The House passed a $34 billion energy-water spending bill (HR 4923) that cuts into the Obama administration's climate-clean energy agenda and boosts funding for fossil fuel research. "While the House measure has little chance of moving forward in the Senate, it would likely serve as a starting point for a conference on an omnibus measure that could be considered in the fall or later," CQ reports. Issuing a veto threat, the White House objected to a $546 million cut (below the White House budget request) from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This would "stifle Federal investment in innovative clean energy research and development." The administration also deplored House cuts of $45 million to the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and $40 million to the Office of Science. The Senate's measure was pulled from the floor amid Democratic fears of an amendment curbing the Environmental Protection Agency.

FANS OF FUSION: House Republicans are enthusiastic about the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the huge international physics and engineering lab rising in France. "Fusion energy research attempts to achieve an invaluable reward for humankind -- a sustainable, renewable, zero-emissions energy source," says Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), who chairs the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. He spoke at the start of a hearing today by his panel's energy  subcommittee (see charter). The Energy spending bill that passed the House yesterday contains $75 million more for the U.S. contribution to ITER than was requested by the White House, which says the project isn't moving fast enough to need that much. The Government Accountability Office notes that ITER’s "expected construction cost has grown by billions of dollars, and its construction schedule has slippedby years." Congress has directed DOE's Office of Science Office of Science to come up with a strategic plan for fusion.

     NEW HIGHER ED LEGISLATION: The House began rolling out a series of bills reauthorizing  various parts of the Higher Education Act. Three appearing this week are Simplifying the Application for Student Aid Act (HR 4982); Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (HR 4983); and Empowering Students through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act (HR 4984). Education Week covers all three. Meanwhile, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, in a bipartisan effort not seen much lately, is sending a STEM Education Act (HR 5031) to the House floor as soon as next week. The STEM Coalition reports that the measure "has three goals: expand the definition of STEM subjects to address related fields like computer science; support NSF’s informal STEM programs by providing a specific directive to NSF to invest in informal STEM education research programs; and  modify the Noyce Teacher Scholarship program to allow teachers with bachelor’s degrees who are in enrolled in master’s degree programs to be eligible for the Noyce Teacher Fellowship program, which is currently only available for teacher who have finished a master’s."

NATIONAL ACADEMIES

RIDDLED WITH CORRUPTION: That's how China's system for funding academic research  is being portrayed in both China Education Daily News and Xinhua, the state-run newswire, according to ScienceInsider. The officially sanctioned reports suggest a high-level crackdown is under way. The Communist Party's antigraft commission "announced that it had uncovered fraud in research grants managed by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and at prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai." Problems include unsupervised funding and grants based on relationships rather than merit. 

ANNUAL CONFERENCE - STORIFY VERSION: ASEE's Engineering Libraries Division has put together a lively collection of photos and tweets that captures the collaboration and  camaraderie of the Indy conference. Check it out here.

‘PROFILES’ IS OUT: ASEE's eagerly awaited 540-page Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges has been published. Call ASEE (202-331-3500) to order a copy.

ASEE DIVERSITY COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER: The spring edition of the semi-annual newsletter is now available. ASEE Past President J.P. Mohsen discusses a proposed Year of Dialogue on Diversity and details on safe zone ally training at the annual conference are posted, among other items.

VIDEOS OF THE PPC: View sessions from February's Public Policy Colloquium of the Engineering Deans Council dealing with advanced manufacturing, federal R&D, and K-12 engineering.

on ASEE's Retention Project by clicking here for updates.