Congress passed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act ( P.L. 110-69 ), known as the America COMPETES Act, in August 2007. In response to concerns about U.S. competitiveness, the act provides for investments in science and engineering research and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to foster U.S. competitiveness. The purpose of this report is to provide information on the President's FY2010 budget request and the status of congressional budget and appropriation activities regarding that budget relative to the America COMPETES Act. For more general information on the America COMPETES Act, see CRS Report RL34328, America COMPETES Act: Programs, Funding, and Selected Issues , by [author name scrubbed], and for information on the FY2009 budget, see CRS Report RL34396, The America COMPETES Act and the FY2009 Budget , by [author name scrubbed]. The America COMPETES Act was a response to concerns about the potential erosion of U.S. industrial competitiveness and global technological leadership. Many believe that investments in science and engineering research, STEM education, and STEM workforce development can contribute to U.S. competitiveness. The act mainly addresses concerns about the adequacy of investment in these areas. The America COMPETES Act authorizes an increase in federal science and engineering research funding and support for STEM education from kindergarten through the postdoctoral level. The act authorizes funding increases through FY2010 for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories, and the Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE SC). The act also authorizes within DOE the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) and Discovery Science and Engineering Innovation Institutes. In addition, the act authorizes new STEM education programs at DOE, the Department of Education (ED), and NSF, and increases the authorization levels for several existing NSF STEM education programs. The America COMPETES Act is an authorization act. New programs authorized by the act will not be established unless funded through subsequent appropriations acts. Similarly, realization of the higher authorization levels of existing programs in the act depends on subsequent appropriations. The America COMPETES Act was passed after much of the FY2008 appropriations process had already taken place during the 110 th Congress. Although America COMPETES Act programs were not funded at their FY2008 authorized levels, the 110 th Congress did provide FY2008 appropriations to establish ED's Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow program, and NIST's Technology Improvement Program (TIP), which replaced the agency's Advanced Technology Program. The 111 th Congress provided funding in FY2009 for R&D and STEM education through the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 ( P.L. 111-8 ) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ( P.L. 111-5 ). Some America COMPETES Act programs were funded at authorized levels; others were not. The following activities were funded at or above authorized levels: NIST's Scientific & Technical Research and Services (STRS) and Construction and Maintenance; DOE's Office of Science; and NSF's Research and Related Activities, Major Research Instrumentation, Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction, Professional Science Master's program, Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, and Graduate Research Fellowship program. Other programs were funded either below authorized levels or not funded. The acts funded the establishment of DOE's ARPA-E and NSF's PSM program. Also, portions of the P-16 Alignment of Secondary School Graduation Requirements with the Demands of 21 st Century Postsecondary Endeavors and Support for P-16 Education Data Systems were funded through the ARRA. The Obama Administration contends that the following America COMPETES Act programs correspond to existing DOE programs: Summer Institutes (§5003) to the pre-existing DOE Academies Creating Teacher Scientists program (DOE ACTS); Early Career Awards for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Researchers (§5006) to the pre-existing High Energy Physics Outstanding Junior Investigator, Nuclear Physics Outstanding Junior Investigator, Fusion Energy Sciences Plasma Physics Junior Faculty Development; Advanced Scientific Computing Research Early Career Principle Investigator; and the Office of Science Early Career Scientist and Engineer Award programs; Discovery Science and Engineering Innovation Institutes (§5008) to the pre-existing Bioenergy Research Centers, SciDAC Institutes, and the Energy Frontier Research Centers; and Protecting America's Competitive Edge (PACE) Graduate Fellowship Program (§5009) to the pre-existing Computer Science Graduate Fellowships; Graduate Research Environmental Fellowships; American Meteorological Society/Industry/Government Graduate Fellowships; Spallation Neutron Source Instrumentation Fellowships, and the Fusion Energy Sciences Graduate Fellowships. This section provides an overview of President Obama's FY2010 budget request for research and STEM education activities as they relate to the America COMPETES Act. Table 1 (located at the end of this report) provides a program-specific comparison of the President's FY2010 budget request, America COMPETES Act authorization levels, and congressional actions. The President's FY2010 budget request stated that the President planned to double funding for the NSF, NIST laboratories, and DOE SC between 2006 and 2016 (see Figure 1 ). President Obama's proposed plan is consistent with President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) which also sought to double these agencies' budgets over 10 years. President Obama's plan proposes a slower doubling path than that laid out in the America COMPETES Act which placed these same agencies on a track to double their budgets over seven years. President Obama's FY2010 request for NSF's Research and Related Activities (R&RA) was $5,733.2 million, $667.8 million below the authorized level of $6,401.0 million. Within the R&RA account, the President requested funding at the authorized level of $203.8 million for the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program. The President's FY2010 request also included $147.1 million for NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), similar to its authorized level of $147.8 million. The request also included $19.4 million for R&RA's portion of NSF's Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) program, above its authorized level of $11.1 million, though the Education and Human Resources (EHR) Directorate portion of GRF proposed funding of $102.6 million is below the authorized level of $119.0 million. No FY2010 funding was requested for NSF's Professional Science Master's (PSM) program, newly established in FY2009 through ARRA funding. President Obama's FY2010 request for DOE SC was $4,941.7 million, below the authorization level of $5,814.0 million. In addition, the President requested $10.0 million in FY2010 for DOE's ARPA-E. Congress appropriated $415.0 million for ARPA-E in FY2009 ($15.0 million as part of the regular FY2009 appropriation and $400.0 million under the ARRA). The America COMPETES Act authorizes "such sums as are necessary" for ARPA-E in FY2010. President Obama's FY2010 request for NIST STRS was $534.6 million, $50.2 million below the authorization level of $584.8 million. The President requested FY2010 funding of $69.9 million for the NIST TIP program, less than half the authorization level of $140.5 million. The FY2010 request for MEP was $124.7 million, $7.1 million below the authorization level of $131.8 million. The President's FY2010 request for the NIST construction and maintenance account was $116.9 million, more than double the authorization level of $49.7 million. President Obama did not request funding in FY2010 to establish the new STEM education programs authorized in the America COMPETES Act. Although no new funding was requested for America COMPETES Act STEM education programs at ED, the President's request funded ED's Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow program at its FY2009 enacted level of $2.2 million. The President requested funding for NSF's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program at its authorized level of $64 million. The President's request for each of the other NSF STEM programs was below the America COMPETES Act FY2010 authorization levels. No funding was requested for the NSF Laboratory Science Pilot program which was authorized by the act "to improve laboratories and provide instrumentation as part of a comprehensive program to enhance the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction at the secondary school level." The President requested no funding for any of the DOE STEM education programs authorized under the America COMPETES Act. However, as shown in Figure 2 , the President requested funding for other STEM education programs not part of the America COMPETES Act. For example, the President proposed a new DOE-NSF initiative called "REgaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge" (RE-ENERGYSE) to encourage American students to pursue STEM careers, particularly in clean energy, requesting DOE funding of $115.0 million. As a point of comparison, the total FY2010 authorization level for all the DOE STEM education programs authorized in the America COMPETES Act was $117.5 million.