House Passes Several Science Committee Bills
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5031, H.R. 1786, H.R. 5056, and H.R. 5029. The bills had strong bipartisan support from members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said of the legislation, “It has been a tough Congress when it comes to working across the aisle and I am so pleased that we were able to work in a bipartisan manner to pass these bills. H.R. 1786, the NWIRP reauthorization, was developed through a long-standing bipartisan effort. The other three bills are similar or identical to provisions in the Democratic America Competes Reauthorization Act and in the Republican FIRST Act. Though we have not been able to come to an agreement on those larger bills, I’m glad that we have found a way to move pieces that we do agree on. These issues; STEM education, administrative burdens on researchers, and international science cooperation, are too important to ignore. I thank the Chairman and the cosponsors of these bills for their work. I sincerely hope we can continue to work in this vein.”
H.R. 5031 – The STEM Education Act - adds computer science to the definition of STEM for Federal science agencies, authorizes informal STEM education grants at the National Science Foundation, and amends NSF’s Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship program to expand eligibility to current math and science teachers who already have a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field. (Passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules)
Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), an original cosponsor of H.R. 5031, said, “The STEM Education Act of 2014 provides critical support to the teachers and advocates of STEM education who are preparing our students with the skills they need to succeed in our increasingly competitive global economy… I am proud that we have put together a bipartisan bill to support and advance STEM education in this country. This is an issue that transcends partisan politics.”
H.R. 1786 – The National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014 – reauthorizes the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP). (Passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules)
Ms. Johnson said, “The last several years have been devastating years for natural disasters across the country. Tornadoes have resulted in significant loss of life and property across the Midwest. Superstorm Sandy caused widespread destruction and death along the Eastern seaboard. And it was not so long ago that Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. We cannot stop these windstorms, but we can make sure our communities have the tools they need to prepare for, respond to, and recover from such disasters. H.R. 1786 reauthorizes NWIRP, an important program that helps our federal agencies and communities across the nation develop and implement new model building codes and many other measures to minimize the loss of life and property during windstorms and to rebuild effectively and safely after such storms.”
H.R. 5056 – The Research and Development Efficiency Act - requires that the Office of Science and Technology Policy establish a working group of federal research agencies to figure out how to better standardize and streamline the administrative requirements on their grantees. (Passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules)
H.R. 5029 – The International Science and Technology Cooperation Act of 2014 - To provide for the establishment of a body to identify and coordinate international science and technology cooperation that can strengthen the domestic science and technology enterprise and support United States foreign policy goals. (Passed by a vote of 346 to 41 under suspension of the rules with 45 members not voting)
Ranking Member of the Research and Technology Subcommittee, Dan Lipinski (D-IL), said of his legislation, “Scientific issues know no boundaries and deal with problems and opportunities of the highest importance to society. Improvements in such areas as energy security, infectious diseases, space exploration, telecommunications and the internet, and many more are due in part to international cooperation, to the benefit of all nations involved. By collaborating with international partners on scientific issues, we strengthen the U.S. scientific enterprise which helps us get the biggest return on our investment in scientific research.”
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