Salinas Amendments Pass the House with Bipartisan Support, Advance to Senate
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06) announced that three of her amendments were included in legislation that passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, with strong bipartisan support. Rep. Salinas’ amendment to the Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act passed on Monday afternoon, followed by two of her amendments to the DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act, which passed later that evening. Both bills are now under consideration in the U.S. Senate.
“I am proud to share that three of my amendments have passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support,” said Rep. Salinas. “My amendment to the Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act ensures that students from low-income families, rural communities, and other underrepresented groups benefit equally from federal investments in STEM education, while my amendments to the DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act focus on wildfire prevention and agricultural pest control to make sure that these important priorities for Oregon are included in federal research efforts. During such highly polarized times, I am glad that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle were able to come together, and as a member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee I will continue working to advance commonsense policies like these.”
The Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act requires the National Science Foundation (NSF) to increase mathematical and statistical modeling education in public elementary and secondary schools. Under the legislation, NSF must provide competitive grants for research and development to support high-quality mathematical modeling education (e.g., data science and computational thinking) in schools. Rep. Salinas’ amendment added “research on effective approaches for engaging students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM” to the list of eligible activities for grant recipients.
TheDOE and USDA Interagency Research Act directs the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to carry out cross-cutting and collaborative research and development activities over 11 focus areas, including biomass and biofuels, rural technology development, and colocation of agricultural resources and activities with carbon storage and utilization technologies. Rep. Salinas’ amendments added two more focus areas to this list, including “biological pest control” and “wildfire risks and prevention, including the power sector’s role in fire mitigation and wildfire impacts on energy infrastructure.”
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