America COMPETES Act Signed Into Law
August 9, 2007
02:35 PM
Today, President Bush signed into law the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 2272), which expands education, and research and development, in the areas of science, technology, mathematics and education. Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman and Ranking Member Pete Domenici, co-authors of most of the bill, joined the President for the ceremony.
“America’s ability to compete in an increasingly globalizing economy depends in large part on how well our schools prepare our students in science, technology, engineering and math,” Bingaman said. “With enactment of this bipartisan, bicameral bill, U.S. competitiveness will take a major step forward and our country will reconfirm its commitment to international economic leadership.”
“Today the President will sign a new law that puts America on a path toward being more competitive. I’m pleased that many of the provisions that we wrote in the Energy Committee last year are contained in the final legislation. While this may not be the type of legislation that attracts a lot of attention, it should have a significant impact on America’s brainpower. This bill also demonstrates that when Congress puts aside partisan squabbling and works together, we can achieve good results for the American people,” Domenici said.
The Senate passed the America COMPETES Act (which stands for Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science) last April. In July, the House passed a companion measure. Sen. Bingaman chaired the conference committee that wrote the consensus bill that is being signed today. The House vote on the final bill was 367-57 while the Senate vote was unanimous.
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