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August 10, 2007

On August 9, President Bush signed the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science) Act of 2007 into law. The compromise legislation reflects a number of the Administration's American Competitiveness Intiative priorities. It authorizes more than $43 billion of new funding over the next three fiscal years to boost federal investment in basic research in the physical sciences, expand math and science education programs at the K-12 and university levels, and revitalize policies that encourage innovation. 

White House Fact Sheet

August 8, 2007

In July, the Senate took procedural steps to ensure that legislative addressing American competitiveness and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) issues could move forward toward completion. Previously, the House and Senate had both passed competitiveness-related bills, H.R. 2272 and S. 761, but legislative progress had stalled. On July 19, the Senate brought up the House-passed bill for debate, and amended it with its own legislative language before passing the bill by unanimous consent. The Senate then requested a conference committee with the House and appointed Sens. Bingaman (D-NM), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Lieberman (I-CT), Mikulski (D-MD), Kerry (D-MA), Nelson (D-FL), Domenici (R-NM), Stevens (R-AK), Enzi (R-WY), Alexander (R-TN), Ensign (R-NV), and Coleman (R-MN) to that conference committee.

The House appointed Reps. Miller (D-CA), Holt (D-NJ), McKeon (R-CA), Gordon (D-TN), Lipinski (D-IL), Baird (D-WA), Wu (D-OR), Lampson (D-TX), Udall (D-CO), Giffords (D-AZ), McNerney (D-CA), Hall (R-TX), Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Ehlers (R-MI), Biggert (R-IL), Feeney (R-FL), and Gingrey (R-GA) to the conference committee on July 31. The conference committee then proceeded to meet and agreed to file a conference report. A side-by-side has been developed by the American Chemical Society to convey highlights of both pieces of legislation.

May 23, 2007

On May 21, the House took one more step toward legislation that is designed to improve American competitiveness. While the House had passed numerous competitiveness and STEM related bills throughout the session, these bills did not align structurally with the bill passed by the Senate on April 25 (S. 761). In order to make the appointment of a conference committee and future negotiations easier, the House passed a new bill, H.R. 2272, to combine text of previously passed legislation.

The new House bill would reauthorize the National Science Foundation at $21 billion through fiscal 2010, a significant increase over the agency’s typical yearly allocations; reauthorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency conducting a wide range of scientific research; authorize scholarships for math and science majors who commit to teaching those subjects in high-need schools; authorize federal grants for early-career scientists and engineers at universities and other organizations; and set new research priorities for the National High-Performance Computing Program that are focused on scientific challenges.

April 25, 2007

Two bills, H.R. 362 and S. 761, focused on STEM and American competitiveness, are moving forward in the House and Senate. The companion bills incorporate parts of President Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative and seek to bolster basic scientific research and the number of students majoring in math, science, engineering and foreign languages.

H.R. 362, the "10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act," was passed by the House 389-22 on April 24. It authorizes $1.5 billion through fiscal 2012 to provide for teacher training and scholarships, including $10,000 annual scholarships for math and science majors who commit to teaching STEM subjects in “high-need” schools for a period of time.

The Senate is currently debating the companion legislation, S. 761, and may vote on final passage as early as April 25. S. 761, the “America COMPETES Act” would double the National Science Foundation budget, and also boost funding for the Energy Department’s Office of Science. It authorizes the Secretary of Education to award grants to: (1) develop and implement programs to provide courses of study in mathematics, science, engineering, or critical foreign languages with concurrent teacher certification or to enhance teacher knowledge and teaching skills; (2) increase the number of teachers and students teaching or enrolled in advanced placement or international baccalaureate courses in mathematics, science, or critical foreign languages; (3) help low-income students performing below grade level in mathematics; (4) establish programs of study in critical foreign languages; (5) promote content knowledge requirements for secondary school graduation and establish or improve a statewide P-16 education data system.