House Passes Committee Legislation to Reauthorize MEP

Earlier this month, a Science Committee bill that would reauthorize the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program and create a more robust manufacturing sector cleared the U.S. House of Representatives.

House Resolution 3598, the Manufacturing Technology Competitiveness Act of 2004, was passed by a voice vote after the House accepted one amendment and rejected three others. H.R. 3598 would help improve the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers by providing grants to help develop new manufacturing technologies, establishing a fellowship program for manufacturing sciences postdoctoral and senior research fellows, and reauthorizing and strengthening the MEP program.

H.R. 3598 was brought to the floor under a modified rule, and the four amendments were offered. The House agreed to an amendment by Representative John Peterson (R-PA) that would require a public audit of all MEP centers but defeated:

• By a vote of 170 to 192, an amendment by Science Committee Ranking Minority Member Bart Gordon (D-TN) that would have further increased funding for MEP to enable the federal government to pick up a greater share of center costs;
• By a vote of 166 to 197, an amendment by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) that would have prohibited recompetition of all MEP centers; and,
• By a vote of 170 to 189, an amendment by Energy Subcommittee Ranking Minority Member John Larson (D-CT) that would have created an Undersecretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Technology.

By a vote of 171 to 193, the House also defeated a motion by Mr. Costello (D-IL) to recommit the bill to the Science Committee to be re-reported with language establishing a study on outsourcing. The House already approved such a study – and appropriated $2 million for the effort – as part of the Commerce-Justice-State appropriation bill that passed on July 8.

Environment, Technology, and Standards Subcommittee Chairman Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), primary sponsor of the bill, introduced H.R. 3598 on Nov. 21, 2003, and the bill passed the Science Committee on June 16, 2004. The legislation heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.