The Doubling Bill has a long history, passing through several versions and ending up as S. 2046 during the current session of the 106th Congress (Fall 2000).

The bill is an expenditure authorizing bill, which means that it allows Congressional appropriations committees to carry out funding at given levels. This particular incarnation of the bill includes two originally separate bills, the first, S. 296, which proposed to increase Federal investement in research by a factor of 2 over a 10 year period and the second, the Sensennbrenner IT bill, which proposed to increase funding for IT research over a shorter period.

The bill has two major parts:

1 - Federal Research Investment Act. This Title is similar to the Doubling Bill (S.296/H.R. 3161). It calls for sustained increases in funding of civilian R&D administered by 16 agencies (including NIH, NSF, DOE, NASA, and NIST). It authorizes civilian R&D spending to gradually increase as a percentage of federal discretionary spending over the next five years to put the nation on course to spend 10% of discretionary funds on civilian research by 2011.

Unlike S.296/H.R. 3161, the bill is based on a percentage of discretionary spending and not simple doubling over ten years. Also unlike S.296/H.R.3161, the bill only authorizes specific levels for the first 5 years (through 2005). FY06-11 will be authorized based on budget projections for those years, as they become available.

Similar to S.296/H.R. 3161 (earlier versions of the legislation), the bill does not cap the funding of any specific agency, so would not prevent NIH or NSF funding from doubling in a shorter time period. It also does not authorize specific agencies or programs - so does not preclude Congressional authorizers from exercising their important oversight and authorization roles after the bill is enacted.

2 - The Information Technology Research and Development Act. This Title is similar to H.R.2086, passed earlier this year by the House. It funds the IT R&D activities of a number of federal agencies, including reauthorizing the Next Generation Internet Act. This Title also provides five years of authorization for a number of agencies, and also does not interfere in the traditional oversight role of the relevant Congressional committees.

The title is different from H.R.2086 in that it funds the important IT R&D programs of the Department of Energy, at levels sufficient for them to perform their Congressionally-mandated missions.

The Senate has passed the bill (mid-Sept. 2000). The sponsors believe that this measure provides the kind of broad-based funding of science and technology that we all know is necessary for our nation's future.

The sponsors also believe that this integrated approach better reflects the interconnected nature of science. As we are all aware, advances in IT do not occur in isolation - they are strongly rooted in advances in engineering, physics, mathematics, and even possibly biology, nanotechnology, and other disciplines.

S.2046 will raise the profile of science funding in Congress and the public in a manner that will encourage the next Administration and Congressional authorizers to follow its lead. It will also provide an easily identifiable target for supporters (in government and the public) to fight for.

Please include a reference to S. 2046 in any communication you might have with members of Congress.