House Advances Gordon’s Competitiveness, Science/Math Education Package
May 21, 2007, WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon’s efforts to ensure U.S. students, teachers, businesses and workers are prepared to continue leading the world in innovation, research and technology.
“I can’t repeat it often enough - providing high quality jobs for hard working Americans must be our first priority. And in order to accomplish that, we must be proactive,” said House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon. “This package of legislation is proactive and far-reaching. It puts in place measures designed to advance U.S. innovation, which in turns advances our economy.”
H.R. 2272, the 21st Century Competitiveness Act, authorizes funding for research and education programs at the National Science Foundation; for research labs, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and other activities at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology; and for early career awards and teacher professional development programs at the Department of Energy.
The legislation is comprised of bills authored and steered by Gordon and other members of the Science and Technology Committee. Each of the bills previously passed the House by wide bipartisan margins. Passage of the 21st Century Competitiveness Act sets in motion a conference with similar innovation and competitiveness legislation that recently passed the U.S. Senate.
The House bill is the culmination of a 1.5 year, bipartisan effort by members of the Science and Technology Committee to pass a package of competitiveness bills in response to recommendations in the 2005 National Academies report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm.
In 2005, Gordon and a group of bipartisan Congressional lawmakers asked The National Academies for a list of the top 10 actions needed to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in the global economy. The report found that the U.S. would stand to lose its competitive edge without immediate action.
“In this increasingly competitive world, where manufacturing jobs are rapidly being outsourced and we are importing more high-tech products than we are exporting, now is the time for us to act. We must strengthen our support for the creativity, innovation and talented workforce that makes the U.S. unique and gives us our edge,” said Gordon.
“The day our universities are no longer the most sought after in the world, the day we see a brain drain because our best and brightest young scientists and entrepreneurs can’t get the funding to do their research and development here at home, the day our innovation is outsourced – that is the day that worries me.”
Provisions in the 21st Century Competitiveness Act include many of the National Academies recommendations, such as:
- Keeping the National Science Foundation and the NIST research Labs on a 10-year doubling path;
- Helping to create thousands of new teachers and providing current teachers with content and pedagogical expertise in their area of teaching;
- Expanding programs to enhance the undergraduate education of the future science and engineering workforce;
- Expanding early career grant programs for outstanding young investigators at both the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy;
- Strengthening interagency planning and coordination for research infrastructure and information technology.
