Last Monday–March 4, 2013–rival congressmen David Price (D-NC) and Howard Coble (R-NC) brought the American Textile Technology Innovation and Research for Exportation (ATTIRE) Act to congress for a third time.
The bill was originally introduced in July 2010, and then was reintroduced in June 2011; both times, it died in committee, but this time, the bill has bipartisan support. The ATTIRE Act is also backed by the National Textile Association, and, if it passes, will distribute $5 million to support university and industry-based textile research during fiscal 2013.
Only institutions of higher education and not-for-profit research centers will be eligible to receive grants. Later that day, the bill was moved to committee, who will report back later in the year. If it becomes one of the rare bills to move past committee–only 11% of house bills made it past committee between 2011 and 2013–it will be voted on by the house and senate.