WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, the US House of Representatives bolstered Rep Michael Honda’s (CA-15) efforts to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education so that America remains competitive in this global economy. Rep. Honda’s Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education (e-STEM) Act, which was first introduced with then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008 and which is being reintroduced in 2009, is very similar to House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon’s H.R. 1709, the “STEM Education Coordination Act of 2009”. The chairman’s bill is being marked-up by the House Science and Technology Committee this week.

Rep Honda noted, “I’m honored and pleased to see Chairman Gordon’s bill accomplish the very objectives laid out in one of four sections of the e-STEM Act. That is, to improve the coordination of the government’s STEM education activities. Coordination is critical and to place a STEM Education Committee within the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy – which my bill with then-Senator Obama recommended, and which is now carried forth in the Chairman’s bill – will substantially enhance the effectiveness of the government’s STEM education efforts. Establishing a coordinating mechanism for federal STEM education programs is critical to business and industry in my Silicon Valley District.”

Rep. Honda plans to reintroduce the Enhancing STEM Act in 2009, which establishes a comprehensive approach to improving collaboration, coordination, and coherence of STEM education activities among Federal and State governments across the nation. Rep. Honda’s e-STEM Act provides Federal Agencies and states with the infrastructure required to work collaboratively, establish national STEM education goals, and to coordinate STEM education initiatives.