HR 2225 Passed in House - the National Science Foundation for the Future Act

Yesterday the House considered HR 2225, the National Science Foundation for the Future Act, under the suspension of the rules process. The bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 345 to 67. Even though 67 Republicans voted against the bill, there was no negative comment uttered on the floor of the House during the debate on the bill.

It is unlikely that the Senate will take up the version of this bill that was passed in the House. The Senate passed S 1260 earlier this month and that bill also provided authorization for the National Science Foundation, and much more. Even where the two bills do the same thing, authorizing funding for the NSF for instance (see HR 2225, §4 and S 1260, §2116) there are significant differences between the two bills.

What the Senate is likely to do (if) when they consider this bill is to substitute the language from S 1260 for the House version and then pass the bill. The House would be unlikely to accept the Senate language. This would lead to a conference committee working out the many differences between the two bills. I expect that we will receive the combined language sometime this fall. It will be interesting to see what cybersecurity language comes out in that bill.

Review - HR 2225 Amended and Adopted in Committee – NSF Authorization

Yesterday the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee held a markup hearing that included consideration of HR 2225, the National Science Foundation for the Future Act. The Committee adopted substitute language for the bill after considering thirteen additional amendments. All amendments and the substitute language were adopted by voice vote. Additional cybersecurity language was included. The Committee ordered the bill favorably reported to the House.

Substitute Language

From a cybersecurity perspective there were three significant changes made to the bill in the substitute language. There was a change in funding for the FY 2022 Cybercorps Scholarship for Service Program. There was new language added addressing cyber workforce development research and protecting research from cyber theft.

Cybersecurity Amendments

 

An amendment offered by Rep Waltz (R,FL) would amend the Federal Cyber Scholarship-for-Service Program (15 USC 7442) by adding at the end of §7442(b)(1) “and cybersecurity-related aspects of other related fields as appropriate, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing and aerospace”. This would expand the cybersecurity areas that could be supported by the Program.

The second cybersecurity related amendment was offered by Rep Posey (R,FL). It would add a new subsection (g) to §5 of the bill. That subsection would require NSF to establish a cybersecurity workforce data initiative.

Moving Forward

This bill will almost certainly move forward to the full House. It is likely to be considered under regular order with a rule providing for consideration of at least some amendments from the floor. The bill is likely to receive bipartisan support and will certainly pass in the House.

For more details on the revised language and amendments, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-2225-amended-and-adopted-in-committee (subscription required).