Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
july 2015

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congress

Senate Committee seeks stakeholder input in preparation for COMPETES reauthorization

July 8, 2015

Following the House’s move in May to reauthorize the America COMPETES Act, the Senate has announced their intention to draft a version of the bill by this fall. The Senate version of the bill would authorize funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and also set policy for the Administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Led by Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Gary Peters (D-MI), the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will schedule a series of bipartisan working group meetings to gather information and input from stakeholders on the importance of basic research and enhancing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for students.

The House passed its own version of COMPETES (H.R. 1806) in May, but received criticism from Democrats and the science community for cutting funding for the geosciences and ARPA-E. The bill specified funding levels for each NSF directorate rather than NSF as a whole; directorate funding decisions were left to NSF administrators in the 2007 and 2013 authorizations of the bill. President Obama has said he would veto the current House bill.

According to E&E News, because the Senate has chosen to hold its own hearings and collect information separate from that collected by the House, the Senate bill will likely contain substantially different language from the House bill.

The committee is taking public comments through August 21 at SciencePolicy@commerce.senate.gov.

Sources: Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; E&E News

Updated August 17, 2015

House Committee hears Coast Guard testimony on Arctic icebreakers

July 27, 2015

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held a hearing on July 27 on the National Icebreaker Fund Act (H.R. 3214), which would fund construction and renovation of icebreakers as well as government leases on privately owned vessels. The Coast Guard currently has two active icebreakers, of which only one is classified as a heavy icebreaker.

Subcommittee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Ranking Member John Garamendi (D-CA) expressed concern that the scarcity of American icebreakers poses a threat to the nation’s security and its energy market. “Mapping of the sea bottom in the Arctic is crucially important,” said Rep. Don Young (R-AK), whose state is most closely tied to icebreaking activities. Gary Rasicot, the Coast Guard’s Director of Marine Transportation Systems, agreed that the current inventory is insufficient and recommended “recapitalizing the icebreaker fleet.”

Debate primarily focused on how to pay for the ships. Rep. Hunter contended that “the Coast Guard should not bear the burden of the full cost of building an icebreaker.” Rep. Young criticized the Coast Guard for failing to maintain and expand its fleet, but also blamed Congress for failing to fund the Coast Guard sufficiently. Garamendi agreed, saying, “a lot of the problem lies here in Congress.” Reps. Young and Hunter discussed the possibilities of starting a lease program or a public-private partnership, and Rep. Hunter suggested shifting ownership of new vessels from the Coast Guard, which is under the Department of Homeland Security but serves as ap art of the Navy in wartime, to a different federal agency such as the Department of Defense.

Sources: AGI reporting, E&E News, House.gov 

House bill would require NSF research grants to provide national interest justification

July 30, 2015

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the Scientific Research in the National Interest Act (H.R.3293) on July 30. The bill would require all National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to provide a non-technical explanation of the purpose of their research and explain how it serves the national interest. This language is similar to a provision in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 1806) that passed the House in May. The provision may be excluded from H.R. 1806 if and when the bill goes to conference with a Senate version of the COMPETES reauthorization bill.

The bill’s requirements have already been met by a new NSF policy that requires a statement of national interest and non-technical explanation of projects. The bill has received support from Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), both Ranking Members of House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittees, along with many other Republican co-sponsors.

Sources: E&E News, House.gov