A second attempt to pass a major science funding authorization bill failed in the House of Representatives by 12 votes on May 19.

The bill, a revised version of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act that Democratic leadership pulled from consideration May 13, seeks to authorize $47 billion for science and technology research over three fiscal years.

House leaders brought the bill up for vote under a procedure called suspension of the rules, under which a bill may not be amended but requires a two thirds vote for approval. The final vote was 261 for, 148 against; although 15 Republicans joined the unanimous Democrats in voting for the bill, the total "yeas" were 12 short of a supermajority.

Democratic members said they will persist in attempting to secure approval for the bill. Its primary sponsor, House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) said in a statement he was "disappointed, but not deterred."

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) decried what he called political games "against a job-creating measure that had bipartisan support in committee," and said he will bring the bill back to the House floor soon.   

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), the senior science and technology Republican, said the bill remains too costly. The first vote on the bill--then H.R. 5116, now H.R. 5325--failed after Hall used a parliamentary maneuver to introduce a version that would have reduced funding from the originally authorized amount of $86 billion to $38.5 billion. The parliamentary maneuver also attached a clause prohibiting payment of salaries to anyone disciplined for viewing pornography on a federal computer, a clause that the revised bill now includes.

For more:
- see the THOMAS page on H.R. 5116
- read statement by Reps. Gordon, Hoyer and Hall

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