This will be a busy week in the U.S. Senate. The Senate will be considering “The America COMPETES Act,” S. 761, an acronym that stands for: “America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act.”

Our economy is a global one and we must ensure that we can compete in the 21st Century. That means we must improve our science and math education. I have co-sponsored this bipartisan bill to bolster America's international competitiveness by increasing research investment, strengthening science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education from elementary through graduate school, and developing an innovation infrastructure.

I also will be joining with Maryland Senator Barbara A. Mikulski in introducing two important bills for Maryland. First, we will be introducing the “Chesapeake's Healthy and Environmentally Sound Stewardship of Energy and Agriculture Act.” This is an important farmer conservation measure. It will provide Maryland farmers and landowners with the resources they need to help reduce the nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that flows into the Chesapeake Bay.

Senator Mikulski also will be joining me in introducing a provision that will allow states to have control of where Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals are located. Current law allows the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) to preempt state and local concerns about the location of such facilities. This is extremely important to the resident of Baltimore because of the proposal by AES to locate a new LNG plant in Sparrows Point, nearly the densely populated Inner Harbor area of Baltimore.