Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Legislation Could Increase STEM Funding

  • By Christine Beitenhaus
  • 05/01/10
Introduced into the House on April 22, HR 5116, America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, is an attempt to concentrate federal resources to establish revise, and extend specified STEM programs and engineering, research, and training programs according to the Congressional Research Service. HR 5116 authorizes appropriations for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy for activities of the Office of Science from FY2011 to FY2015. Sponsored by Rep. Barton Gordon (D-TN), the bill has bipartisan support of the measures intended to increase the United States’ competitiveness in the STEM fields, including the research and development of new technology.

Broken into six titles by subject, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 helps create jobs to bolster “science, innovation, and education” in the “short-, mid-, and long-term,” according to a press release from the Committee on Science and Technology. Research funding is also included to help the scientific community in the long run. Originally slated to authorize appropriations totaling around $86B, the bill has the support of more than 140 organizations.

We spoke with Becky Timmons, assistant vice president for Government Relations at the American Council on Education, about the bill and its expected effect on science research in higher education.

Timmons explained, “The America COMPETES Act, when it was first authorized, pulled together several agencies that together support activities related to science, technology, and education. It also tries to focus on promoting the development of competencies in the STEM areas. So the legislation also tried to consolidate and bring together all the little pieces of STEM legislation brought together by Congress.”

The America COMPETES Act “supports all manner of activities” related to science in higher education because the agencies brought together under the Act have supported undergraduates, graduates, doctoral students, postdoctoral positions, and R&D (research and development). Funding is not specifically considered for facility construction and maintenance.

The different pieces of legislation brought together by the Act keeps the need for our continued development in science and technology at the forefront, and also helps contribute to bipartisan support. “The feeling is that by concentrating them they’ll magnify the results and eliminate redundancy and waste among the agencies working on their own,” Timmons stated.

Funding for science, especially in higher education, has been notoriously hard to get and extremely competitive in recent years, but that may not change with the HR 5116. “This won’t completely solve this issue,” Timmons said. “Partly because there have been R&D funding enhancements in the stimulus legislation, and those enhancements are a temporary vehicle.” Once that base funding is gone, new sources of funding will have to be found to sustain higher-level research. Researchers will again see the small pool of funding dry up.

Since its introduction on April 22, HR 5116 has had a rocky start. “It was on the floor first last week and failed to pass, and last week the bill would have provided $86B in funding over five years,” Timmons explained. When it failed to pass, and the bill was sent back to the committee with specific instructions to trim the length of years and the overall costs of the bill.

“So just in a week’s time, it lost not quite half its funding, but about $40B in funding. When it was brought up on the floor this week it also failed to pass because this time around it needed a two-thirds majority… It was short by about 12 votes of that mark. So we’re all waiting to see what the next chapter is going to be.”

The future of HR 5116 is still undecided, but many are hoping that the bill does go through to help support the research and development in STEM fields to make sure the United States is on the leading edge of scientific and technological advances.

Featured

  • Tomball ISD Opens New Tomball West High School

    Tomball Independent School District in Tomball, Texas, recently celebrated the official opening of Tomball West High School, the district's third comprehensive high school, with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to a district news release.

  • Wenger Names New Vice President of Sales for Performing Arts, Controls

    Wenger Corporation, which provides products and solutions for music and theater education, performing arts and athletic storage, recently announced the hiring of a new Vice President of Sales for Performing Arts and Controls.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).