[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4221 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4221

  To amend title 51, United States Code, to authorize the transfer to 
    NASA of funds from other agencies for scientific or engineering 
             research or education, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Ms. Sinema) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 51, United States Code, to authorize the transfer to 
    NASA of funds from other agencies for scientific or engineering 
             research or education, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``NASA Streamlining Partnerships for 
Research and Education for Engineering and Science Act'' or the ``NASA 
SPREES Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR THE TRANSFER TO NASA OF FUNDS FROM OTHER 
              AGENCIES FOR SCIENTIFIC OR ENGINEERING RESEARCH OR 
              EDUCATION.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (f) of section 20113 of title 51, 
United States code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``In the performance of its functions'' and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--In the performance of its functions''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Treatment.--Funds available to any department or 
        agency of the Federal Government for scientific or engineering 
        research or education, or the provision of facilities therefor, 
        shall, subject to the approval of the head of such department 
        or agency or as delegated pursuant to such department's or 
        agency's regulation, be available for transfer, in whole or in 
        part, to the Administration for such use as is consistent with 
        the purposes for which such funds were appropriated. Funds so 
        transferred shall be merged with the appropriation to which 
        transferred, except that such transferred funds shall be 
        limited to the awarding of grants or cooperative agreements for 
        scientific or engineering research or education.''.
    (b) Annual Information on Funds Transferred.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than two years after the date of 
        the enactment of this section, the Administrator of the 
        National Aeronautics and Space Administration (in this section 
        referred to as the ``Administration'') shall include in the 
        annual budget justification materials of the Administration, as 
        submitted to Congress with the President's budget request under 
        section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, information 
        describing the activities conducted under subsection (f) of 
        section 20113 of title 51, United States Code (as amended by 
        subsection (a)), during the immediately preceding fiscal year.
            (2) Contents.--The information referred to in paragraph (1) 
        shall contain a description of each transfer of funds under the 
        authority provided for in paragraph (2) of subsection (f) of 
        section 20113 of title 51, United States Code (as added and 
        amended, respectively, by this section), during the immediately 
        preceding fiscal year, including the following:
                    (A) An identification of the department or agency 
                of the Federal Government from which such funds were 
                transferred.
                    (B) The total amount of funds so transferred, 
                disaggregated by each such department or agency.
                    (C) The purposes for which such funds were 
                appropriated to each such agency or department.
                    (D) The program or activity of the Administration 
                to which such funds were made available by each such 
                transfer.
                    (E) The purposes of each such Administration 
                program or activity, and the amount of funding 
                appropriated to the Administration for such purposes.
    (c) Report.--Not later than three years after the date of enactment 
of the section, the Administrator of the Administration shall submit to 
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate a report that includes the following:
            (1) A summary of the value of the authority provided for in 
        paragraph (2) of subsection (f) of section 20113 of title 51, 
        United States Code (as added and amended, respectively, by this 
        section), including the extent which such authority has 
        benefitted Administration and its ability to meet its needs, 
        achieve its mission, or more effectively conduct interagency 
        collaborations.
            (2) An identification of any barriers or challenges to 
        implementing such authority, or otherwise to managing funding 
        required to conduct joint programs and award jointly funded 
        grants and cooperative agreements by the Administration with 
        other Federal departments and agencies to advance the missions 
        of each such department and agency.
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