On May 13, the House adopted, 292-126, a motion to recommit by Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) to bar funds authorized under the bill from being used to pay salaries of employees disciplined for viewing pornography on work computers or during the course of their duties, thus delaying passage of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5116). The House rejected the modified version (H.R. 5325) on May 19; the 261-148 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority of those voting required for passage of a bill under suspension of the rules, the expedited process under which the bill was considered. The House Science and Technology Committee approved the bill on April 28.
Sponsored by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), H.R. 5325 would reauthorize an estimated $48 billion for National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and programs within the Departments of Energy and Commerce in FY2011-FY2013. H.R. 5116 would have authorized more than $85 billion for those agencies in FY2011-FY2015.
According to the committee report, the measure, among other provisions, would authorize a program of workshops designed to minimize gender bias in academic science and engineering programs. The bill would require the Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) to establish uniform policies that permit federally funded researchers with caregiving responsibilities to keep their research positions while tending to those duties and would require federal science agencies to collect and report composite data, including demographic data, on federal research and development grants (see p. 17-19).
During consideration of the bill last week, the House adopted en bloc, by voice vote:
The House is expected to reconsider H.R. 5325 next week.
