Hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee - Opening Statement of Sen. Thune, Hearing on One Year Later: The American Innovation and Competitiveness Act

Hearing

Thank you Senator Gardner for presiding over today's hearing on the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act or AICA, which we introduced and enacted last year along with Senators Peters and Nelson. I am pleased that NSF, NIST, and OSTP have made real progress in implementing the bill.

Drs. Cordova and Copan, I also want to thank you for being here today. I believe it is the first time each of you has testified as Director before our Committee.

AICA represents the most comprehensive science and technology policy legislation enacted since the America COMPETES Acts of 2007 and 2010. Like those Acts, AICA reauthorized and updated policies at NSF, NIST, OSTP, and other federal science agencies.

Specifically, AICA sought to maximize basic research, advance public-private partnerships, enhance agency oversight, promote STEM education, and increase research commercialization.

In my home state of South Dakota, AICA provided further support for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility at the Sanford Underground Research Facility by tasking OSTP with new responsibilities related to the prioritization and coordination of high energy physics research and international science and technology partnerships.

AICA also updated the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research or EPSCoR, which assists South Dakota in maintaining a self-sustaining and competitive academic research enterprise.

The Act required updates based on recommendations of previous EPSCoR reviews to maximize the impact of federal support for building a competitive research infrastructure across all states.

Again, thank you both for the progress that you have made in implementing AICA. I do have a few implementation questions for the witnesses today.

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