AAAS has created a new graph showing America COMPETES funding as intended, as actually funded, and the Democrat’s proposal. A larger version of the chart can be found here.
Author: Sarah Castro
Reviewed 9/22
Senate Commerce Committee announces COMPETES Hearing
Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, announced a hearing on America COMPETES today.
The hearing will be November 6th at 2:30 pm EST. Those interested can watch the hearing live.
America COMPETES Reauthorizations Revealed
The House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith and Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson have released dueling draft bills to reauthorize America COMPETES. The House will begin to work through their differences on these pieces of legislation in the coming months.
Here is the House Democrat’s reauthorization discussion draft bill.
The Committee Republicans have decided to consider COMPETES reauthorization in two smaller bills. The two bills are the EINSTEIN (Enabling Innovation for Science, Technology and Energy in America) Act which encompasses the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science parts of COMPETES and the FIRST (Frontier in Innovative Research, Science, and Technology) Act which includes reauthorization for the NSF, NIST, OSTP, and STEM education components of COMPETES. Here is a summary of the discussion draft of the EINSTEIN Act. Here is a summary of the House Republicans discussion draft of the FIRST Act. The full draft will be posted when available.
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House Science Chair: Science vs. Entitlements
House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-TX, published an op-ed in Politico today. In it, he asserts that federal budget is so taken up with entitlements that the nation’s investment in science is suffering and will continue to suffer as a result. Further, Chairman Smith argues that entitlement reform means more funding for basic science and R&D.
Student Loans: Cloture Vote Fails but Senate Makes Possible Deal
The Senate failed to invoke cloture and move forward S 1238, the Keep Student Loans Affordable Act, which is a measure that would keep the Stafford subsidized interest rate at 3.4 percent for another year.
The vote was 51-49 and 60 votes are needed to invoke cloture, which would end debate on the measure.
However, later Wednesday evening, a bipartisan group of Senators, including Majority Whip Dick Durbin, announced a long-term student loan agreement.
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