Ralph Hall

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. No, absolutely not.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Yes.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise to encourage my colleagues to support my amendment. One of the key elements of this bill is a grant program at NSF designed to help scientists and engineers at early stages of their careers at institutions of higher learning. Eligible applicants are tenure-track faculty, and allow the existing faculty early career development program to be designed and designated as the mechanism for awarding such grants that we are talking about here. We also require the director of the NSF to allocate at least 3.5 percent of funds appropriated to the NSF research and related activities account for the purposes in the bill. This amendment would modify the 3.5 percent allocation provision to include the following clause: ``except to the extent that a sufficient number of meritorious grant applications have not been received for a fiscal year.'' I did this out of concern that the bill required the allocation of 3.5 percent of the funds appropriated to the earlier career awards for science and engineering, without taking into account there may be years in which there are not sufficient meritorious grant applications in that area and NSF could use the funds more effectively maybe in another area. I hope my good friend, Chairman Gordon, and my colleagues will join me in support of this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul).

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support what is essentially the second piece of the Science Committee's innovation and competitiveness agenda package. I am pleased that this Congress continues to advance the innovation agenda that the President laid out 2 years ago. Primarily, this bill enhances the Faculty Early Career Development Program at NSF to help researchers establish a lab and pursue risky research in emerging fields. It establishes a similar program at the Department of Energy. It also ensures that funding increases proportionately to the overall NSF budget for the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, which supports graduate students in cutting-edge interdisciplinary fields. Again, most of this bill was part of a Republican-led effort in the last Congress to incorporate many of the suggestions and various innovation and competitiveness reports without necessarily reinventing the wheel to do so. While H.R. 363 is similar to what we did last year, it does have some additions that were never vetted at the committee level, and I have some concern with that process. I hope as we continue the reauthorization process for NSF, the chairman will work with me, as he always has and as he does, and we can thoughtfully pass good legislation as we move forward. With specific regard to H.R. 363, I do thank the chairman for working with us to restore a few of the provisions that had been previously accepted by the committee, particularly in NIST report language and a sense of the Congress that NASA also has a role to play in United States innovation and competitiveness. It is important, Mr. Chairman, that our Nation continue to lead the world in technological innovation. To that end, we should support legislation that advances basic science research at the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. Research conducted by these young scholars will yield countless advantages. Americans understand that if we are to become energy independent, we will need solutions that promote clean, affordable and reliable American energy resources. That is why we introduced the competitiveness agenda last year and that is why I continue to support this initiative. America's solutions for the future begin today. This is a good bill. I thank the chairman for helping make it a good bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 363. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I certainly from a policy standpoint don't have an issue with the amendment; in fact, I think it might go a long way in enticing retired STEM professionals to get their teacher's certification and to put their many years of expertise to work in the K-12 classroom, educating and inspiring our next generation of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. I support the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment, which the chairman has already described. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to Dr. Ehlers, the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I reserve my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to request that my name be withdrawn as a cosponsor of H.J. Res. 40. After further reflection, I have concerns that this legislation, which would propose an amendment to the Constitution relative to equal rights for men and women, could potentially compromise my longtime stance on pro-life issues. I hope that clarifying language can be added to this bill to offer assurances to pro-life supporters that this measure would not be used to undermine Federal laws on this important matter.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Madam Speaker, today I rise to congratulate the players and coaches of the 2007 Rockwall High School Lady Jackets. On March 3, the Lady Jackets became the third girls team in State history to complete a 40-0 season when they won the Texas 5A championship. Joining this exclusive club with the 1980 South Oak Cliff team and Duncanville's 1997 squad was even more exciting since it marked the first-ever State basketball title for Rockwall's girls. By defeating Houston Cypress Fairbanks 59-54 in the State championship and thereby finishing a 40 and 0 season, the Lady jackets made an unprecedented achievement that certainly merits recognition. With both Houston Cypress Fairbanks and Rockwall holding pristine 39- 0 records prior to the championship game, the State championship promised to be an exciting match. However, by games end the Lady Jackets scored their 40th victory in overtime. Having won the silver medal last year against Plano West, the team was well motivated to come back this year and win gold, and with their championship victory they did just that. Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the Rockwall Lady Jackets for their tremendous success, not only in tournament play but also throughout the entire season. Through their hard work and dedication they have made Rockwall very proud. I ask each of my colleagues to join me in honoring Rockwall High School. Finally, I want to commend Superintendent Dr. Gene Burton, Principal Dr. Mark LeMaster, Athletic Director Mark Elam, Athletic Coordinator Scott Smith, Head Coach Jill McDill, Varsity Assistant Casey Reeves, JV Coach Brad Blalock, and Freshman Coach Cody Christenberry for helping to lead the Lady Jackets on to victory. I'd like to congratulate each of the talented players on the 2007 Championship Lady jacket team: Shelby Adamson, Emily McCallum, Arielle Andres, Haley Day, Peyton Adamson, Samantha Shaw, Meredith Gordon, Sunny Satery, Brittany Coleman, Kayla Kimmons, Ariel Coleman, Genevieve Campbell, Lindsay Wack, and Kiara Slayton. I'd also like to honor Ashlie Strange, Rebekah Jones, Lauren Hurt, Nichole Schueneman, and Taylor Whitehead who all served as managers for the team. I especially salute head coach Jill McDill on her devotion to duty, her super guidance of our girls, never looking ahead but taking the games one at a time. Coach McDill is a thorough coach where every detail is practiced over and over by her girls. Just as this stellar group of players took its schedule one game at a time, so too have they been taught to live life. Coach McDill has instilled in them the desire to live every day doing their best, to be unafraid of the future, and be loyal to your goals, your school, your family, and your God. The combination of a talented group of girls, a head coach who has previously won State titles at other schools, a Superintendent and faculty who fully supports, and parents and loyal Yellow Jacket supporters yielded a Rockwall girls Basketball State 5A Championship and a number 3 national ranking. Girls, coaches, parents, faculty, and student body--you made Rockwall, Texas, smallest county of 254 counties, very proud. God bless all of you and thank you again! As we close and leave this floor of Congress on this 23rd day of March, let us do so in respect and recognition that the Rockwall Girls Basketball team is the champion of the largest State in the union--the State of Texas.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1068. It will strengthen the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991. Tomorrow, the Committee on Science and Technology will hold a hearing on U.S. innovation and competitiveness. High-performance computers have a role to play in our economic competitiveness, as they vastly enhance our ability to perform very complex computations quickly and they do it efficiently. H.R. 1068 will help ensure that American researchers have access to the very best tools available as they tackle cutting-edge problems in key fields such as nanotechnology, homeland security, and biotechnology. In addition, this bill helps reinforce the Federal commitment to ``supercomputing,'' a commitment that becomes increasingly more important as European and Asian countries continue to increase their investment in developing and purchasing the next generation of supercomputers. Nobody knows this measure better than my distinguished colleague from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert). She has worked tirelessly in two previous Congresses to have this important legislation enacted. In fact, she has been successful in the House on both occasions, only to see it stall on the Senate side. In an effort to keep that from happening again, we have made a few modifications to help ensure it gets Senate support. With these slight alterations, I hope we will find that the third time is a charm. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1068. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlelady from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

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