House Schedules Vote on Bill to "INSPIRE Women" in Aerospace

On Tuesday, the House is scheduled to vote on a bill introduced by Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) to encourage women and girls to study the fields of STEM education, pursue careers in aerospace, and advance space science and exploration.

The Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers and Explorers (INSPIRE) Women Act, H.R. 4755, directs the NASA Administrator to encourage women and girls to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and pursue aerospace careers by supporting three existing initiatives: NASA GIRLS and NASA BOYS, Aspire to Inspire, and Summer Institute in Science, Technology, Engineering and Research.

The INSPIRE Women bill also directs the Administrator to submit a plan within 90 days of the bill’s enactment for how NASA can facilitate and support current and retired astronauts, scientists, engineers and innovators to engage with K-12 female STEM students.

The bill was introduced last Wednesday (March 16) by Comstock, with co-sponsorship by the bipartisan leadership of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee — Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) — as well as Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA).

No funding is proposed in the bill and there has been no committee action on it. 

It is scheduled for consideration under the suspension of the rules calendar, which is used for non-controversial bills expected to easily win two-thirds of the votes, indicating that the House leadership is confident it will pass.  If it does, it will be sent to the Senate for action.

(The House Majority Leader’s website links to a PDF version of the bill that does not have a bill number.  The version of the bill posted on Congress.gov, which does have the bill number, is somewhat different, referring to both current and retired astronauts, etc.  The version with the bill number presumably is the most recent and therefore is the one described here.)