[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 77 (Tuesday, May 19, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H3366-H3367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION ACT OF 2015
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 1156) to authorize the establishment of a body under the
National Science and Technology Council to identify and coordinate
international science and technology cooperation opportunities, as
amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1156
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``International Science and
Technology Cooperation Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. COORDINATION OF INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PARTNERSHIPS.
(a) Establishment.--The Director of the Office of Science
and Technology Policy shall establish or designate a working
group under the National Science and Technology Council with
the responsibility to identify and coordinate international
science and technology cooperation that can strengthen the
United States science and technology enterprise, improve
economic and national security, and support United States
foreign policy goals.
(b) NSTC Working Group Membership.--The working group
established under subsection (a) shall be co-chaired by
officials from the Office of Science and Technology Policy
and the Department of State.
(c) Responsibilities.--The working group established under
subsection (a) shall--
(1) plan and coordinate interagency international science
and technology cooperative research and training activities
and partnerships supported or managed by Federal agencies and
work with other National Science and Technology Council
committees to help plan and coordinate the international
component of national science and technology priorities;
(2) establish Federal priorities and policies for aligning,
as appropriate, international science and technology
cooperative research and training activities and partnerships
supported or managed by Federal agencies with the foreign
policy goals of the United States;
(3) identify opportunities for new international science
and technology cooperative research and training partnerships
that advance both the science and technology and the foreign
policy priorities of the United States;
(4) in carrying out paragraph (3), solicit input and
recommendations from non-Federal science and technology
stakeholders, including universities, scientific and
professional societies, industry, and relevant organizations
and institutions; and
(5) identify broad issues that influence the ability of
United States scientists and engineers to collaborate with
foreign counterparts, including barriers to collaboration and
access to scientific information.
(d) Report to Congress.--The Director of the Office of
Science and Technology Policy shall transmit a report, to be
updated every 2 years, to the Committee on Science, Space,
and Technology and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the
House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate. The report shall also be made
available to the public on the reporting agency's website.
The report shall contain a description of--
(1) the priorities and policies established under
subsection (c)(2);
(2) the ongoing and new partnerships established since the
last update to the report;
(3) the means by which stakeholder input was received, as
well as summary views of stakeholder input; and
(4) the issues influencing the ability of United States
scientists and engineers to collaborate with foreign
counterparts.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on H.R. 1156, the bill now under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
H.R. 1156, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Act
of 2015, directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy to
establish a working group to identify and coordinate international
science and technology efforts to strengthen the U.S. research
enterprise.
[[Page H3367]]
I thank the ranking member of the Research and Technology
Subcommittee, Mr. Lipinski, for introducing this bill. I also thank the
subcommittee's vice chair, Mr. Moolenaar, the ranking member of the
full committee, Ms. Johnson, as well as our colleagues Mr. Hultgren,
Ms. Esty, and Mr. Swalwell for being bipartisan cosponsors.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy, in coordination with the
State Department, represents the United States in bilateral and
multilateral meetings with foreign nations. It works closely with
government science agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and
independent research and scientific institutions to promote science and
technology initiatives and to strengthen global science cooperation.
H.R. 1156 improves our Nation's collaborative efforts with
international partners on scientific issues. While many Federal
agencies are engaged with international partners on science and
technology projects, there is a need to coordinate these projects
across the Federal Government. Better collaboration with our partners
will strengthen U.S. scientific activities and further promote the free
exchange of ideas with other nations. Interagency coordination ensures
that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and that U.S. priorities are
consistently addressed when working with our international partners on
science and technology issues.
Science and technology research addresses some of the major
challenges that face our Nation, including public health, energy
production, national security, and economic development. Coordinated
international collaboration on scientific issues, which H.R. 1156
promotes, also will improve economic and national security and support
U.S. foreign policy goals.
Again, I want to thank Mr. Lipinski for his continued hard work on
this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 1156, the International Science and
Technology Cooperation Act, which I reintroduced earlier this year.
A similar bill, which I authored in the last Congress, passed the
House with overwhelming bipartisan support by a vote of 346-41. I am
hopeful that we can do the same this week and then work to get this
bill through the Senate and onto the President's desk.
I want to thank Mr. Moolenaar for cosponsoring this bill with me, and
I thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Johnson for helping advance
it through the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and for getting
it to the House floor.
Mr. Speaker, the laws of science know no political boundaries. While
the United States arguably has the most brilliant scientists in the
world and has developed some of the greatest technology, no country has
a monopoly on great minds in science and technology. So, if we want to
advance science in ways that benefit Americans and the rest of the
world, we need to encourage international collaboration.
Improvements in areas such as energy security, infectious diseases,
space exploration, telecommunications and the Internet, and many more
are due, in part, to international cooperation, to the benefit of all
nations involved. By collaborating with international partnerships on
science, we also strengthen the U.S. scientific enterprise, which helps
us get the best return on our research investment.
In addition, international collaborations make possible research
endeavors on a grander scale than the U.S. can accomplish on its own.
For example, CERN, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National
Science Foundation signed a cooperative agreement 2 weeks ago expanding
their collaboration on particle physics. Not only will this provide for
our scientists to continue work at the highest energy accelerator in
the world at CERN, it will also allow CERN to provide equipment to an
upcoming neutrino experiment at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois.
CERN was the site of one of the most significant technological
advances that impacts us every day. At CERN in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee
was working on the problem of allowing international researchers to see
data instantaneously around the globe. The solution that was developed
was the World Wide Web, which has completely transformed the way we
communicate and get information today.
H.R. 1156 makes more collaborations like this possible. It requires
the National Science and Technology Council at the White House to
continue to maintain a working group to coordinate the U.S. interagency
strategy for international science and technology cooperation. Many
Federal agencies already work with international counterparts on
scientific and technological issues, but, until recently, there was no
coordinating body to identify new partnerships and to fully leverage
existing collaborations.
Mr. Speaker, it is important that we find ways to collaborate with
other countries on scientific discoveries that push the boundaries of
knowledge and improve our lives. This bill will do that. I urge my
colleagues to support the bill.
Again, I want to thank the chairman for his support on this. As I
said, we have passed this bill before with wide bipartisan support. I
am very hopeful we can do that again today.
International cooperation is very critical to doing more than we
alone can do. We have, arguably, the best researchers in the world,
producing the most advanced technology, but in working together with
others, we can do even more than we have. The impact that it can have
on the everyday lives of Americans is tremendous, so I urge my
colleagues to support this bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
{time} 1815
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 1156, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to
authorize the establishment or designation of a working group under the
National Science and Technology Council to identify and coordinate
international science and technology cooperation opportunities.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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