Bingaman, Domenici set example of bipartisanship

A column in today’s Washington Post cites New Mexico’s two U.S. senators as an example of bipartisan cooperation that often goes unnoticed.

David S. Broder has an excellent point: I joined most journalists in ignoring the Senate’s approval last week of the America Competes Act.

U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., were among a number of sponsors of the bill, but were two of the three who began the push for the legislation in 2005, Broder wrote. The bill authorizes $16 billion over four years as part of a $60-billion plan to double funding for the National Science Foundation over five years and funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science over 10 years.

It creates a program to encourage federal agencies to set aside 8 percent of research and development funding for high-risk, high-payoff research, and also creates science magnet schools adopted by each of the nation’s national laboratories as a way to strengthen education.

It creates a broad range of programs to recruit 10,000 new math and science teachers and retrain 250,000 more.

The bill passed the Senate on a vote of 88-8. It still needs approval of the House and president.

It’s significant legislation designed to help America compete in a global marketplace. It’s an example of a bipartisan group of senators – led in part by New Mexico’s pair – finding common ground on an important issue, putting aside partisan differences and attempting to solve real problems.

It isn’t sexy like the possibility of the attorney general resigning or devastating like the Iraq war, and its approval was largely ignored by the media. Including me.

Here’s my attempt to make it right.

The bill that was approved resulted from two years of hard work. As Broder reports, there was so much bipartisan support for the bill that, when Democrats took control of the Senate in January, the same bill was introduced that had been introduced in the last Congress. It was already as the Democrats wanted it and, as evidenced by the fact that a bipartisan group introduced it the previous year in a Republican-controlled Congress, it was already as the GOP wanted it.

“This is a comprehensive approach to ensuring America remains competitive in the global marketplace,” Bingaman said in a news release. “It not only invests in the kind of basic scientific research and development that will yield the next big technological discoveries, it also ensures that we are preparing the next generation of American scientists, mathematicians and engineers.”

“It has taken us over a year to get this bill through the Senate, but the need to make sure our nation harnesses the brainpower we need to compete in the global marketplace is now even greater than ever,” Domenici said. “I look forward to working with the House to put together a final package that will utilize our national labs and other resources to better educate our young people and reclaim our leadership in developing science and technology.”

Now: Let’s see if the partisan House can follow the lead of the Senate. How about Reps. Tom Udall, Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce of New Mexico following the example set by Bingaman and Domenici and taking the lead on this?

It sure would be nice to see them stand together, like we’ve seen Bingaman and Domenici do so many times, on an issue that’s of national importance.