On January 20, the House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing to discuss the America COMPETES Act and its role in supporting STEM education, the economy, and R&D. The committee is planning a vote to reauthorize the act before Memorial Day. The America COMPETES Act was passed in 2007 and authorized $33.6 billion from 2008 to 2010 in new spending for a host of research and education programs at NSF, DOE, NIST,rnNOAA, NASA, and the Department of Education. If funding hits the targets authorized by the bill, the main beneficiaries-NSF, DOE's Office of Science, and NIST-will double their budgets over seven years. However, appropriated funding has not matched the doubling path of authorized funding.
展开▼
