The House is set to pass a measure this week that would merge several bills designed to bolster U.S. global competitiveness in math and science.

The omnibus legislation (HR 2272) has not been marked up by a committee, but it incorporates the text of several bills the House has already passed (HR 362, HR 363, HR 1867, HR 1868, HR 1068).

Passing a single measure would enable the House to go to conference more easily with the Senate, which passed its own omnibus science bill (S 761) by a vote of 88-8 on April 25.

The House package is the chamber’s response to President Bush’s call to provide more funding for basic scientific research and to increase the number of students majoring in math, science, engineering and foreign languages.

Bush’s proposal, made during this year’s State of the Union address, was spurred by a 2005 National Academies report warning that, without increased spending on research and math and on science education, the United States could lose technology jobs to other nations.

The House bill would reauthorize the National Science Foundation (NSF) at $21 billion through fiscal 2010. The NSF section would represent a significant increase in funding over the independent agency’s typical yearly allocations.

The bill also would reauthorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the first time in more than a decade. The agency, which conducts a wide range of scientific research, would be authorized at a total of $2.5 billion through fiscal 2010.

Additionally, the bill would authorize $1.5 billion through fiscal 2012, including $664 million in scholarships for math and science majors who commit to teaching those subjects in “high-need” schools, and authorize federal grants through 2012 for early-career scientists and engineers at universities and other organizations.

It also would set new research priorities for the National High-Performance Computing Program that are more focused on what it terms “grand” scientific challenges.

The White House has criticized the cost of the incorporated bills and some of their spending priorities.

The omnibus could be considered under suspension of the rules, which bars amendments and requires a two-thirds majority for passage, as early as Monday.