination.

The American dream is undermined daily as women are denied equal pay for their work. Improvement has come too slowly over the past 45 years, with women's wages rising from 59 cents for every dollar earned by a man in 1963 to 77 cents per every dollar earned by a man in 2008. This gap is even worse for minority women, with Latinas earning 52 cents to every dollar--the least of all racial and ethnic minorities as compared to white men. The Paycheck Fairness Act will facilitate the achievement of equal pay between the sexes.

A 2003 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that when all the key factors that influence earnings are controlled for-- demographic factors such as marital status, race, number and age of children, and income, as well as work patterns such as years of work, hours worked, and job tenure--there is a 23 percent pay gap between women and men that cannot be explained or justified.

Women now comprise 59 percent of the work force, compared to about one-third when the Equal Pay Act was first passed. All working people deserve the same opportunities to succeed professionally and personally. The Paycheck Fairness Act will solidify our commitment to this equality and bring us closer to achieving the ideals put forth in so long ago in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by closing loopholes in the law that have allowed employers to evade liability, providing tools to improve outreach and training efforts to work with employers, strengthening the negotiation skills of girls and women, and enhancing the collection of information on women's and men's wages.

It is simply unacceptable that in the past 40 years the wage gap has narrowed by less than 20 percent. We have the opportunity to aid millions of American workers to achieve the American Dream, and so I am proud to support H.R. 1338.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, before I start, I want to thank the chairmen of the Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee, the ranking members on the other side, and Chairman Filner for the underlying bill that we are looking at, and also I want to commend Chairman Filner for his unceasing advocacy on behalf of the Filipino-American veterans.

Mr. Chairman, I am glad to have the opportunity today to speak about this important issue and to draw attention to the plight of the World War II Filipino veterans. I rise today to strongly urge my colleagues to support the Filipino veterans.

These brave men fought alongside American soldiers under our flag throughout the Pacific Theater in World War II, and the United States made a promise to grant them veterans benefits as they were drafted into the U.S. service under President Roosevelt. Subsequently, after the war, Congress shamefully and unjustly legislated this promise away in two Rescissions Acts of 1946.

Nearly 1 million Filipinos who were conscripted into service by President Roosevelt were killed in action in defense of our country, and many of them died as they protected the POWs, who were our soldiers, against the Japanese brutality during the Bataan Death March.

I support legislation, S. 1315, which will expand benefits, such as life insurance, education and disability assistance for tens of thousands of current veterans and hundreds of thousands in the coming years. Senate 1315 also restores the promise in our words we made in 1942 to the Filipino World War II veterans who bled and died for our country. Today there are only 18,000 World War II Filipino veterans living, most of them in their eighties, and they are dying every day, and this cannot wait.

The Senate has already passed S. 1315 by a vote of 96-1 on April 24, 2008, and I urge my colleagues to follow in the Senate's footsteps. This is the right thing to do.

There has been some controversy and confusion about the offset to pay for the benefits in S. 1315. I would like to set the record straight today. This bill will close a loophole created by a case known as Hartness v. Nicholson which gave some veterans double benefits that Congress never intended for them to receive. The bill will return the law to what it was originally intended for all future veterans. It will not take any benefits away from veterans who are already receiving them under Hartness-Nicholson.

This all seems a bit technical. I know some Members are having a hard time supporting S. 1315. But what it boils down to is that this is the right thing to do, and we need to do it very quickly.

Each year I meet with the Filipino community, and each year I read the roll call of those who have passed away. These are men who are courageous and still loyal to the United States and to the flag, and they hold this wonderful spirit and expectation that we will finally keep our word. You know in your hearts that these veteran soldiers who fought under our flag deserve the promise we made them six decades ago.

America's greatness is in her strength of character. When Congress makes a mistake, we have the courage to correct that mistake. We have the guts to apologize and make it right. Let's do the right thing and give the Filipino veterans their due. Let's have a vote on this when we come back from recess this September.

I yield back my time.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues from Indiana and from Virginia for their wonderful support and recognition.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 415, a resolution I introduced which recognizes and honors Asian Pacific Islander American soldiers who fought during the United States Civil War.

Recent historical research has uncovered evidence of over 250 soldiers of Asian and Pacific Islander descent who served in the Union and Confederate forces during the United States Civil War.

I have introduced H. Res. 415 to recognize and honor Edward Day Cohota and Joseph L. Pierce, as well as the numerous others veterans of API descent who bravely fought in the United States Civil War. These two men, both of Chinese ancestry, are explicitly named in this resolution as the most-documented and researched veterans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the U.S. Civil War.

In comparison to the total population in the United States, a disproportionately high percentage of soldiers of API descent are listed on both the Union and Confederate rosters. By volunteering to serve in the Armed Forces of their adopted homeland, they risked their lives and declared their allegiances as vigorously as any other community.

Instead of honoring and recognizing their service, our country denied these veterans the ability to naturalize through the bigoted laws enacted during this period.

I believe that for their contribution to our Nation's history, and the injustices done to them despite their patriotism, veterans of API descent who fought in the U.S. Civil War are worthy of recognition by the United States House of Representatives.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, without whose efforts this resolution would not be possible. In their own words, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance has been ``committed to achieving passage of this resolution because national historic recognition was the least our country could do posthumously for an important, special group of unsung heroes.'' The Chinese American Citizens Alliance has worked arduously on behalf of these veterans and their families for years, and their work pays off today as the House considers this resolution.

In closing, Madam Speaker, I am pleased that this resolution is on the floor today. The families of these veterans and community supporters have waited a very long time for these brave soldiers to be honored by our government, and I urge my colleagues to support this small effort to recognize the contributions made by Asian Pacific Islander Civil War soldiers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the passage of H. Res. 1357, which commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This law officially acknowledged the ``fundamental injustices'' that resulted from Executive Order 9066, which authorized the exclusion and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

In 1942, some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and sent to internment camps by the United States Government--not out of military necessity, but as a result of racial prejudice, war hysteria, and the failure of political leadership. Families were torn apart and property was lost. My family experienced this injustice first-hand, and I spent part of my childhood at the Amache internment camp in Colorado.

Our Government made a mistake when it ignored the civil liberties of Japanese Americans during World War II. That is why passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided for a formal apology from the Government, along with compensation to the victims, still resonates strongly with us today. The significance and meaning of this legislation allowed our community to move forward.

Redress would not have happened without the work of many leaders in the Japanese American community. Senator Daniel Inouye, Senator Spark Matsunaga, then Congressman Norm Mineta and Congressman Bob Matsui were integral to ensuring that the Civil Liberties Act moved forward.

I would also like to acknowledge the role played by the Japanese American Citizens League, the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in the United States, and a group I have a long history of involvement with. The JACL worked hard towards achieving redress, and recently passed a resolution also commemorating the 20th anniversary of the passage of redress at their National Convention in Salt Lake City. I commend the JACL for their dedication to our community.

Our country draws strength and greatness from our ability to acknowledge and remedy past mistakes--a virtue that has not only benefited the Japanese American community but has shaped me as a policymaker. Despite our flaws, the United States is looked upon as the nation with the strongest and fairest form of government.

Recognizing and commemorating the significance of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 is still meaningful and relevant today, as this resolution reaffirms our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 5501 the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008.

As the Chairman of the Congressional Ethiopia and Ethiopian American Caucus, I strongly support this critical reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Although PEPFAR supports a global effort, no one can argue against the fact that the African continent has borne the brunt of the HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria epidemics. The litany of grim statistics documenting the ravages of HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria on dozens of African countries and millions of people is familiar to all of us committed to a morally righteous global war on poverty and disease. I have traveled to Ethiopia and witnessed first-hand the courage of a people nurturing a fledgling democracy in the face of terrible obstacles.

For me, what those statistics come down to is the human cost of disease, countless orphans, hollow-eyed children raising children in villages, cities, and countries devastated economically and spiritually by death and fear. I have seen the resiliency and courage of people who, with access to medicine and food, have raised themselves out of abject poverty. As the wealthiest country in the world we have an obligation to invest in the global community, and I support the passage of this bill.

Mr. BERMAN: I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1311, supporting the designation of July 22, 2008 as National GEAR UP Day. Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) serves to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Through the hard work of program staff, students, families, and educators, GEAR UP has proven to be an incredibly successful program, providing services at high-poverty middle and high schools. This year marks the 10th Anniversary since Congress established the GEAR UP program, exemplifying our commitment towards providing a quality education to the disadvantaged youth of America.

In a society that depends on, and rewards, those who have a strong educational background, lagging behind can have severe consequences. In this day and age, when our country has transitioned from a post- industrial economy into a knowledge based economy, investing in education is more important than ever, and a high school degree is seen as one of the first steps towards achieving that quality education. Research has shown that having a high school degree significantly increases an individual's annual earnings and labor force participation rates, and that these rates increase with greater educational attainment.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 8.9 percent of 15-24 year-old students from low-income families dropped out during grades 10-12 in 2005, compared to 3.8 percent from middle-income and 1.5 percent from high-income families. In the same year, 53.5 percent of high school graduates from low-income families enrolled in college immediately after high school, compared to 65.1 percent of middle-income students and 81.2 percent of high-income students.

GEAR UP is currently focused on three objectives to reduce the disadvantages low-income students face compared to their middle-income and high-income peers: increasing academic performance and preparation for postsecondary education, increasing high school graduation and post-secondary enrollment rates, and increasing students' and their families' knowledge of postsecondary education options, preparation, and financing. These efforts are working--in 2006, 85.5 percent of the second cohort of GEAR UP students graduated from high school. This remarkable graduation rate is well above those of other low-income students who did not participate in GEAR UP (64 percent) and all students nationally (73.9 percent).

While the effects of GEAR UP are evident, there are currently many low-income students who are unable to participate in the program and many areas in which the program can improve. We need to raise awareness and bolster discussions about how to tailor GEAR UP for all of our low- income students. Recognizing July 22nd, 2008 as National GEAR UP Day could provide the opportunity for conversation about the challenges and opportunities faced by lower income students and will recognize the success of so many who have defied expectations. Funding is also vital towards the successful implementation and expansion of GEAR UP, and as a Member of the Appropriations Committee, I will work to ensure improved funding for GEAR UP and other critical Federal programs focused on improving educational opportunities, supporting the work of teachers and schools, and increasing access to higher education.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Dr. William C. Dement as he celebrates his 80th birthday and as his family, friends and colleagues gather to commemorate his lifelong efforts to improve the health and safety of this Nation by advancing understanding of sleep, sleep disorders and their impact on performance and functioning.

Dr. Dement received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1955 and 1957. There, he helped discover and describe Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, described the relationship between REM sleep and dreaming, established the all night sleep patterns of human beings, discovered REM sleep in animals and newborn babies, and demonstrated that the patterns of specific rapid eye movements are related to the visual experience of the dream. He transformed what was once thought of as a passive state that was undeserving of medical attention or curiosity into a medical specialty.

In 1963, Dr. Dement joined the Psychiatry Department at Stanford University, where for the past 45 years he has continued his studies on the neurochemistry of sleep and the functional significance of the different sleep states.

In 1970, Dr. Dement started the world's first Sleep Disorders Clinic which introduced all-night examination of patients with sleep-related complaints. He developed the Multiple Sleep Latency Test which remains the standard diagnostic measure of daytime sleepiness and made many other scientific contributions.

Among the most important of these are the elucidation of sleep debt and the long term consequences of sleep deprivation in all components of society. Dr. Dement is the author or co-author of approximately 500 scientific publications and the founding co-editor of the premier scientific journal, SLEEP.

Dr. Dement was co-founder of the Sleep Research Society in 1961 and founding President of the American Sleep Disorders Association (now the American Academy of Sleep Medicine) in 1975. Dr. Dement currently holds the position of honorary board member of the National Sleep Foundation, the Nation's leading non-profit organization dedicated to improving the understanding of sleep disorders.

Dr. Dement served as chairman of the congressionally-mandated National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research whose study and recommendations led directly to the creation of a new agency within the National Institutes of Health, the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.

I am particularly grateful for Dr. Dement's work with patients. If it was not for Dr. Dement, my sleep apnea would probably still be undiagnosed and I would be like millions of other Americans who needlessly suffer due to a lack of public and professional awareness of the signs and symptoms of sleep disorders.

Therefore, on behalf of the Congress of the United States and the people of the 15th Congressional District of California, I am pleased to join with the family, friends and colleagues of Dr. William C. Dement in celebrating his 80th birthday. May he be blessed with many more.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my thoughts on the two pieces of the $183.9 billion emergency supplemental appropriations bill that the House is considering today.

Last year, I joined nearly ninety of my colleagues in the House in sending a letter to President Bush pledging that I will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of our troops out of Iraq.

The supplemental bill the House will vote on tonight does not include a number of important policy provisions regarding the war originally included in the bill that was sent to the Senate. These important provisions called for the responsible redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq and required that troops begin to withdraw from Iraq within 30 days of the proposal becoming law, with a goal of completing withdrawal by December 2009.

I am disappointed that the supplemental bill we are considering today does not include these provisions, and instead provides $162 billion more for this disastrous war, without conditions.

I have heard and read the frustrated thoughts of many of my constituents who are simply tired of President Bush's war. They understand that we have spent an inordinate

sum of tax dollars fighting a war that should have never been waged. They understand that our economy is suffering as a result of our resources being poured into this war. Tonight, I will vote against continuing to fund this open-ended war.

However, Mr. Speaker, I remain in strong support of the second amendment to this supplemental appropriations bill, which will fund important domestic priorities. This domestic measure includes a new GI bill to restore full, 4-year college scholarships to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to help make them part of an economic recovery like the veterans of World War II. It also includes an historic extension of unemployment insurance benefits and assistance to disaster-stricken areas in the Midwest where unprecedented floods have occurred. The number of Americans looking for work has grown by 800,000 over the last year, and the number of American jobs has declined by 260,000 since the beginning of 2008. Both of these measures are beneficial to our country, extraordinarily meaningful to our veterans, and will address the current economic struggle we face. As a representative of Silicon Valley, the hub of high technology in America, I am also happy that this amendment contains a modest amount of funding to help partially address the budget shortfalls facing the agencies that support our Nation's research and development efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that the amendment funding the war in Iraq is without strings or conditions, but more than pleased to prioritize our Nation's urgent priorities in the second amendment to this appropriations bill. We must continue to invest in a positive future for our country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5940, the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act.

I commend Chairman Bart Gordon and the other members of the Science and Technology Committee, on which I am proud to have once served, for the hard work and thoughtful consideration that went into this bill. I am pleased that this bill includes numerous provisions that I originally proposed in my own legislation, the Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities, NANO, Act, H.R. 3235.

Nanotechnology has the potential to create entirely new industries and radically transform the basis of competition in other fields, and I am proud of my work with former Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert on the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 to foster research in this area.

But one of the things policymakers have heard from experts is that while the United States is a leader in nanotechnology research, our foreign competitors are focusing more resources and effort on the commercialization of those research results than we are.

Both H.R. 5940 and my own bill would focus America's nanotechnology research and development programs on areas of national need such as energy, health care, and the environment, and have provisions to help assist in the commercialization of nanotechnology.

In recent months, there has been much discussion about potential health and safety risks associated with nanotechnology. Uncertainty is one of the major obstacles to the commercialization of nanotechnology-- uncertainty about what the risks might be and uncertainty about how the Federal Government might regulate nanotechnology in the future. Both my bill and H.R. 5940 require the development of a nanotechnology research plan that will ensure the development and responsible stewardship of nanotechnology.

Other important areas that are addressed by both H.R. 5940 and H.R. 3235 include: the development of curriculum tools to help improve nanotechnology education; the establishment of educational partnerships to help prepare students to pursue postsecondary education in nanotechnology; support for the development of environmentally beneficial nanotechnology; and the development of advanced tools for simulation and characterization to enable rapid prediction, characterization and monitoring for nanoscale manufacturing.

I am also pleased that H.R. 5940 will require that the NNI Advisory Panel must be a stand-alone advisory committee. This is a concept, I originally proposed in 2002 in the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Advisory Board Act, H.R. 5669 in the 107th Congress.

I would like to thank the members of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, BRTFN, a panel of California nanotechnology experts with backgrounds in established industry, startup companies, consulting groups, nonprofits, academia, government, medical research, and venture capital that I convened with then-California State Controller Steve Westly during 2005, for the important recommendations included in its report, Thinking Big About Thinking Small, many of which are reflected in the bill we are considering today. I would also like to thank Scott Hubbard, who was the director of the NASA Ames Research Center at that time and who served as working chair of the BRTFN, and all of the staff at Ames whose hard work made the task force run so well and helped produce a great report. The report is available on my website at http:/ /honda.house.gov/issues/links/brtfn_report_ final.pdf.

Again, I congratulate the Science and Technology Committee and Chairman Gordon for their work on this bill and thank them for incorporating so many of the provisions from my bill into H.R. 5940, and I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation to reauthorize the Nation's nanotechnology research and development program.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my condolences to those affected by the Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the Santa Clara/Santa Cruz County line, which thankfully has not claimed lives,

but destroyed 36 residences and 18 outbuildings. Over 3,000 personnel from across the State were summoned to fight the fire which burned more than 4000 acres. My heart goes out to the 12 firefighters who were injured during the response and their families. I want to commend Governor Schwarzenegger, the California Office of Emergency Services, Cal Fire, the Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Departments, the Air National Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration and the countless first responders for their swift response to the fire. I especially want to thank Cal Fire Division Chief Joe Waterman and Tom Maruyama, Deputy Director of Response and Recovery for Office of Emergency Services for briefing me on the fire containment plan and the State's response and recovery efforts. The seamless communication between ground and air crews from various local agencies and departments further exemplifies California as a model State for disaster response and interoperability.

I and my esteemed colleague Rep. Anna Eshoo are closely monitoring the recovery effort and remain in close contact with State authorities. We are hopeful that the rebuilding process can begin and that the residents of the affected areas will be able to resume their normal activities.

Madam Speaker, yesterday I introduced the ``Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Act of 2008,'' H.R. 6104. This legislation aims to enhance the coordination of the Nation's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education initiatives. Thirty-nine members of the United States House of Representatives signed on as original cosponsors of H.R. 6104. We were joined by our distinguished colleague Senator Barack Obama who introduced a companion bill (S. 3047) along with three of his colleagues.

The intent of this bill is to increase the coordination, collaboration, and coherence of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, STEM, education initiatives for the students of today and the citizens and workers of tomorrow.

As a former teacher, principal and school board member I am committed to improving the education we provide our young people. Developing citizens that are critical thinkers and scientifically literate will help drive a vibrant society and create a sound economy. Our economy depends on our country's education. Few policy decisions have more economic impact in the long-run than education policies.

Today, more than ever, our economic resiliency depends on the competitiveness of our labor force. Unfortunately, the signs are not good. Over 25 years ago, ``A Nation at Risk'' identified America's need to improve STEM education to ensure that we remain competitive in an increasingly global economy. But more than two decades later, ``Rising Above the Gathering Storm'' presented clear trends in international tests and college enrollments that show that our children are losing their competitive advantage, and so is our Nation.

In this country we have many successful STEM education programs. For example, nearby at the Indian Head Elementary School in Charles County, Maryland, scientists and engineers from the Department of Defense partner with students to develop cutting edge rocketry. Yesterday, two fifth grader students from this school, DeMisha White and Justin Dinch, together with their teacher Mr. Tim Emhoff, shared the incredible value of Federal programs in exciting our children about STEM.

Sadly, this program and the myriad like it are not coordinated. Over a dozen agencies are engaged in STEM education and they are often not aware of the efforts of other agencies--they are working in isolation. According to the American Competitiveness Council, in 2006 the U.S. sponsored 105 STEM education programs at these agencies, at a cost of about $3.12 billion. The ACC found that ``coordination among agencies could be improved to avoid, for example, grants to numerous projects that support the same sorts of interventions . . . there appears to be a lack of communication among the agencies about the work they are funding and the results that are being generated . . . agencies are often uninformed by the results of earlier projects.'' Clearly, our Nation is not maximizing the impact of our STEM education initiatives.

The ``Enhancing STEM Education Act of 2008,'' is a bi-partisan, bi- cameral bill that will provide a framework for Federal agencies, the States and all stake-holders to work collaboratively. It will help them establish national STEM education goals and to coordinate STEM education initiatives.

The bill has four major components:

(1) Elevating the STEM Education Subcommittee at the President's Office of Science Technology Policy, OSTP, to the standing committee level. This change would give STEM education a higher profile within OSTP and establish the mechanism for the coordination of Federal STEM education initiatives.

(2) Establishing an Assistant Secretary for STEM Education at the U.S. Department of Education. This Office would bring together the Department's STEM education efforts and manage programs such as Math and Science Partnerships and the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program.

(3) Creating the State Consortium on STEM Education. This voluntary group, of at least five States from across the country, would help align State STEM education efforts. Their mission is to coordinate policies to address weaknesses in STEM education. For example, the Consortium will work with stakeholders to identify strategies to improve the representation of women and minorities in these fields.

(4) And lastly, this bill establishing the National STEM Education Research Repository. This clearing house will be a portal to information about all federally funded STEM education programs, making the results of the more than $3 billion the Federal Government spends annually on STEM education available to local educators.

We need to ensure that all our children are prepared for citizenship in a world that is increasingly dependent on STEM literacy. The recent bleak economic news we've been hearing should be a wake-up call that we cannot continue to move forward without a blueprint for our students and our future economic well-being. This is why I introduced the ``Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Act of 2008.''

I want to thank all my colleagues who joined with me to address the critical needs of our Nation. I especially want to thank Senator Barack Obama, Chairman George Miller, Representative Vernon Ehlers, and Representative Rush Holt for their leadership. I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this legislation through this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, it is with tremendous honor that I rise today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of a great democracy and our close friend and important ally, Israel. With its strong technology sector in both renewable energy development and high-tech research, Israel is a natural friend of Silicon Valley, which I proudly represent.

Israel's contribution to the high-tech industry, from computer processors to cell phones, and its development of life-saving medical techniques, benefit people around the world every day.

I have fond memories of my first trip to Israel, whose people, history, and culture have left an everlasting impression upon me.

I have supported Israel throughout my career, and will continue to do so. We must continue our democratic partnership with Israel. Once again, Mr.

Speaker, I rise to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Israel.