Third Time Is The Charm for America COMPETES Reauthorization

Today the House passed the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act, H.R. 5116. Two previous attempts failed as we reported earlier. Though the bill does not directly affect NASA, the trouble it encountered in winning approval may presage what the remainder of the 111th Congress holds in store for science and technology issues in this hyper-political year.

The final vote was 262-150. According to Congress Daily (subscription required), success was due to a Democratic strategy that allowed members to vote on nine separate sections of the bill before the final vote. It reported that —

“Those measures included a vote on the provision to prohibit funds going to federal workers disciplined for viewing pornography and another provision to bar funds in the bill from going to colleges or universities that are prevented from receiving federal grants and contracts because they deny or restrict ROTC or other military recruiting on campus. Both of those sections passed.”