House Passes Science Legislation

Although action in the current Congress has been largely stalled by partisan bickering, the House of Representatives passed a spate of science-related legislation in July. Last week, the House passed a bill (H.R. 5120) that would expand technology transfer efforts at the Department of Energy’s science research labs. Also passed was H.R. 5035, which would reauthorize funding for the National Institute of Standards & Technology. Earlier this month, the House approved legislation aimed at reducing administrative burdens on researchers (H.R. 5056); creating an organization to foster international science and technology cooperation (H.R. 5029); and supporting more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education research at the National Science Foundation while expanding the definition of STEM to include computer science (H.R. 5031). The bills now move to the Senate for consideration. Meanwhile, the House failed to approve legislation (H.R. 1022) that would have increased the amount of DOE research on critical minerals and heightened federal coordination of critical minerals use. The bill failed 143-260.