Relieving Economic Strain to Enhance American Resilience and Competitiveness in Higher Education and Research Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4002 To require the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a consistent set of policy guidelines for Federal research agencies to address financial instability of graduate researchers and postdoctoral researchers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 12, 2023 Mrs. MCCLELLAN (for herself, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. KILMER, Ms. LEE of Pennsyl- vania, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. CARAVEO, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. GREEN of Texas, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To require the Director of the Office of Science and Tech- nology Policy to develop a consistent set of policy guide- lines for Federal research agencies to address financial instability of graduate researchers and postdoctoral re- searchers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Relieving Economic 4 Strain to Enhance American Resilience and Competitive- 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4002 IH ness in Higher Education and Research Act’’ or the ‘‘RE- 1 SEARCHER Act’’. 2 SEC. 2. POLICY GUIDELINES FOR FEDERAL RESEARCH 3 AGENCIES TO ADDRESS FINANCIAL INSTA- 4 BILITY OF GRADUATE RESEARCHERS AND 5 POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS. 6 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section: 7 (1) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 8 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 9 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High- 10 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 11 (2) GRADUATE RESEARCHERS.—The term 12 ‘‘graduate researchers’’ means individuals enrolled in 13 a degree program leading to an advanced degree who 14 receive stipends or other compensation to conduct 15 research in any discipline at an institution of higher 16 education that is a recipient of Federal funding. 17 (3) POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS.—The term 18 ‘‘postdoctoral researchers’’ means individuals in 19 training-focused positions who have received a doc- 20 toral degree or equivalent and receive stipends or 21 other compensation to conduct research in any dis- 22 cipline at an institution of higher education that is 23 a recipient of Federal funding. 24 (b) OSTP GUIDELINES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4002 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than six months 1 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di- 2 rector of the Office of Science and Technology Pol- 3 icy, in consultation with the National Science and 4 Technology Council, the Committee on STEM Edu- 5 cation, PCAST, institutions of higher education, 6 graduate and postdoctoral organizations, and other 7 relevant stakeholders, shall develop a consistent set 8 of policy guidelines for Federal research agencies to 9 address financial instability of graduate researchers 10 and postdoctoral researchers. 11 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the policy 12 guidelines under paragraph (1), the Director of the 13 Office of Science and Technology Policy shall include 14 guidelines that address, to the extent practicable, the 15 following: 16 (A) Opportunities to increase stipends for 17 graduate researchers and postdoctoral research- 18 ers, including indexing based on location and 19 accounting for cost of living adjustments. 20 (B) Opportunities to increase access to 21 quality, affordable medical, dental, and vision 22 care. 23 (C) Opportunities to increase access to af- 24 fordable housing and transportation. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4002 IH (D) Opportunities to reduce food insecu- 1 rity. 2 (E) Opportunities to address costs of car- 3 ing for family members, including child care. 4 (3) APPLICATION.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Of- 6 fice of Science and Technology Policy shall en- 7 courage and monitor efforts of Federal research 8 agencies to develop and implement policies 9 based on the policy guidelines under paragraph 10 (1). 11 (B) FEDERAL RESEARCH AGENCY IMPLE- 12 MENTATION.—Not later than six months after 13 receiving the policy guidelines under paragraph 14 (1), the head of each Federal research agency 15 shall— 16 (i) develop and implement policies 17 with respect to financial instability of grad- 18 uate researchers and postdoctoral research- 19 ers that are consistent with such policy 20 guidelines; and 21 (ii) broadly disseminate such policies 22 to current and potential recipients of re- 23 search and development awards made by 24 such agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4002 IH (4) UPDATES.—The Director of the Office of 1 Science and Technology Policy shall update the pol- 2 icy guidelines under paragraph (1) as the Director 3 determines necessary. 4 (5) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 5 date after the guidelines are submitted and every 6 five years thereafter, the Director of the Office of 7 Science and Technology Policy shall submit to the 8 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the 9 Committee on Education and the Workforce, and 10 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 11 House of Representatives and the Committee on 12 Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 13 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen- 14 sions of the Senate a report containing information 15 relating to the following: 16 (A) The policy guidelines under paragraph 17 (1). 18 (B) Progress on the implementation of 19 such guidelines by Federal research agencies. 20 (c) DATA COLLECTION.—The Research and Develop- 21 ment, Competition, and Innovation Act (enacted as divi- 22 sion B of Public Law 117–167) is amended— 23 (1) in section 10314(b) (42 U.S.C. 18994)— 24 (A) in paragraph (2)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jul 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 4002 IH (i) in subparagraph (D), by striking 1 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 2 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph 3 (E) as subparagraph (F); and 4 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 5 (D) the following new subparagraph: 6 ‘‘(E) graduate researcher and postdoctoral 7 researcher stipend amounts and financial insta- 8 bility (disaggregated, to the extent practicable, 9 by demographics); and’’; and 10 (B) by adding at the end the following new 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 13 ‘‘(A) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU- 14 CATION.—The term ‘institution of higher edu- 15 cation’ has the meaning given such term in sec- 16 tion 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 17 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 18 ‘‘(B) GRADUATE RESEARCHERS.—The 19 term ‘graduate researchers’ means individuals 20 enrolled in a degree program leading to an ad- 21 vanced degree who receive stipends or other 22 compensation to conduct research in any dis- 23 cipline at an institution of higher education 24 that is a recipient of Federal funding. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 4002 IH ‘‘(C) POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS.—The 1 term ‘postdoctoral researchers’ means individ- 2 uals in training-focused positions who have re- 3 ceived a doctoral degree or equivalent and re- 4 ceive stipends or other compensation to conduct 5 research in any discipline at an institution of 6 higher education that is a recipient of Federal 7 funding.’’; and 8 (2) in paragraph (1) of section 10502(a) (42 9 U.S.C. 19152(a)), by inserting ‘‘graduate and 10 postdoctoral research stipend amounts 11 (disaggregated, to the extent practicable, by demo- 12 graphics),’’ before ‘‘and awarded budget’’. 13 (d) DATA ON FINANCIAL INSTABILITY OF GRADUATE 14 RESEARCHERS AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS.— 15 The Director of the National Science Foundation shall 16 make awards, on a competitive basis, to institutions of 17 higher education or nonprofit organizations (or consortia 18 of such institutions or organizations) to collect and ana- 19 lyze data on financial instability of graduate researchers 20 and postdoctoral researchers (disaggregated, to the extent 21 practicable, by demographics). 22 (e) NATIONAL ACADEMIES ASSESSMENT.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two years 24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 4002 IH rector of the National Science Foundation shall 1 enter into an agreement with the National Acad- 2 emies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to un- 3 dertake a study and issue a report on the status of 4 financial instability of graduate researchers and 5 postdoctoral researchers. To the extent feasible, the 6 study shall include an assessment (disaggregated, to 7 the extent practicable, by demographics) at a min- 8 imum of the immediately preceding five years of the 9 following: 10 (A) Stipends relative to average local med- 11 ical, dental, and vision expenses. 12 (B) Stipends relative to average local hous- 13 ing and transportation costs. 14 (C) Stipends relative to average local food 15 costs. 16 (D) Stipends relative to average local costs 17 of caring for family members, including child 18 care costs. 19 (2) REPORT.—Not later than two years after 20 the date on which the agreement between the Direc- 21 tor of the National Science Foundation and the Na- 22 tional Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Med- 23 icine is entered into pursuant to paragraph (1), the 24 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 4002 IH Medicine shall submit to Committee on Science, 1 Space, and Technology, the Committee on Education 2 and the Workforce, and the Committee on Energy 3 and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 4 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- 5 portation and the Committee on Health, Education, 6 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report con- 7 taining the results of the assessment under such 8 paragraph and recommendations relating thereto re- 9 garding how Federal agencies, Congress, institutions 10 of higher education, and other relevant entities may 11 address financial instability of graduate researchers 12 and postdoctoral researchers. 13 (f) GAO STUDY.—Not later than three years after 14 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 15 General of the United States shall submit to the Com- 16 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology, the Committee 17 on Education and the Workforce, and the Committee on 18 Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 19 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor- 20 tation and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 21 and Pensions of the Senate a report that— 22 (1) assesses the degree to which Federal re- 23 search agencies have implemented the policy guide- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jul 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 4002 IH lines under subsection (b) and the effectiveness of 1 such implementation; 2 (2) includes recommendations on potential 3 changes to practices and policies to improve such 4 guidelines and such implementation; and 5 (3) includes recommendations on additional 6 data collection and research needed to monitor 7 progress on reducing financial instability of graduate 8 researchers and postdoctoral researchers. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Jul 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4002.IH H4002 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB