Education Week 

After a couple of false starts in recent weeks amid partisan wrangling, the U.S. House of Representatives today approved a bill to reauthorize the America COMPETES Act, legislation that contains a strong focus on improving education in the STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The final vote was 262 to 150, with 17 Republicans joining most, but not all, Democrats in favor. Some Republicans have complained that the price tag for the legislation—all told, some $86 billion over five years—is too high, but Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., the chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, said the measure is essential to the nation’s future.

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