Fourteen U.S. senators formally introduced a bill today to authorize spending to set up databases to track college students’ educational progress—an idea opposed by private colleges—and to produce more scientists and engineers.

The bill, S 3936, is not expected to come up for a vote this week on the Senate floor, however, because lawmakers are scrambling to complete work on a bevy of higher-profile bills dealing with national security. Congress recesses at the end of this week so members can campaign for the November elections. A lame-duck session is expected in November, but it is unclear which bills lawmakers might consider, other than must-pass appropriations measures to run the federal government. However, the co-sponsors of today’s bill include the Senate’s two leaders: the majority leader, Sen. Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, and the minority leader, Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

The bill, which is sponsored by Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, is largely similar to a draft circulated this month (The Chronicle, September 18). One provision would help states track data on individual students from pre-kindergarten through the baccalaureate level and to examine retention and graduation rates for college students. The idea was recommended by the final report of the U.S. secretary of education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education (The Chronicle, September 1).

The remainder of the bill proposes a mix of measures to improve science education in schools and colleges, in order to improve the United States’ ability to compete economically with other countries (The Chronicle, September 8). A more-modest bill on that theme in the House of Representatives is not expected to come to a vote this week.