FIRST Act of 2014
Latest action. Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by voice voteA vote decided by which side sounds louder. No individual positions are recorded, so no member can be held to a position afterward.Read the full definition (opens a new tab).
Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology Act of 2014 or FIRST Act of 2014 - Authorizes appropriations for FY2014-FY2015 to the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Specifies policy objectives for the NSF in allocating resources.
Directs the NSF to award federal funding for basic research and education in the sciences through a new research grant or cooperative agreement only if it makes, and justifies in writing, an affirmative determination that the grant or agreement is worthy of federal funding and meets certain other criteria.
Authorizes the NSF Director to increase funding for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship program (or any successor) over the previous fiscal year's funding level only at the same rate as a corresponding funding increase for the NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program (or any successor).
Allows any Education and Human Resources Directorate grant to support informal education to be used to: (1) support the participation of students in nonprofit competitions, out-of-school activities, and field experiences related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects; and (2) broaden secondary school students' access to, and interest in, careers that require academic preparation in STEM subjects.
Requires the Director of the NSF to provide merit-reviewed, competitive grants for research on programming that engages underrepresented students in grades kindergarten through 8 in STEM to prepare them to pursue undergraduate and graduate STEM degrees or careers.
Requires such grants to be used toward research to advance the engagement of these students in STEM through providing before-school, after-school, out-of-school, or summer activities designed to encourage interest, engagement, and skills development of underrepresented students in STEM.
Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the use of NSF-funded scientific computing resources at institutions of higher education.
Requires the NSF Director to place a high priority on designing and administering pilot programs for scientific breakthrough prizes, in conjunction with private entities, that are consistent with Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) guidelines.
The summary continues for 21 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on March 10, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
Civibrief does not map this action to a stage in the process. See the official record.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on May 28, 2014: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Larry Bucshon (R-IN) introduced it on March 10, 2014, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 10, 2014, 4567 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4488 days ago, on May 28, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseOrdered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action