Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tweet[IWS] CRS: AMERICA COMPETES ACT: Programs, Funding, and Selected Issues [22 January 2008]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL34328
America COMPETES Act: Programs, Funding, and Selected Issues
January 22, 2008
Deborah D. Stine, Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, Resources, Science, and Industry Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34328_20080122.pdf
[full-text, 79 pages]
Summary
On August 2, 2007, Congress passed the America COMPETES Act (H.R.
2272), which the President signed into law (P.L. 110-69) on August 9, 2007. The act
responds to concerns that the United States may not be able to compete economically
with other nations in the future due to insufficient investment today in science and
technology research and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
education and workforce development. A similar concern had led President Bush to
announce the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) in January 2006 during his
State of the Union address.
The America COMPETES Act authorizes an increase in the nation's investment
in science and engineering research and in STEM education from kindergarten to
graduate school and postdoctoral education. The act also establishes the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and Discovery Science and Engineering
Innovation Institutes. (Appendix A provides a summary of the act's programs.)
The act authorizes increases in funding for the National Science Foundation
(NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories, and the
Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science over FY2008-FY2010. If
maintained, the increases would double the budgets of those agencies over seven
years. The Administration's ACI also proposes increases in these budgets, but at a
rate that would double them over 10 years instead of 7.
Within DOE, ARPA-E is designed to support transformational energy
technology research projects with the goal of enhancing the economic and energy
security of the United States. The effort is based on that of the DOD Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Administration and others
support the conceptual goal of ARPA-E, but questions whether or not the DARPA
model can be used for the energy sector, and has concerns about it potentially
redirecting funds from current DOE research activities. ARPA-E proponents counter
that ARPA-E is needed to facilitate the energy marketplace by accelerating research
that will bridge the gap between basic research and industrial development.
At the heart of the America COMPETES Act is the goal of maintaining the
United States as the leader in the global economy. Three broad trends influence
today's globalization of the economy. The first is technology, which has sharply
reduced the cost of communication and transportation that previously divided
markets. The second is a dramatic increase in the world supply of labor producing
goods and services traded internationally. The third is government policies that have
reduced barriers to trade and investment.
As Congress deliberates the FY2009 budget, the programs authorized by the
America COMPETES Act will likely be considered during the appropriations
process. Unlike the previous fiscal year, Congress has now authorized the America
COMPETES Act programs. How the act is funded and the programs implemented
remains to be determined as the second session of the 110th Congress proceeds.
Contents
Overview of America COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview of U.S. Competitiveness Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Issues for Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Perspectives on the Definition of Competitiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Trade Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Foreign Direct Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Workforce and Wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Competitiveness in Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
General Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
American Competitiveness Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Science and Engineering Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Research Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
NASA Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
High-Risk, High-Reward Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Discovery Science and Engineering Innovation Institutes . . . . . . . . . . 26
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education . 27
Department of Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Department of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Appropriations Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Evaluation of the America COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Evaluation Mechanisms Within the America COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . 45
Evaluation Mechanisms Beyond Those in the America COMPETES Act . 46
Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Output Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Input Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Concluding Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Appendix A. Summary of Legislative History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Appendix B. Legislative Information System Summary of America
COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Title I: Office of Science and Technology Policy; Government-Wide Science . . . . .. . . 55
Title II: National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Title III: National Institute of Standards and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Title IV: Ocean and Atmospheric Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Title V: Department of Energy - Protecting America's Competitive Edge Through Energy Act, or the PACE-Energy Act . . . . 61
Title VI: Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Subtitle A: Teacher Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Subtitle B: Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Subtitle C: Foreign Language Partnership Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Subtitle D: Alignment of Education Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Subtitle E: Mathematics and Science Partnership Bonus Grants . . . . . 65
Title VII: National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Title VIII: General Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
List of Figures
Figure 1. Foreign Direct Investment in the United States and U.S. Direct Investment Abroad, Annual Flows, 1990-2006 . . .. . . . . . . . 8
Figure 2. Trends in Routine and Nonroutine Task Input, 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 3. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Workforce, 1950-2000 (in thousands) . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 4. Trends in Annual U.S. Base Salaries, in Constant 2005 Dollars, 1995-2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 5. World Economic Forum Analysis of U.S. Competitiveness . . . . . . . . 49
List of Tables
Table 1. U.S. Trade in Advanced Technology Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Table 2. Comparison of America COMPETES Act Programs, and the President's FY2008 Budget Request, the House of Representatives FY2008 Appropriations, the Senate FY2008 Appropriations, the Final
FY2008 Budget, and the America COMPETES Act FY2008 Authorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL34328
America COMPETES Act: Programs, Funding, and Selected Issues
January 22, 2008
Deborah D. Stine, Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, Resources, Science, and Industry Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34328_20080122.pdf
[full-text, 79 pages]
Summary
On August 2, 2007, Congress passed the America COMPETES Act (H.R.
2272), which the President signed into law (P.L. 110-69) on August 9, 2007. The act
responds to concerns that the United States may not be able to compete economically
with other nations in the future due to insufficient investment today in science and
technology research and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
education and workforce development. A similar concern had led President Bush to
announce the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) in January 2006 during his
State of the Union address.
The America COMPETES Act authorizes an increase in the nation's investment
in science and engineering research and in STEM education from kindergarten to
graduate school and postdoctoral education. The act also establishes the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and Discovery Science and Engineering
Innovation Institutes. (Appendix A provides a summary of the act's programs.)
The act authorizes increases in funding for the National Science Foundation
(NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories, and the
Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science over FY2008-FY2010. If
maintained, the increases would double the budgets of those agencies over seven
years. The Administration's ACI also proposes increases in these budgets, but at a
rate that would double them over 10 years instead of 7.
Within DOE, ARPA-E is designed to support transformational energy
technology research projects with the goal of enhancing the economic and energy
security of the United States. The effort is based on that of the DOD Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Administration and others
support the conceptual goal of ARPA-E, but questions whether or not the DARPA
model can be used for the energy sector, and has concerns about it potentially
redirecting funds from current DOE research activities. ARPA-E proponents counter
that ARPA-E is needed to facilitate the energy marketplace by accelerating research
that will bridge the gap between basic research and industrial development.
At the heart of the America COMPETES Act is the goal of maintaining the
United States as the leader in the global economy. Three broad trends influence
today's globalization of the economy. The first is technology, which has sharply
reduced the cost of communication and transportation that previously divided
markets. The second is a dramatic increase in the world supply of labor producing
goods and services traded internationally. The third is government policies that have
reduced barriers to trade and investment.
As Congress deliberates the FY2009 budget, the programs authorized by the
America COMPETES Act will likely be considered during the appropriations
process. Unlike the previous fiscal year, Congress has now authorized the America
COMPETES Act programs. How the act is funded and the programs implemented
remains to be determined as the second session of the 110th Congress proceeds.
Contents
Overview of America COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview of U.S. Competitiveness Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Issues for Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Perspectives on the Definition of Competitiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Trade Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Foreign Direct Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Workforce and Wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Competitiveness in Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
General Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
American Competitiveness Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Science and Engineering Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Research Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
NASA Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
High-Risk, High-Reward Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Discovery Science and Engineering Innovation Institutes . . . . . . . . . . 26
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education . 27
Department of Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Department of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Appropriations Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Evaluation of the America COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Evaluation Mechanisms Within the America COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . 45
Evaluation Mechanisms Beyond Those in the America COMPETES Act . 46
Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Output Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Input Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Concluding Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Appendix A. Summary of Legislative History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Appendix B. Legislative Information System Summary of America
COMPETES Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Title I: Office of Science and Technology Policy; Government-Wide Science . . . . .. . . 55
Title II: National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Title III: National Institute of Standards and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Title IV: Ocean and Atmospheric Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Title V: Department of Energy - Protecting America's Competitive Edge Through Energy Act, or the PACE-Energy Act . . . . 61
Title VI: Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Subtitle A: Teacher Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Subtitle B: Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Subtitle C: Foreign Language Partnership Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Subtitle D: Alignment of Education Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Subtitle E: Mathematics and Science Partnership Bonus Grants . . . . . 65
Title VII: National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Title VIII: General Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
List of Figures
Figure 1. Foreign Direct Investment in the United States and U.S. Direct Investment Abroad, Annual Flows, 1990-2006 . . .. . . . . . . . 8
Figure 2. Trends in Routine and Nonroutine Task Input, 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 3. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Workforce, 1950-2000 (in thousands) . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 4. Trends in Annual U.S. Base Salaries, in Constant 2005 Dollars, 1995-2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 5. World Economic Forum Analysis of U.S. Competitiveness . . . . . . . . 49
List of Tables
Table 1. U.S. Trade in Advanced Technology Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Table 2. Comparison of America COMPETES Act Programs, and the President's FY2008 Budget Request, the House of Representatives FY2008 Appropriations, the Senate FY2008 Appropriations, the Final
FY2008 Budget, and the America COMPETES Act FY2008 Authorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 3:53 PM
