America Competes Bill to Be Heard in House Tuesday
Bill Includes Science Park Support
The America Competes Bill, including science and research park authorization for planning grants (up to $750K) and loan guarantees (up to $300M nationally), was passed Friday by the U.S. Senate. The U.S. House of Representatives will consider the bill, most likely Tuesday.
Please contact all your State Representatives NOW and let them know you need their support on this bill!
Brian Darmody, Past President of AURP and Chair of AURP's Governmental Relations Committee, joins me in urging you to take immediate action on this bill. Details on the bill's research park loan guarantee program are at the US innovation website, below, starting at page 132 of the bill. As Brian says, "This is the closest we have been--we just need a push to get over the goal line!"
Please read the synoposis below from Dr. Mary L. Good of ASTRA, and follow the links listed to get more information.
Once again thank you in advance for your help with this important policy initiative!
Eileen Walker
Chief Executive Officer
More information from Dr. Mary L. Good of ASTRA:
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Dear Friend of ASTRA;
WHAT HAS HAPPENED?
"Half a loaf is better than none" is an apt description of recent moves
related to the ASTRA-supported America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of
2010. The Senate passed its trimmed-down version of the COMPETES Act
on Friday, December 17. The final vote was by "unanimous consent."
With the elections out of the way, ASTRA's efforts to have it resurface
during the "Lame Duck" session of Congress came to pass, although it
was certainly not the version we had supported earlier this year in
other Action Alerts sent to you. The leadership of both parties in
the Senate "hotlined" the bill, enabling it to pass unanimously
without a recorded vote. I believe they listened to us, that our
joint Petition in Support of the America COMPETES Act with TechAmerica
made a big difference - and we are now very close to a qualified
success.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Senate passed an amended version of the bill - with very
significant differences from the ASTRA-supported House version. We
have spent the last several days trying to analyze these differences
and you can find them at www.usinnovation.org/node/104
As well, ASTRA's Burk Kalweit has created a preliminary chart comparing
the funding differences for your review. These will be updated as
necessary - see
www.usinnovation.org/sites/default/files/ComparisonofHousevSenateCOMPETESFunding121710.pdf
WHY DO WE SUPPORT THE COMPETES COMPROMISE?
ASTRA supports the Senate-passed COMPETES measure because it represents
the best effort we can accomplish during the waning hours of this
Congress. It is a compromise we will have to live with. In fact, the
outgoing Chairman of the House Science & Technology Committee, Rep.
Bart Gordon (D-TN) issued the following statement on December 17:
"The Reauthorization passed committee on April 28 with bipartisan
support, it passed the House on May 26th with bipartisan support, and
now, the Senate has weighed in and approved it - unanimously.
While there have been concessions made, the Senate's amendments
preserve the intent of the Rising Above the Gathering Storm report and
the original COMPETES. It keeps our basic research agencies on a
doubling path, it continues to invest in high-risk, high-reward energy
technology development, it will help improve STEM education, and it
will help unleash American innovation.
I am hopeful that this will come up before the House next week. I urge
my House colleagues to stand with the business community, the academic
community, the scientific community, and the Senate to send a strong
message that the U.S. must maintain its scientific and economic
leadership.
I cannot think of anything I would rather do as one of my final acts in
Congress than sending this bill, with strong bipartisan support, to
the president's desk."
For more information, please visit the Committee's website.
NEXT WEEK:
COMPETES must now return to the House for approval or disapproval, and
it is uncertain whether or not the House will deal with this vital
legislation ruing the final days of this Congress. The earliest it
might be able to vote on the bill is Tuesday, December 21.
The new COMPETES bill would provide authorization (not the actual
appropriation) for about $43.3 billion in investments in the National
Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and
the Department of Commerce's National Institute for Standards &
Technology over a three-year period.
The new bill limits the authorization period to three years, cuts quite
a few of the Administration's innovation programs, but significantly
keeps these agencies mentioned above on a "doubling" trajectory in a
time of great U.S. economic peril.
Between May 7 and May 28, at least 15,102 contacts were made by our
"Friends of ASTRA" with the U.S. House of Representatives, during our
last full-scale engagement on this must-pass legislation. Following
that, nearly 900 organizations, companies, universities, and
individual researchers, scientists, engineering, students, teachers,
and many others signed the original COMPETES petition. So let's
finish the job now.
Let's show our bipartisan support for this bill as the U.S. House moves
closer to final consideration of it. For this reason, we are asking
all Friends of ASTRA who support the measure to make a last effort
this year to get COMPETES passed.
RECAP OF WHY WE SUPPORT COMPETES:
The COMPETES Reauthorization Act is a bill that lays the basis for
sustained funding increases in our nation's often neglected science,
engineering and technology resources.
ACTIONS REQUESTED IMMEDIATELY:
1 - Decide if you yourself support this legislation. If so, please
contact your Member of the U.S. House, or have your organization and
your own members do so at once. URGE THEM TO SUPPORT THE AMERICA
COMPETES ACT REAUTHORIZATION OF 2010 with no changes to the
Senate-passed version - amendments would doom the measure entirely.
2 - Please contact your Member (s) immediately. One easy way to do so
it for you to send an e-mail or telephone your Representative. Simply
use the handy Web tool provided by the U.S. House Clerk's Office found
below. Follow the instructions provided by the link, and you will be
connected to your Representative's office:
http://x.jtrk88.net/y.z?l=https%3A%2F%2Fwriterep.house.gov%2Fwriterep%2Fwelcome.shtml&e=28427&j=256533424
3 - Please urge Congress to maintain its long-standing bipartisan
support for science and engineering R&D funding. It's a matter of
highest national priority.
4 - Please thank your own Members of the U.S. Senate in both parties
who supported the measure (it was unanimous, so this gives you an
opportunity to engage with them!). In particular, Senators Lamar
Alexander (R-TN) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) are among those to be
thanked for helping achieve this significant compromise through their
ranking Committee positions. They worked very hard to get this
compromise done, as did many others in both political parties. See
http://x.jtrk88.net/y.z?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.senate.gov%2Fgeneral%2Fcontact_information%2Fsenators_cfm.cfm&e=28427&j=256533424
PLEASE SEND THIS MESSAGE ON TO OTHERS:
This message has been sent by ASTRA to approximately 48,000 scientists,
engineers, researchers, university employees, students, technology
workers, policy makers, small business owners, researchers,
individuals, and others on our "Friends" list. An estimated 175,000
people will be contacted by this message, and we urge you to send it
on to any friends, associates and family who may share our interest in
passing this critically important legislative measure... Let's get
this done, and now.
Thank you, and may you have the Happiest of Holidays!
Please contact all your State Representatives NOW and let them know you need their support on this bill!
Brian Darmody, Past President of AURP and Chair of AURP's Governmental Relations Committee, joins me in urging you to take immediate action on this bill. Details on the bill's research park loan guarantee program are at the US innovation website, below, starting at page 132 of the bill. As Brian says, "This is the closest we have been--we just need a push to get over the goal line!"
Please read the synoposis below from Dr. Mary L. Good of ASTRA, and follow the links listed to get more information.
Once again thank you in advance for your help with this important policy initiative!
Eileen Walker
Chief Executive Officer
More information from Dr. Mary L. Good of ASTRA:
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Dear Friend of ASTRA;
WHAT HAS HAPPENED?
"Half a loaf is better than none" is an apt description of recent moves
related to the ASTRA-supported America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of
2010. The Senate passed its trimmed-down version of the COMPETES Act
on Friday, December 17. The final vote was by "unanimous consent."
With the elections out of the way, ASTRA's efforts to have it resurface
during the "Lame Duck" session of Congress came to pass, although it
was certainly not the version we had supported earlier this year in
other Action Alerts sent to you. The leadership of both parties in
the Senate "hotlined" the bill, enabling it to pass unanimously
without a recorded vote. I believe they listened to us, that our
joint Petition in Support of the America COMPETES Act with TechAmerica
made a big difference - and we are now very close to a qualified
success.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Senate passed an amended version of the bill - with very
significant differences from the ASTRA-supported House version. We
have spent the last several days trying to analyze these differences
and you can find them at www.usinnovation.org/node/104
As well, ASTRA's Burk Kalweit has created a preliminary chart comparing
the funding differences for your review. These will be updated as
necessary - see
www.usinnovation.org/sites/default/files/ComparisonofHousevSenateCOMPETESFunding121710.pdf
WHY DO WE SUPPORT THE COMPETES COMPROMISE?
ASTRA supports the Senate-passed COMPETES measure because it represents
the best effort we can accomplish during the waning hours of this
Congress. It is a compromise we will have to live with. In fact, the
outgoing Chairman of the House Science & Technology Committee, Rep.
Bart Gordon (D-TN) issued the following statement on December 17:
"The Reauthorization passed committee on April 28 with bipartisan
support, it passed the House on May 26th with bipartisan support, and
now, the Senate has weighed in and approved it - unanimously.
While there have been concessions made, the Senate's amendments
preserve the intent of the Rising Above the Gathering Storm report and
the original COMPETES. It keeps our basic research agencies on a
doubling path, it continues to invest in high-risk, high-reward energy
technology development, it will help improve STEM education, and it
will help unleash American innovation.
I am hopeful that this will come up before the House next week. I urge
my House colleagues to stand with the business community, the academic
community, the scientific community, and the Senate to send a strong
message that the U.S. must maintain its scientific and economic
leadership.
I cannot think of anything I would rather do as one of my final acts in
Congress than sending this bill, with strong bipartisan support, to
the president's desk."
For more information, please visit the Committee's website.
NEXT WEEK:
COMPETES must now return to the House for approval or disapproval, and
it is uncertain whether or not the House will deal with this vital
legislation ruing the final days of this Congress. The earliest it
might be able to vote on the bill is Tuesday, December 21.
The new COMPETES bill would provide authorization (not the actual
appropriation) for about $43.3 billion in investments in the National
Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and
the Department of Commerce's National Institute for Standards &
Technology over a three-year period.
The new bill limits the authorization period to three years, cuts quite
a few of the Administration's innovation programs, but significantly
keeps these agencies mentioned above on a "doubling" trajectory in a
time of great U.S. economic peril.
Between May 7 and May 28, at least 15,102 contacts were made by our
"Friends of ASTRA" with the U.S. House of Representatives, during our
last full-scale engagement on this must-pass legislation. Following
that, nearly 900 organizations, companies, universities, and
individual researchers, scientists, engineering, students, teachers,
and many others signed the original COMPETES petition. So let's
finish the job now.
Let's show our bipartisan support for this bill as the U.S. House moves
closer to final consideration of it. For this reason, we are asking
all Friends of ASTRA who support the measure to make a last effort
this year to get COMPETES passed.
RECAP OF WHY WE SUPPORT COMPETES:
The COMPETES Reauthorization Act is a bill that lays the basis for
sustained funding increases in our nation's often neglected science,
engineering and technology resources.
ACTIONS REQUESTED IMMEDIATELY:
1 - Decide if you yourself support this legislation. If so, please
contact your Member of the U.S. House, or have your organization and
your own members do so at once. URGE THEM TO SUPPORT THE AMERICA
COMPETES ACT REAUTHORIZATION OF 2010 with no changes to the
Senate-passed version - amendments would doom the measure entirely.
2 - Please contact your Member (s) immediately. One easy way to do so
it for you to send an e-mail or telephone your Representative. Simply
use the handy Web tool provided by the U.S. House Clerk's Office found
below. Follow the instructions provided by the link, and you will be
connected to your Representative's office:
http://x.jtrk88.net/y.z?l=https%3A%2F%2Fwriterep.house.gov%2Fwriterep%2Fwelcome.shtml&e=28427&j=256533424
3 - Please urge Congress to maintain its long-standing bipartisan
support for science and engineering R&D funding. It's a matter of
highest national priority.
4 - Please thank your own Members of the U.S. Senate in both parties
who supported the measure (it was unanimous, so this gives you an
opportunity to engage with them!). In particular, Senators Lamar
Alexander (R-TN) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) are among those to be
thanked for helping achieve this significant compromise through their
ranking Committee positions. They worked very hard to get this
compromise done, as did many others in both political parties. See
http://x.jtrk88.net/y.z?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.senate.gov%2Fgeneral%2Fcontact_information%2Fsenators_cfm.cfm&e=28427&j=256533424
PLEASE SEND THIS MESSAGE ON TO OTHERS:
This message has been sent by ASTRA to approximately 48,000 scientists,
engineers, researchers, university employees, students, technology
workers, policy makers, small business owners, researchers,
individuals, and others on our "Friends" list. An estimated 175,000
people will be contacted by this message, and we urge you to send it
on to any friends, associates and family who may share our interest in
passing this critically important legislative measure... Let's get
this done, and now.
Thank you, and may you have the Happiest of Holidays!
