New Ranking Member of the House Education and Labor Committee Named

The House Republican leadership has named Congressman John Kline (R-MN) to be the new ranking member on the Education and Labor Committee. He replaces Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) who has been selected to be the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman Kline represents the second Congressional District from Minnesota and is in his fourth term. Prior to becoming ranking member for the full Committee, he served as the Republican leader on the Health, Employment, Labor and Pension Subcommittee.

With No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in need of reauthorization, the Education and Labor Committee will obviously play a major role. However, Congressman Kline might bring more opposition to reauthorization or any new education legislation than before. When NCLB became law, it was passed with bipartisan support. Congressman Kline is not a supporter of NCLB and in fact was a co-sponsor of the A-Plus Act which aimed to limit the Federal accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind.

In a recent op-ed Congressman Kline pointed out that he supports the Federal government paying its required share of special education funding. He wrote:

“One of my legislative priorities since arriving in Congress – ensuring the federal government fulfills the commitment to paying its share of special education costs – will become one of my first orders of business in my new role. I have heard too many stories from schools in Minnesota and across the nation who have been forced to choose between cutting bus routes, eliminating extracurricular activities, or increasing class sizes to cope with shrinking budgets. If the federal government paid what it promised, we would enable schools across America to direct limited resources to address their specific needs – whether it is state of the art classrooms, additional teachers, or new textbooks – and make it possible for teachers and administrators to focus on the important job of providing the best education possible for all our children.”

It remains to be seen how the two parties will now interact on the Education and Labor Committee in the future.

Letter Sent to the National Academies

In what is being billed as a follow up request to the “Rise Above the Gathering Storm” report, four members of Congress have sent a letter to the presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academies of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine to establish a committee to address the competitiveness of American research universities. The members of Congress who signed the letter are Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Chairwoman of the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), former U.S. Secretary of Education, Congressman Bart Gordon (D-TN), Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, and Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Science and Technology.

Specifically, the letter asks:

“What are the top ten actions that Congress, state governments, research universities, and others could take to assure the ability of the American research university to maintain the excellence in research and doctoral education needed to help the United States compete, prosper, and achieve national goals for health, energy, the environment, and security in the global community of the 21^st century?.”

Moreover, the letter also asks for assessments of American research universities in how they compare to their foreign counterparts and assessments of their relationships with the National Laboratories and “other federally funded research and development centers.”

The letter mentions that Congress incorporated many of the aspects “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” report into the America COMPETES Act. If a new report is written based on this most recent request, then maybe Congress will pass legislation pertaining to American research universities that will be as comprehensive as the American COMPETES Act.

House Passes Science Funding Bill

The House of Representative has passed a FY 2010 appropriations bill that covers spending for the Departments of Commerce and Justice and Science and related agencies which include the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The bill provides $6.9 billion for the National Science Foundation. This amount is $108 million less than what the President requested but $446 million more than the Foundation received in FY 2009.

The Education and Human Resources Directorate, which houses most of the education programs of the NSF is to receive $862.9 million under the bill. This is more than the $857.8 million requested by the President for FY 2010 and the $845.3 million received by the Directorate in FY 2009 not including the Stimulus funds provided under the ARRP Act.

In addition to the NSF, the other independent science agencies covered by the bill are the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Aeronautic Space Administration. Also covered under this appropriation are two subdivisions within the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology each, with a strong science emphasis in STEM related issues including educational opportunities.