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Summary of The America COMPETES Act

Introduced in the House of Representatives on January 10, 2007.

Introduced in the Senate on March 5, 2007.

The "America COMPETES Act" is a bipartisan legislative response to recommendations contained in the National Academies' "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" report and the Council on Competitiveness' "Innovate America" report. The bill is similar to the "National Competitiveness Investment Act" that Senators Frist, Reid, Stevens, Inouye, Domenici, Bingaman, Enzi, Kennedy, Ensign, Lieberman, Alexander, Mikulski, Hutchison, and others introduced in September 2006. Several sections of the bill are derived from proposals contained in the "American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2006" (S.2802), approved without opposition by the Senate Commerce Committee, and the "Protecting America's Competitive Edge Through Energy Act of 2006" (S.2197) approved without opposition by the Senate Energy Committee last year. Accordingly, the America COMPETES Act focuses on three primary areas of importance to maintaining and improving United States' innovation in the 21st Century: (1) increasing research investment, (2) strengthening educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from elementary through graduate school, and (3) developing an innovation infrastructure.

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