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Category: Legislation

House Science Committee Passes FIRST (almost)

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In an incredibly partisan and late mark up, the House Science Committee finally finished considering the 27 proposed and debated amendments to the FIRST Act (HR 4186). Given the lengthy and contentious nature of the hearing, the roll call votes and final passage of the measure have been postponed until next week. Therefore, as of yet, the FIRST Act has not passed. The bill is expected to pass largely by party lines.

A list of amendments and 15 roll call votes can be found here.

Durring the mark up, Members did raise concern that the legislation as written would pass authorization levels for agencies like NSF that would be less than what Appropriators have already passed in the House  Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill.

Before the markup, there was a significant opposition to the bill expressed by the science community. The National Science Board, which oversees NSF, took the largely unprecedented step in issuing a statement against the legislation because of the perceived Congressional intervention into which science has merit, rather than allowing NSF to continue peer review.

At this point, it is unclear if and when FIRST Act will pass out of Committee or if the FIRST Act will go to the House Floor.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to track the progress of this legislation.

 

 

 

 

 

Patent Reform Legislation Pulled from Agenda

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Consideration of comprehensive patent legislation appears to be off the agenda for the year after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy (D-VT) pulled it from his committee’s agenda on Wednesday. He cited frustration with unproductive negotiations as the reason for the turnaround. The measure had been slated for consideration by the committee today but less than 24 hours before the scheduled markup, Leahy announced that members again had failed to reach a compromise and that the bill would be put on hold indefinitely.

One of the biggest areas of disagreement was over fee shifting, the idea of making the losing party in patent lawsuits pay the winner’s legal fees. Earlier this month, Senate negotiators began to coalesce around compromise language from Senators Cornyn (R-TX) and Schumer (D-NY) that included milder litigation reforms. The research university community, along with other major patent holders, successfully advocated against the measure arguing that the bill would cause more problems for universities than it would solve.

It is uncertain if patent reform legislation will return to the congressional agenda this year.

House Committee to Consider the FIRST Act

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On Wednesday, the House Science Committee will mark up HR 4186, the FIRST Act, a bill which will reauthorize NIST, NSF and a host of other federal science-focused programs. This is the 113th Congress’s version of the America COMPETES reauthorization.

While in previous Congresses this legislation has been bipartisan and uncontroversial, the FIRST Act has been increasingly acrimonious through both committee hearings and markups. The political situation has been exacerbated by interactions between NSF and House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), which has been previously chronicled in the Federal Affairs Blog.

The higher education community has been, and remains, concerned about this legislation (and its various iterations) on several issues including: the overall funding level for NSF; directorate-level funding; and some significant policy changes including the public access embargo period.

Of primary concern is the change to not only the overall funding levels, but that Congress now specifically authorizes the various directorates within NSF for funding allocations. NSF has never had individual directorates called out for specific funding levels, which causes Congressionally mandated “winners” and “losers.”

Most troubling is the authorization funding levels. When you compare the proposed NSF authorization levels of FY14 to FY15, there are several notable increases in funding at the directorate level.  Some NSF directorates receive significant increases at the expense of others.  Here are the numbers:

  •  Biological Sciences (Bio) +5.4%
  •  Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) +7.7%
  •  Engineering (ENG) +7.0%
  •  Geosciences (GEO) -2.9%
  •  Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) +7.7%
  •  Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) -22.1%
  •  Six cumulative: 3.2%

NSF would receive an overall 1.5% increase.

Some Members of Congress may suggest that the FY15 authorization levels in the FIRST Act provide real funding increases for NSF — the total level of funding for NSF is only up by 1.5% — however, this increase does not cover the cost of inflation (1.7 percent). In reality, NSF would have a .2% cut after inflation.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to track the legislation as it works through the committee process.

 

Congress: Issues to Watch this Week

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The House is back in session this week after a weeklong recess period. They will be in session for two weeks before taking another break during the first week in June. The Senate is in this week, but will recess during the week of Memorial Day.

Appropriations:  Appropriators appear to be adhering to their plans to move annual spending bills earlier than normal this year. Several of those measures are advancing this week – in both chambers. On Tuesday in the Senate, subcommittees will consider their Military Construction-VA and Agriculture spending bills with the hopes of moving them to full committee by the end of the week. Both bills have a history of bipartisan support and will be among the first the Senate considers on the floor in late June or early July. Meanwhile, the House will advance their Commerce-Justice-Science bill (HR 4660) for possible floor action by next week. House appropriators also plan to move two domestic spending bills this week: Agriculture and Transportation-HUD.

Sexual Assault Prevention:  Today Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) will hold her first of three roundtable discussions about sexual assaults on college campuses. The hearing will focus on federal reporting laws, including the Clery Act, which requires schools to report on a broad array of crimes that occur on and near campuses, and what is known as the SaVE Act, language included in last year’s Violence Against Women Act reauthorization that requires new training, including bystander intervention, for incoming students and new university employees, along with new reporting on stalking and domestic violence.

McCaskill is teaming up with Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) on the effort to combat sexual assault on college campuses, similar to their successful advocacy for a bill to overhaul the way the military deals with sexual assaults. Subsequent roundtables will focus on Title IX protections, and the campus administrative process and criminal justice system.

FIRST Act:  On Wednesday, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology will mark up the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology Act of 2014 (HR 4186), which authorizes spending levels and specifies policy objectives in allocating resources for the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Veterans in Higher Education:  On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee holds a full committee hearing to learn about access and supports for veterans in higher education.

Larsen Introduces Bill to Protect Bereaved Student Borrowers

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Today, Congressman Rick Larsen (D-WA) introduced the Bereaved Student Borrowers Act. The bill  is designed to protect grieving students and students facing family hardship from auto-defaulting on their private student loans and to get better access to information about cosigner release requirements. The bill also prohibits lenders from reporting an auto-default as a result of cosigner death or bankruptcy to credit reporting companies and stops these companies from including this information on their reports.

This issue was brought to light by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which identified significant issues facing private student loan borrowers in a recent quarterly report. As of 2011, approximately 90 percent of private student loans had cosigners, and many of these loan contracts contain clauses allowing the loan to be accelerated into default upon death or bankruptcy of a cosigner, often a parent or grandparent, even when students are making loan payments on time.

The bill has eight original cosponsors, including Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Pedro Pierluisi, Denny Heck (D-WA), André Carson (D-IN), William Enyart (D-IL), Peter Welch (D-VT), and James Moran (D-VA).

A fact sheet on the bill can be found here.