First Piece Of Gordon’s Competitiveness Package Clears Committee

February 28, 2007, WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon’s legislation to increase support for scientific research and encourage young scientists and researchers to pursue high-risk/high-reward research cleared the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology.

Today (Feb. 28), the Committee approved H.R. 363, the Sowing the Seeds through Science and Engineering Research Act. The bill is one piece in Gordon’s package of legislation aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness.

“This bill invests in our nation’s capacity to innovate,” said Gordon, chairman of the Science and Technology Committee. “It is through measures like this one that we guarantee a science infrastructure to support a continuing high standard of living in our nation in the decades ahead.”

The bill administers awards to outstanding early-career researchers in academia and in nonprofit research organizations, provides graduate research assistantships in areas of national need, and establishes a national coordination office to prioritize university and national research infrastructure needs.

Approval by the committee clears the legislation for consideration by the full House.

The other legislation included in Gordon’s competitiveness package would boost math and science education and work to decrease U.S. dependence on foreign energy.

The “10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds” Science and Math Scholarship Act, would increase the number of U.S. math and science teachers by 10,000 annually by providing scholarships to science, math and engineering students who commit to becoming science or math teachers at elementary and secondary schools upon completion of their degrees.

Gordon’s third bill in the innovation package is the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) Act. Charged with the mission of decreasing U.S. dependence on oil through clean energy technologies, ARPA-E would provide aggressive funding for innovative, out-of-the-box research projects carried out by industry, universities and consortia of groups, including federal laboratories. This program will give the best and brightest science and technology experts unprecedented flexibility and resources to develop new technologies through high-risk, high-return research addressing the nation's most pressing energy problems.

“I don’t want today’s children to grow up to have a standard of living that is lower than their parents,” said Gordon. “But unless we increase our energy independence and improve our math and science education, we’re not going to be able to compete with the rest of the world.”