S. 1235 · 119th Congress

Expanding Partnerships for Innovation and Competitiveness Act

Introduced on Apr 1, 2025 by Christopher A. Coons (D-DE). 3 cosponsors, 2 of them from another party. Latest action (Apr 1, 2025): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Apr 1, 2025
Cosponsors
3
2 from the other party
Policy area
Science, Technology, Communications
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to direct the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish the Foundation for Standards and Metrology, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Apr 1, 2025). Public domain.

Expanding Partnerships for Innovation and Competitiveness Act

This bill establishes a nonprofit corporation, to be known as the Foundation for Standards and Metrology, to support the mission and activities of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Among other activities, the foundation may

  • support metrology and the development of benchmarks and technical standards infrastructure across NIST’s mission areas;
  • advance collaboration between NIST and researchers, industry, nonprofit organizations, academia, and other specified entities; and
  • offer direct support to NIST associates, including through the provision of grants, housing, training, and other appropriate expenditures. (NIST associates are guest researchers, volunteers, and other nonemployees who conduct research or otherwise engage with NIST.)

The foundation must not be an agency or instrumentality of the federal government. No officer or employee of the foundation may exercise administrative control over a federal employee.

The foundation may solicit, accept, and use funds and gifts to support its activities, and it may transfer funds and property to NIST.

The foundation must submit a strategic plan to Congress, including short- and long-term objectives and a plan for the foundation to become financially self-sustaining. The foundation must also publish periodic reports describing its activities, financial condition, and a description of all support provided to the foundation.

The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress with an evaluation of the foundation’s operations and any recommendations for improvement.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Christopher A. CoonsD-DESponsor

Democrats · 1

Republicans · 2

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Apr 1, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. Apr 1, 2025 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY5 reports
    $250K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY$138.4K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  2. Google Client Services LLC5 reports
    $16.5M reported (all issues)
  3. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.2 reports
    $31.6M reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.