On July 22, the House passed the NIST Reauthorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 5035), which authorizes $850 million for the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) for 2014 and $855.8 million for 2015. The 2014 amount equals the $850 million provided to NIST in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014. In addition to authorizing funds to continue existing NIST activities (which include research into tools and measurements used in environmental and climate science), the act would also authorize the Director to award research fellowships and stipends for students and other researchers and establish a post-doctoral fellowship program of 20+ fellows per year with priority for underrepresented students.
In addition to these programs, the act directs a National Academies review of the Institutes’ laboratory programs with respect to technical merit, strengths and weaknesses of the 2010 lab reorganization, cross-cutting research activities, and industry engagement. There is continuing support for creating manufacturing extension centers for technology transfer through the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, with $130 million authorized for 2015.
Related legislation includes the Senate America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2014, which was released on July 31 and would reauthorize NIST for the next five years at $912.7 million in 2015, $973.7 million for 2016, $1.039 billion for 2017, $1.108 billion in 2018 and $1.183 billion in 2019. Each year includes $140+ million for the Hollings Partnership, although no mention is made of student or postdoctoral funding as in H.R. 5035.
The House Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015 (H.R. 4660), which passed the House on May 30, 2014, appropriates $855.8 million for NIST. The Senate version of the bill (S. 2437) sets its budget at $900 million for 2015 and was reported by committee on June 5th but has seen no other action since.