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“MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTION DIGITAL AND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2007” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1854 on Sept. 10, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTION DIGITAL AND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2007
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speech of
HON. J. RANDY FORBES
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 694, the Minority Serving Institution Digital and Wireless Technology Opportunity Act of 2007, and I would start by thanking House Science Committee Chairman Bart Gordon and Ranking Member Ralph Hall for their work to pass this bill. Additionally, Representative Ed Towns has been a tireless advocate in moving this bill forward and it has been a pleasure working with him to pass this legislation.
This bill would establish a new grant program to provide funding of specific technologies to help ensure institutions like historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges have the tools necessary to prepare their students to engage and participate in the increasingly global and competitive economy.
Now, more than ever, we are seeing other countries become increasingly competitive with the United States, with science and math scores equaling or exceeding average scores for American students.
Additionally, another example of the nature of the problem we face globally can be seen in the engineering field. By 2008, India is expected to increase to a little over 700,000 young engineering professionals and China is expected to increase to 2.1 million. Conversely, the U.S. is predicated to stay stagnate at 700,000 engineering young professionals by 2008 and other fields like life sciences are declining. This is a trend that cannot be allowed to continue if the United States wants to maintain its leadership role in the future global economy and graduate students that have the capacity to be this world's best and brightest.
One of the realities that we need to address in order to ensure this happens is to make sure all populations in this country have access to basic technologies, something that is currently not the case for all segments of the American population. Although 55 percent of the U.S. population has internet access at home overall, only 36 percent of African-American and Hispanic households do, according to a U.S. Census report issued in October 2005.
This bill would work to eliminate this ``digital divide'' by establishing a new grant program within the Department of Commerce to strengthen the ability of minority-serving institutions to purchase infrastructure and provide technology education services, providing students with the same access to technology as their peers at other colleges and universities.
This legislation is about even more than just equality in education; it is about economic advancement and ensuring that America retains its edge in the math, science and technology fields--a critically important requirement in today's global economy.
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