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01.11

Lame Duck Congress Passes Key S&T Legislation

By IEEE-USA Staff

Just before adjourning its post-election “lame duck” session, Congress reauthorized the America COMPETES Act, expiring legislation that aims to bolster U.S. economic and scientific leadership by supporting basic research, improving science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and fostering innovation.

The House had approved a version of America COMPETES (H.R. 5116) in late May after several parliamentary maneuvers were required to overcome Republican objections.  When the Senate didn’t act on its version before the Fall election recess, prospects for bill passage looked slim (see Today's Engineer, November 2010).   However, in the closing weeks of 111th Congress, the Senate approved an amended version of the House bill by unanimous consent on 17 Dec.   After House Science and Technology Committee chairman Bart Gordon signaled that the committee would support the Senate version, the House leadership quickly moved the amended bill to the House floor on 21 Dec., where it passed by a 228 to 130 vote, with 75 House members not voting.

Senator Jay Rockefeller, who along with Senators Lamar Alexander and Jeff Bingaman, helped steer the reauthorization on the Senate side, noted “This is an investment in America’s future and our long-term competitiveness in the global marketplace. This bill invests in R&D and in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education — drivers of our economy and keys to our economic success. The investments we make now in science, technology, research and STEM education will pay incredible dividends down the road.” 

Rep. Gordon, who retired from Congress at year end, noted “I am proud that, in the two terms I’ve had the privilege to lead the Science and Technology Committee, the Committee has had 151 bills and resolutions pass the House, all with bipartisan support. But there is nothing I am prouder of than America COMPETES Act. There is nothing that will have deeper, longer lasting, and more positive impacts for our nation than this bill.”

Key Provisions

The bill’s contents touch on multiple areas, including federal S&T investments, STEM K-12 education programs, innovation programs and competitiveness policy.  Selected highlights include:

S&T Investments

• Authorizes funding increases for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and DOE’s Office of Energy Science for the fiscal years 2011-2013, keeping them on a path toward doubling their basic R&D investments over 10 years. 

• Continues funding authority for DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E).

• Authorizes NSF to pursue a national research agenda in key areas affected by the increased use of public and private cloud computing.

STEM Education Provisions

• Calls for establishment of a committee within the National Science and Technology Council to coordinate all federal STEM education programs, with the goal of reinforcing the most effective programs.

• Reauthorizes NSF and DOE education programs designed to provide internship opportunities for high school and undergraduate students and encourage students studying in STEM fields to pursue K-12 teaching credentials.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• Calls for establishment of a Committee on Technology within the National Science and Technology Council  responsible for planning and coordinating Federal programs and activities in advanced manufacturing research and development.

• Establishes an Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology.

• Authorizes establishment of an Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Commerce Department o foster innovation and the commercialization of new technologies.

• Broadens federal authority to use prizes and awards to competitively stimulate innovation.

• Authorizes federal loan guarantees to encourage use of innovative technologies in manufacturing and promotes the use of high-end computing simulation and modeling by small and medium-sized manufacturers.

• Establishes a Regional Innovation Program to support development of regional innovation strategies such as innovation clusters and research parks with federal planning assistance and grants.

• Expands NIST’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership program to encompass the construction and green energy industries.

• Mandates a comprehensive federal study on the economic competitiveness and innovative capacity of the United States, with recommendations.

• Outlines the sense of Congress on NASA’s important role in promoting innovation and competitiveness.

Two key provisions in the original House bill that did not survive the Senate amendment to appear in final legislation were reauthorizations for the national nanotechnology initiative and the federal networking information technology R&D (NITRD) program.

What’s Next

President Obama signed the American COMPETES Reauthorization Act into law on 4 Jan. 2011. This legislative authority empowers federal agencies to begin planning and implementing both new and existing programs in 2011, subject to the availability of budget appropriations.  The 111th Congress adjourned on 22 Dec., having adopted a continuing resolution appropriating funds to maintain the federal government at existing funding levels through 4 March 2011. As a consequence, the funding increases called for by the America COMPETES Act can’t take affect unless and until the new Congress adopts corresponding FY 2011 appropriations legislation.

While supporters of the bill touted the Senate amendment as a more fiscally conservative compromise, the final bill included $7.4 billion in new spending that Congress will be hard-pressed to find funding for in the constrained federal budget environment.

In the House floor debate on the bill, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), who will chair the House Science and Technology Committee in 2011, indicated his opposition to the measure as the Republican floor manager. 

According to Hall, ““We still do not have a complete CBO cost estimate.  This is not the way the American people want us to do their business.  They told us in November that they want us to do things differently, and this lame duck Congress is going against those wishes and denying us the opportunity to carefully review the items in this $46 billion amendment.”

As the incoming Chairman of the committee with jurisdiction, Hall has also pledged to conduct rigorous oversight over the programs included in this bill, suggesting that it is more responsible to consider programs individually rather than in a large package.  “Science and technology are the fundamental movers of our economy,” Hall said, “and if we want to remain globally competitive, this bill should be considered in smaller pieces and not on the last day of a lame duck Congressional session.”

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.