Last night, Congressman Larry Bucshon (R-IN) introduced the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science and Technology Act of 2014 (H.R. 4186), or FIRST Act. The bill serves as reauthorization legislation for the National Science Foundation (NSF).

There are a number of problematic provisions within this bill. Of particular concern to the social and behavioral science community is the proposal to cut NSF’s Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) sciences directorate -- the unit of the NSF under which linguistics is funded -- by nearly 42 percent.

The bill would also place a greater burden on NSF regarding its already-gold standard merit review process and require additional, potentially duplicative public disclosure of research grants. Further, the bill seeks to micromanage the grant application process and limit the number of awards that can be made to principal investigators, undermining the merit review process that successfully determines the very best science worth taxpayer support. The bill will be taken up by the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology on Thursday, March 13.

Interested parties may view the bill here and those wishing to make their opinions known may click here.