President Signs COMPETES Act

Equipping teachers, educating students, investing in research and stimulating America's economy are the goals of H.R. 2272, the America COMPETES Act, a bill signed into law this morning by President Bush at the White House.

"We have to recognize there are roughly seven billion people in the world, half of whom make less than $2 a day. We cannot and would not want to compete with that," said House Science & Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). "We have to compete at a higher level with a better equipped and skilled workforce than that of our global counterparts."

The bill, which will help secure the U.S.'s ability to compete in the global marketplace, was steered through Congress by Gordon and Congressional leaders based upon the recommendations of the National Academies' 2005 report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."

Chairman Gordon, former Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) requested that report, which found that the U.S. could stand to lose its competitive edge over other nations unless action was taken.

Among the report's findings were that 68 percent of eighth graders received math instruction from a teacher with no degree or certification in math; and 93 percent of children in grades five through nine received physical science instruction from a teacher with no degree or certification in the field. The report also found that less than a third of 4th and 8th grade students are proficient in math.

To address these problems, The COMPETES Act authorizes $33..6 billion over fiscal years 2008-2010 for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs across the federal government. The measure authorizes multiple grant programs to help educate current and future teachers in the areas of science and math education. The bill also invests in basic research and supports young researchers by expanding early career grant programs.

"This bill will not only give our teachers and students the support they need, but it also advances our efforts to become energy independent. This will create new jobs and new exports," Gordon said.

The bill establishes the Advanced Research Projects-Agency (ARPA-E) designed to engage in high-risk, high reward energy research under the Department of Energy (DOE) - the first major energy provision approved by Congress this session.

The bill further supports basic research by setting budgets at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation and the DOE Office of Science on a path to doubling within the near term.

"This is not just an idle thought for those of us who have kids and grandkids. I am very concerned that the next generation of Americans can be the first generation of Americans to inherit a national standard of living less than their parents if we don't do something," Gordon said. "This bill will help turn that corner."


For more information, contact Alisha Prather at alisha.prather@mail.house.gov.

Congress Authorizes $43.3B in Science and Technology Spending

After months of negotiations, the House and Senate have approved the most significant bill in years to bolster U.S. research. The America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science (COMPETES) Act authorizes over $43 billion in new federal spending over the next three years, which will support U.S. math and science education and federal research agencies. In fact, the legislation would double the budget authorizations of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratory activities.

Past issues of the SSTI Weekly Digest have covered the progress of the COMPETES Act (see the April 23, 2007 and June 20, 2007 issues). Earlier this year, both houses of Congress passed legislation that incorporated many of the recommendations provided by the influential National Academies report Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The current, reconciled bill, passed by the House and Senate last Thursday, contains many provisions that directly result from the report. These include a requirement that all research agencies contribute funds to multidisciplinary research and that DOE create a program to support researchers early in their careers.

The COMPETES Act provides a major increase in funding authorizations for federal research agencies; however, the amounts included in the final bill more closely resemble the authorizations in the more frugal House bill rather than the more generous Senate legislation. Agency and program authorizations affected by the bill include:

NSF - $22.1B authorized over three years
NSF EPSCoR - $401M authorized over three years
NIST - $2.65B authorized over three years
NIST MEP - $363.8M authorized over three years
NIST TIP - $372M authorized over three years

The legislation establishes several new federal programs to encourage innovation and commercialization. The new NIST Technology Innovation Program will replace the existing Advanced Technology Program by providing competitive grants to small- and medium-sized businesses commercializing a critical new technology. Single companies may receive up to $3 million over three years, while joint ventures may be eligible for $9 million over five years. The bill also creates a new ARPA-like program within DOE to develop technologies that help overcome the country's long-term energy challenges.

President Bush is expected to sign the COMPETES Act, despite the Administration's strong reservation about some aspects of the legislation, including ARPA-E. In a statement following the initial passage of the Senate bill, the president argued that the ARPA-E program would redirect resources from basic research priorities at DOE. The current bill omits several of the measures that had originally drawn the ire of the Administration, including a requirement that all federal science agencies set aside 8 percent of their R&D budget for novel, pan-disciplinary research.

The American Institute of Physics plans to run a series of articles in its FYI science policy news bulletin examining the details of the new legislation and its likely implications for U.S. scientific research. The latest issue of FYI is available at http://www.aip.org/fyi/.


Credit: SSTI Weekly Digest

Congress Releases Report on Nanotechnology

The Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress recently released a study on nanotechnology. The report, Nanotechnology: The Future is Coming Sooner than You Think, gives a concise overview of what nanotechnology is, how the technology has progressed, possible dangers and the role of the federal government.

The report describes the need for cross-disciplinary research as well as multi-institutional funding in order to fully capitalize on the future of nanotechnology. Follow this link to read the full report: http://www.house.gov/jec/publications/110/nanotechnology_03-22-07.pdf

Credit: Southern Compass, a weekly e-mail newsletter of the Southern Growth Policies Board - www.southern.org