NEWS: Congress Passes Landmark Science Bill

August 3, 2007

Who says bipartisanship is dead? Last night, both houses of Congress passed the conference report on H.R. 2272, the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (America COMPETES) Act. The vote in the House was 367-57; the Senate, which earlier passed its version by a vote of 88-8, passed the conference report by Unanimous Consent. The President, who supported many of the bill’s provisions in his “American Competitiveness Initiative” announced in 2006, is expected to sign the bill.

This bill implements many of the recommendations of the report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” issued by the National Academies in 2005 and to growing concern in the American science and technology community about declining international competitiveness. It is arguably the most important legislation related to science and technology policy in a couple of decades.

OIDA worked with other interest groups and with Senate and House staff to advocate several provisions in the bill, most importantly the establishment of the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) as a replacement for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP).

A report from the House Science and Technology Committee states (emphasis added) that the conference report

• Keeps research programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Energy (DoE) Office of Science on a near-term doubling path;
• Authorizes a total of $43.3 billion over fiscal years 2008 - 2010 for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research and education programs across the federal government;
• Helps to prepare thousands of new teachers and provide current teachers with content and teaching skills in their area of education through NSF's Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and Math and Science Partnerships Program;
• Creates the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) at NIST (replacing the existing Advanced Technology Program or ATP) to fund high-risk, high-reward, pre-competitive technology development with high potential for public benefit;
• Establishes an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), a nimble and semiautonomous research agency at the Department of Energy to engage in high-risk, high reward energy research;
• Expands Programs at NSF to enhance the undergraduate education of the future science and engineering workforce, including at 2-year colleges;
• Includes provisions throughout the bill to help broaden participation in science and engineering fields at all levels;
• Authorizes two new competitive grant programs that will enable partnerships to implement courses of study in mathematics, science, engineering, technology or critical foreign languages in ways that lead to a baccalaureate degree with concurrent teacher certification;
• Authorizes competitive grants to increase the number of teachers serving high-need schools and expand access to AP and IB classes and to increase the number of qualified AP and IB teachers in high-need schools;
• Expands early career grant programs and provides additional support for outstanding young investigators at both NSF and DOE; and
• Strengthens interagency planning and coordination for research infrastructure and information technology (i.e. high-speed computing)

More information on the bill is available from the House Science and Technology website.