Senate Committee Seeks Comments on COMPETES Revision
On July 8, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee issued a press release requesting public input to help guide the Committee’s development of America COMPETES Act reauthorization legislation. A follow-up release was issued last week providing additional details on the Committee’s plans. COMPETES is legislation originally enacted in 2007 that sought to ensure U.S. leadership in science and technology by making targeted investments at U.S. basic science agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF).
As COSSA has been reporting, the House introduced and ultimately passed its version of COMPETES legislation earlier this year with steep proposed cuts to social science research, despite ardent objection from the broad scientific community. The Senate has chosen a different approach for developing its NSF legislation this year, which according to the press release and discussions with Senate staff will include significant stakeholder involvement. Interested organizations are invited to submit written comment by August 21 addressing specific questions posed by the Committee.