Legislation Changes Agency Programs

President Barack Obama signed the bill reauthorizing the America Competes Act on Jan. 4. The bill, which strengthens the government’s commitment to science, technology, and education funding, also makes a number of revisions in some science programs. At NIST, for example, the new law revises the agency’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, authorizes a green construction initiative for high-performance building standards, and eliminates its Commerce Science & Technology Program. In education, the bill authorizes both NIST and NSF to increase their funding of graduate fellowships and to broaden opportunities for underrepresented minorities. Because some of these changes will require additional spending and there is a good chance that Congress will not increase science funding, some existing programs may be reduced to implement these initiatives.