[House Report 116-432]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
116th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 116-432
======================================================================
ARPA-E REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2019
_______
June 18, 2020.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Ms. Johnson of Texas, from the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 4091]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, to whom
was referred the bill (H.R. 4091) to amend the America COMPETES
Act to reauthorize the ARPA-E program, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an
amendment and recommends that the bill as amended do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Amendment.......................................................2
II. Purpose of the Bill.............................................3
III. Background and Need for the Legislation.........................3
IV. Committee Hearings..............................................5
V. Committee Consideration and Votes...............................6
VI. Summary of Major Provisions of the Bill.........................6
VII. Section-By-Section Analysis (By Title and Section)..............6
VIII. Committee Views.................................................7
IX. Cost Estimate...................................................8
X. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate.......................8
XI. Compliance with Public Law 104-4 (Unfunded Mandates)............9
XII. Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations................9
XIII. Statement on General Performance Goals and Objectives...........9
XIV. Federal Advisory Committee Statement............................9
XV. Duplication of Federal Programs.................................9
XVI. Earmark Identification.........................................10
XVII. Applicability to the Legislative Branch........................10
XVIII.Statement on Preemption of State, Local, or Tribal Law.........10
XIX. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, As Reported..........10
XX. Proceedings of Subcommittee Markup.............................17
XXI. Proceedings of Full Committee Markup...........................25
I. Amendment
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. ARPA-E AMENDMENTS.
(a) Establishment.--Section 5012(b) of the America COMPETES Act (42
U.S.C. 16538(b)) is amended by striking ``development of energy
technologies'' and inserting ``development of transformative science
and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental
missions of the Department''.
(b) Goals.--Section 5012(c) of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C.
16538(c)) is amended--
(1) by striking paragraph (1)(A) and inserting the following:
``(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of
the United States through the development of energy
technologies that--
``(i) reduce imports of energy from foreign
sources;
``(ii) reduce energy-related emissions,
including greenhouse gases;
``(iii) improve the energy efficiency of all
economic sectors;
``(iv) provide transformative solutions to
improve the management, clean-up, and disposal
of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel;
and
``(v) improve the resilience, reliability,
and security of infrastructure to produce,
deliver, and store energy; and''; and
(2) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A), by striking ``energy technology projects'' and inserting
``advanced technology projects''.
(c) Responsibilities.--Section 5012(e)(3)(A) of the America COMPETES
Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(e)(3)(A)) is amended by striking ``energy''.
(d) Reports and Roadmaps.--Section 5012(h) of the America COMPETES
Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(h)) is amended to read as follows:
``(h) Reports and Roadmaps.--
``(1) Annual report.--As part of the annual budget request
submitted for each fiscal year, the Director shall provide to
the relevant authorizing and appropriations committees of
Congress a report that--
``(A) describes projects supported by ARPA-E during
the previous fiscal year;
``(B) describes projects supported by ARPA-E during
the previous fiscal year that examine topics and
technologies closely related to other activities funded
by the Department, and includes an analysis of whether
in supporting such projects, the Director is in
compliance with subsection (i)(1)(A); and
``(C) describes current, proposed, and planned
projects to be carried out pursuant to subsection
(e)(3)(D).
``(2) Strategic vision roadmap.--Not later than October 1,
2021, and every four years thereafter, the Director shall
provide to the relevant authorizing and appropriations
committees of Congress a roadmap describing the strategic
vision that ARPA-E will use to guide the choices of ARPA-E for
future technology investments over the following 4 fiscal
years.''.
(e) Coordination and Nonduplication.--Section 5012(i)(1) of the
America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(i)(1)) is amended to read as
follows:
``(1) In general.--To the maximum extent practicable, the
Director shall ensure that--
``(A) the activities of ARPA-E are coordinated with,
and do not duplicate the efforts of, programs and
laboratories within the Department and other relevant
research agencies; and
``(B) ARPA-E does not provide funding for a project
unless the prospective grantee demonstrates sufficient
attempts to secure private financing or indicates that
the project is not independently commercially
viable.''.
(f) Evaluation.--Section 5012(l) of the America COMPETES Act (42
U.S.C. 16538(l)) is amended--
(1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
``(1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of
enactment of the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019, the
Secretary is authorized to enter into a contract with the
National Academy of Sciences under which the National Academy
shall conduct an evaluation of how well ARPA-E is achieving the
goals and mission of ARPA-E.''; and
(2) in paragraph (2)--
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by
striking ``shall'' and inserting ``may''; and
(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``the
recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences''
and inserting ``a recommendation''.
(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--Paragraph (2) of section
5012(o) of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(o)) is amended to
read as follows:
``(2) Authorization of appropriations.--Subject to paragraph
(4), there are authorized to be appropriated to the Director
for deposit in the Fund, without fiscal year limitation--
``(A) $428,000,000 for fiscal year 2020;
``(B) $497,000,000 for fiscal year 2021;
``(C) $567,000,000 for fiscal year 2022;
``(D) $651,000,000 for fiscal year 2023; and
``(E) $750,000,000 for fiscal year 2024.''.
(h) Technical Amendments.--Section 5012 of the America COMPETES Act
(42 U.S.C. 16538) is amended--
(1) in subsection (g)(3)(A)(iii), by striking ``subpart''
each place it appears and inserting ``subparagraph''; and
(2) in subsection (o)(4)(B), by striking ``(c)(2)(D)'' and
inserting ``(c)(2)(C)''.
II. Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of
2019 is to provide the Department of Energy (DOE) with
effective guidance, capabilities, and resources to support and
expand the mission of the Advanced Research Program Agency-
Energy (ARPA-E), which is to overcome long-term and high-risk
technology barriers in the development of energy and energy-
relevant technologies. H.R. 4091 is sponsored by Chairwoman
Johnson and cosponsored by Ranking Member Lucas, Energy
Subcommittee Chairwoman Fletcher, Mr. Graves, Ms. Castor, Mr.
Baird, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Mast, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Riggleman, Mr.
Foster, Mr. Fortenberry, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Katko, Ms. Watson
Coleman, Mr. Crenshaw, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Bacon, Mr.
Lipinski, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr.
Connolly, Mr. Hurd, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Schiff, Mr.
Gonzalez, Mr. Casten, Ms. Gonzalez-Colon, Mr. McNerney, Mr.
Rooney, Mr. Rouda, Mr. Waltz, Mr. Lamb, Ms. Herrera-Beutler,
Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Balderson, Ms. Luria, Mr. Woodall, Mr. Case,
Mr. Fleischmann, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Brooks, Ms. Horn, Mr.
Gallagher, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Pappas, Ms. Slotkin, Ms.
Brownley, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Crow, Mr. Allred, Ms. Sherrill, Mr.
Neguse, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Peters, Mr.
Himes, Mr. Welch, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Houlahan, Ms. Axne, Mr.
Keating, Ms. Wild, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Porter, Ms. Spanberger, Mr.
Doyle, Mr. Scott (VA), and Mr. Desaulnier.
III. Background and Need for the Legislation
In 2005, Congress requested a report from the National
Academies to identify what federal actions could ``enhance the
science and technology enterprise so that the United States can
successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global
community of the 21st century''.\1\ The subsequent report,
Rising Above the Gathering Storm, made a series of
recommendations to enhance the Nation's technological
competitiveness, including the creation of a new energy agency
within DOE modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Program
Agency (DARPA) within the Department of Defense.\2\ In 2007,
the U.S. Congress authorized such a program, now known as ARPA-
E, as a part of the America COMPETES Act. In accordance with
its statute, ARPA-E's objectives are:
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\1\National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2007.
Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for
a Brighter Economic Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11463.
\2\``ARPA-E History.'' Department of Energy. Accessed 7 Feb 2019.
https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=arpa-e-site-page/arpa-e-history.
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``(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the
United States through the development of energy technologies
that result in--
(i) reductions of imports of energy from foreign
sources;
(ii) reductions of energy-related emissions,
including greenhouse gases; and
(iii) improvement in the energy efficiency of all
economic sectors; and
``(B) to ensure that the United States maintains a
technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy
technologies''.\3\
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\3\America COMPETES Act. Pub. L. 110-69. 121 Stat. 621. 9 Aug 2007.
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While ARPA-E was authorized in 2007, it did not receive
funding until the passage of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, which included $400 million to build
and support the agency over a two-year period.\4\
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\4\``ARPA-E History.'' Department of Energy. Accessed 7 Feb 2019.
https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=arpa-e-site-page/arpa-e-history.
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Since 2009, 82 projects supported by ARPA-E have led to the
formation of new companies, 219 have partnered with non-DOE
government agencies, and 161 have attracted over $3.2 billion
in private sector follow-on funding. ARPA-E projects have also
produced 385 U.S. patents and 3,658 peer reviewed journal
articles.\5\
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\5\``ARPA-E Impact.'' Department of Energy. Accessed 14 Feb 2019.
https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=site-page/arpa-e-impact.
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Included in ARPA-E's initial authorization was a
requirement that it receive an independent evaluation from the
National Academies of Science after its first four years.\6\
The National Academies of Science conducted this review
beginning in 2015 and published its results in An Assessment of
ARPA-E, in 2017. In summary, the report concluded that ARPA-E
was making significant, unique contributions to the U.S.'s
energy research and development enterprise.\7\ This review also
found that a substantial increase in funding would be necessary
for ARPA-E to be able to sufficiently support the scale-up of
particularly promising technologies, such as advanced
technologies for energy storage and power electronics, that
were previously supported by the agency but (1) are still too
risky to be supported by the private sector alone; and (2)
other DOE programs are ill-suited to steward.
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\6\America COMPETES Act. Pub. L. 110-69. 121 Stat. 624. 9 Aug 2007.
\7\National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2017.
An Assessment of ARPA-E. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
https://doi.org/10.17226/24778.
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Substantial growth in funding for ARPA-E is consistent with
the original recommendations of the National Academies for
establishing and supporting ARPA-E in its Rising Above the
Gathering Storm report,\8\ as well as more recent
recommendations from the Bipartisan Policy Center's American
Energy Innovation Council (AEIC),\9\ the Information Technology
and Innovation Foundation (ITIF),\10\ and the Energy Futures
Initiative.\11\
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\8\National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2007.
Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for
a Brighter Economic Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11463.
\9\``Energy Innovation: Fueling American's Economic Engine.''
American Energy Innovation Council. Published Nov 2018. http://
americanenergyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Energy-
Innovation-Fueling-Americas-Economic-Engine.pdf.
\10\Hart, David. Kearney, Michael. ``ARPA-E: Versatile Catalyst for
U.S. Energy Innovation.'' Information Technology & Innovation
Foundation. Published Nov 2017. http://www2.itif.org/2017-arpae-energy-
innovation.pdf.
\11\Moniz, Ernest. Yergin, Daniel. ``Advancing the Landscape of
Clean Energy Innovation.'' Breakthrough Energy. Published Feburary
2019. https://energyfuturesinitiative.org/news/2019/2/6/clean-energy-
innovation-report.
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Further, according to data provided by the agency, ARPA-E
has only been able to support 1% of the proposals submitted for
its Open Funding Opportunity Announcements, and has only been
able to support 12% of the proposals submitted for its Focused
Funding Opportunity Announcements.
Taking into account the above issues and recommendations
regarding funding levels for ARPA-E, H.R. 4091 would authorize
substantial growth in federal support for the agency through FY
2024. It would also require the Department to prevent
unnecessary duplication between ARPA-E's initiatives and other
research across DOE programs. And the bill codifies a rigorous
approval process that ensures that each applicant has either
first sought private investment before applying for ARPA-E
grants or determined that their proposed project is not
independently commercially viable.
Other provisions in this bill include explicit
authorization for ARPA-E to provide assistance in addressing
DOE's significant nuclear waste clean-up and management issues,
consistent with the recommendations of a National Academies
report\12\ released earlier this year. And it includes
authorization for ARPA-E to support projects to improve the
resilience, reliability, and security of the U.S.'s energy
infrastructure.
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\12\National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2019.
``Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department
of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program.'' Washington, DC:
The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25338.
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Authorizing language from the America COMPETES
Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-58), including expired
funding authorization levels through 2013, provides the most
recent comprehensive legislative direction for ARPA-E, with an
additional specific provision protecting sensitive private
business information from disclosure provided in the Department
of Energy Research and Innovation Act (P.L. 115-246) in 2018.
H.R. 4091 would build upon this prior authorization, taking
into consideration the program's record thus far as well as
recent recommendations from independent reviews and
stakeholders.
IV. Committee Hearings
Pursuant to Section 103(i) of H.Res. 6, the Committee
designates the following hearings as having been used to
develop or consider the legislation:
The Subcommittee on Energy held a legislative hearing on
February 26, 2019 to assess the role that ARPA-E plays in
accelerating the development of innovative energy technologies,
and to examine ways that Congress and the Administration may be
able to improve ARPA-E's capabilities to spur transformational
technological advances in pursuit of the agency's energy and
environmental missions.
WITNESSES
Dr. Arun Majumdar, Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor
at Stanford University. Dr. Majumdar was the founding Director
of ARPA-E from 2009 to 2012.
Dr. Ellen D. Williams, Distinguished University Professor
in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland. Dr.
Williams was the Director of ARPA-E from 2014 through the end
of the Obama Administration.
Dr. John Wall, Retired Chief Technology Officer for Cummins
Inc., Member of the Committee on Evaluation for the 2017
National Academies review of ARPA-E.
Dr. Saul Griffith, Founder and CEO of Otherlab.
Mr. Mark P. Mills, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute.
V. Committee Consideration and Votes
The Subcommittee on Energy met to consider H.R. 4091 on
September 11, 2019.
Mr. Foster offered an amendment to establish a Chief
Evaluation Officer position at ARPA-E. The amendment was
withdrawn.
Mr. Baird offered an amendment to reduce the amounts
authorized to be appropriated to carry out the Act. The
amendment was rejected by voice vote.
H.R. 4091 was forwarded by the Subcommittee to the full
Committee by voice vote.
The Full Committee met to consider H.R. 4091 on October 17,
2019.
Chairwoman Johnson offered a Manager's amendment to ensure
that ARPA-E coordinates its activities with other programs at
DOE to avoid duplicative RD&D projects. The amendment also
reduces the amounts authorized to be appropriated to carry out
the Act during fiscal years 2021-2024, lowering the
authorization to $750,000,000 in 2024. The amendment was agreed
to by voice vote.
Mr. Foster offered an amendment to establish a Chief
Evaluation Officer position at ARPA-E. The amendment was
withdrawn.
H.R. 4091 was forwarded by the full Committee to the full
House (as amended) by voice vote.
VI. Summary of Major Provisions of the Bill
H.R. 4091 would authorize substantial growth in federal
support for ARPA-E through FY 2024 and includes policy
direction to ensure coordination and nonduplication of ARPA-E
programs across the Department. It also includes explicit
authorization for ARPA-E to provide assistance in addressing
DOE's significant nuclear waste clean-up and management issues,
and it authorizes the agency to support projects to improve the
resilience, reliability, and security of the U.S.'s energy
infrastructure.
VII. Section-by-Section Analysis (By Title and Section)
Section 1. Short title
ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019.
Section 2. ARPA-E amendments
Amends the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(b)) to
authorize ARPA-E to support projects addressing nuclear waste
clean-up and management, and to improve the resilience,
reliability, and security of our energy infrastructure, in
addition to its existing missions.
Adds an annual reporting requirement on ARPA-E's scale-up,
demonstration, and coordination activities.
Requires the Director of ARPA-E to produce and provide to
Congress a strategic vision roadmap every four years.
Ensures that ARPA-E coordinates with other DOE programs to
avoid unintentional duplication of RD&D activities across
programs.
Ensures that ARPA-E does not provide funding for a project
unless it demonstrates sufficient attempts to secure private
financing or indicates lack of independent commercial
viability.
Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a contract with the
National Academies to conduct an evaluation of the program no
later than three years after the date of enactment.
Authorizes annual funding increases over five years for
ARPA-E, beginning with $497 million in 2021 and rising to $750
million in 2024, to carry out the Act.
VIII. Committee Views
While H.R. 4091 authorizes ARPA-E to identify and support
high-risk, high-reward research activities that have the
potential to achieve breakthroughs in addressing DOE's
significant nuclear waste clean-up and management issues, it is
not the intent of the Committee for these activities to be a
replacement for a robust, ongoing research program stewarded by
the Department's Office of Environmental Management to make
further progress in addressing these issues. If the Director of
ARPA-E chooses to utilize this new authority, then the
Committee expects that the Director would initially establish
one research program on this topic of approximately the average
scale and duration of ARPA-E's other targeted research
programs.
While the Committee recognizes ARPA-E's important role in
supporting DOE research over a wide range of groundbreaking
technology areas and acknowledges the value of complementary
and coordinated research, the Committee would appreciate
greater clarity regarding the differences between ARPA-E
supported projects and those in closely related areas supported
by other DOE programs. The Committee would also like more
information on the extent or nature of any collaborative
research efforts such as data or results sharing between ARPA-E
and DOE's other applied programs. Understanding this data is
critical to avoiding potential unintended duplication at the
Department and evaluating the overall performance of the ARPA-E
portfolio.
In October 2019, the Committee submitted a request to the
Government Accountability Office to further explore potential
crossover between ARPA-E and other programs funded by the DOE,
and provide potential recommendations to limit unnecessary or
unintended duplication of ARPA-E funded research programs.
IX. Cost Estimate
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee adopts as its own the
estimate of new budget authority, entitlement authority, or tax
expenditures or revenues contained in the cost estimate
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office
pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974.
X. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, November 5, 2019.
Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson,
Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Madam Chairwoman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Aaron
Krupkin.
Sincerely,
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director.
Enclosure.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
H.R. 4091 would reauthorize activities of the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), an agency tasked with
researching and developing transformative energy technologies,
through fiscal year 2024. The bill also would amend ARPA-E's
requirements for submitting annual reports and strategic vision
roadmaps to the Congress.
H.R. 4091 would authorize appropriations totaling $2.9
billion over the 2020-2024 period. In 2019, the Congress
appropriated $366 million for ARPA-E. Because CBO scores
continuing resolutions on an annualized basis, in 2020 CBO
assumes that the same amount of funds will be available under
the current continuing resolution (Public Law 116-59). As a
result, CBO estimates that H.R. 4091 would authorize an
increase in spending subject to appropriation in 2020 of $62
million, the difference between the authorized amount and the
annualized amount under the continuing resolution. Based on
historical spending patterns, and assuming appropriation of the
authorized and necessary amounts, CBO estimates that
implementing H.R. 4091 would cost $690 million over the 2020-
2024 period and $1.8 billion after 2024.
The costs of the legislation (detailed in Table 1) would
fall within budget function 270 (energy).
TABLE 1--ESTIMATED INCREASES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION UNDER H.R. 4091
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By fiscal year, millions of dollars--
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2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2020-2024 2020-2029
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Authorizationa.............................................. 62 497 567 651 750 0 0 0 0 0 2,527 2,527
Estimated Outlays........................................... 2 21 79 197 391 536 550 463 230 41 690 2,510
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a. H.R. 4091 would authorize the appropriation of $428 million in 2020 for ARPA-E activities. However, CBO estimates that $366 million has been
allocated on an annualized basis from funds made available under the continuing resolution (Public Law 116-59), which provided appropriations through
November 21, 2019. Thus, the estimated authorization for 2020 ($62 million) is equal to the specified amount ($428 million) minus the annualized
amount from the continuing resolution ($366 million).
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aaron Krupkin.
The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
XI. Federal Mandates Statement
H.R. 4091 contains no unfunded mandates.
XII. Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations
The Committee's oversight findings and recommendations are
reflected in the body of this report.
XIII. Statement on General Performance Goals and Objectives
The goal of H.R. 4091 is to support and expand the mission
of the Advanced Research Program Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)--
overcoming long-term and high-risk technology barriers in the
development of energy and energy-relevant technologies.
XIV. Federal Advisory Committee Statement
H.R. 4091 does not create any advisory committees.
XV. Duplication of Federal Programs
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee finds that no provision
of H.R. 4091 establishes or reauthorizes a program of the
federal government known to be duplicative of another federal
program, including any program that was included in a report to
Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139 or the
most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.
XVI. Earmark Identification
Pursuant to clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI, the
Committee finds that H.R. 4091 contains no earmarks, limited
tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits.
XVII. Applicability to the Legislative Branch
The Committee finds that H.R. 4091 does not relate to the
terms and conditions of employment or access to public services
or accommodations within the meaning of section 102(b)(3) of
the Congressional Accountability Act (Public Law 104-1).
XVIII. Statement on Preemption of State, Local, or Tribal Law
This bill is not intended to preempt any state, local, or
tribal law.
XIX. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italics, and existing law in which no
change is proposed is shown in roman):
AMERICA COMPETES ACT
* * * * * * *
TITLE V--DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
* * * * * * *
SEC. 5012. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY-ENERGY.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) ARPA-E.--The term ``ARPA-E'' means the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy established by
subsection (b).
(2) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the
Director of ARPA-E appointed under subsection (d).
(3) Fund.--The term ``Fund'' means the Energy
Transformation Acceleration Fund established under
subsection (o)(1).
(b) Establishment.--There is established the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy within the Department to
overcome the long-term and high-risk technological barriers in
the [development of energy technologies] development of
transformative science and technology solutions to address the
energy and environmental missions of the Department.
(c) Goals.--
(1) In general.--The goals of ARPA-E shall be--
[(A) to enhance the economic and energy
security of the United States through the
development of energy technologies that result
in--
[(i) reductions of imports of energy
from foreign sources;
[(ii) reductions of energy-related
emissions, including greenhouse gases;
and
[(iii) improvement in the energy
efficiency of all economic sectors;
and]
(A) to enhance the economic and energy
security of the United States through the
development of energy technologies that--
(i) reduce imports of energy from
foreign sources;
(ii) reduce energy-related emissions,
including greenhouse gases;
(iii) improve the energy efficiency
of all economic sectors;
(iv) provide transformative solutions
to improve the management, clean-up,
and disposal of radioactive waste and
spent nuclear fuel; and
(v) improve the resilience,
reliability, and security of
infrastructure to produce, deliver, and
store energy; and
(B) to ensure that the United States
maintains a technological lead in developing
and deploying advanced energy technologies.
(2) Means.--ARPA-E shall achieve the goals
established under paragraph (1) through [energy
technology projects] advanced technology projects by--
(A) identifying and promoting revolutionary
advances in fundamental and applied sciences;
(B) translating scientific discoveries and
cutting-edge inventions into technological
innovations; and
(C) accelerating transformational
technological advances in areas that industry
by itself is not likely to undertake because of
technical and financial uncertainty.
(d) Director.--
(1) Appointment.--There shall be in the Department of
Energy a Director of ARPA-E, who shall be appointed by
the President, by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate.
(2) Qualifications.--The Director shall be an
individual who, by reason of professional background
and experience, is especially qualified to advise the
Secretary on, and manage research programs addressing,
matters pertaining to long-term and high-risk
technological barriers to the development of energy
technologies.
(3) Relationship to secretary.--The Director shall
report to the Secretary.
(4) Relationship to other programs.--No other
programs within the Department shall report to the
Director.
(e) Responsibilities.--The responsibilities of the Director
shall include--
(1) approving all new programs within ARPA-E;
(2) developing funding criteria and assessing the
success of programs through the establishment of
technical milestones;
(3) administering the Fund through awards to
institutions of higher education, companies, research
foundations, trade and industry research
collaborations, or consortia of such entities, which
may include federally-funded research and development
centers, to achieve the goals described in subsection
(c) through targeted acceleration of--
(A) novel early-stage [energy] research with
possible technology applications;
(B) development of techniques, processes, and
technologies, and related testing and
evaluation;
(C) research and development of advanced
manufacturing process and technologies for the
domestic manufacturing of novel energy
technologies; and
(D) coordination with nongovernmental
entities for demonstration of technologies and
research applications to facilitate technology
transfer;
(4) terminating programs carried out under this
section that are not achieving the goals of the
programs; and
(5) pursuant to subsection (c)(2)(C)--
(A) ensuring that applications for funding
disclose the extent of current and prior
efforts, including monetary investments as
appropriate, in pursuit of the technology area
for which funding is being requested;
(B) adopting measures to ensure that, in
making awards, program managers adhere to the
purposes of subsection (c)(2)(C); and
(C) providing as part of the annual report
required by subsection (h)(1) a summary of the
instances of and reasons for ARPA-E funding
projects in technology areas already being
undertaken by industry.
(f) Awards.--In carrying out this section, the Director may
provide awards in the form of grants, contracts, cooperative
agreements, cash prizes, and other transactions.
(g) Personnel.--
(1) In general.--The Director shall establish and
maintain within ARPA-E a staff with sufficient
qualifications and expertise to enable ARPA-E to carry
out the responsibilities of ARPA-E under this section
in conjunction with other operations of the Department.
(2) Program directors.--
(A) In general.--The Director shall designate
employees to serve as program directors for the
programs established pursuant to the
responsibilities established for ARPA-E under
subsection (e).
(B) Responsibilities.--A program director of
a program shall be responsible for--
(i) establishing research and
development goals for the program,
including through the convening of
workshops and conferring with outside
experts, and publicizing the goals of
the program to the public and private
sectors;
(ii) soliciting applications for
specific areas of particular promise,
especially areas that the private
sector or the Federal Government are
not likely to undertake alone;
(iii) building research
collaborations for carrying out the
program;
(iv) selecting on the basis of merit
each of the projects to be supported
under the program after considering--
(I) the novelty and
scientific and technical merit
of the proposed projects;
(II) the demonstrated
capabilities of the applicants
to successfully carry out the
proposed project;
(III) the consideration by
the applicant of future
commercial applications of the
project, including the
feasibility of partnering with
1 or more commercial entities;
and
(IV) such other criteria as
are established by the
Director;
(v) identifying innovative cost-
sharing arrangements for ARPA-E
projects, including through use of the
authority provided under section
988(b)(3) of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352(b)(3));
(vi) monitoring the progress of
projects supported under the program;
(vii) identifying mechanisms for
commercial application of successful
energy technology development projects,
including through establishment of
partnerships between awardees and
commercial entities; and
(viii) recommending program
restructure or termination of research
partnerships or whole projects.
(C) Term.--The term of a program manager
shall be not more than 3 years and may be
renewed.
(3) Hiring and management.--
(A) In general.--The Director shall have the
authority to--
(i) make appointments of scientific,
engineering, and professional personnel
without regard to the civil service
laws;
(ii) fix the basic pay of such
personnel at a rate to be determined by
the Director at rates not in excess of
Level II of the Executive Schedule (EX-
II) without regard to the civil service
laws; and
(iii) pay any employee appointed
under this [subpart] subparagraph
payments in addition to basic pay,
except that the total amount of
additional payments paid to an employee
under this [subpart] subparagraph for
any 12-month period shall not exceed
the least of the following amounts:
(I) $25,000.
(II) The amount equal to 25
percent of the annual rate of
basic pay of the employee.
(III) The amount of the
limitation that is applicable
for a calendar year under
section 5307(a)(1) of title 5,
United States Code.
(B) Number.--The Director shall appoint not
more than 120 personnel under this section.
(C) Private recruiting firms.--The Secretary,
or the Director serving as an agent of the
Secretary, may contract with private recruiting
firms for the hiring of qualified technical
staff to carry out this section.
(D) Additional staff.--The Director may use
all authorities in existence on the date of
enactment of this Act that are provided to the
Secretary to hire administrative, financial,
and clerical staff as necessary to carry out
this section.
[(h) Reports and Roadmaps.--
[(1) Annual Report.--As part of the annual budget
request submitted for each fiscal year, the Director
shall provide to the relevant authorizing and
appropriations committees of Congress a report
describing projects supported by ARPA-E during the
previous fiscal year.
[(2) Strategic vision roadmap.--Not later than
October 1, 2010, and October 1, 2013, the Director
shall provide to the relevant authorizing and
appropriations committees of Congress a roadmap
describing the strategic vision that ARPA-E will use to
guide the choices of ARPA-E for future technology
investments over the following 3 fiscal years.]
(h) Reports and Roadmaps.--
(1) Annual report.--As part of the annual budget
request submitted for each fiscal year, the Director
shall provide to the relevant authorizing and
appropriations committees of Congress a report that--
(A) describes projects supported by ARPA-E
during the previous fiscal year;
(B) describes projects supported by ARPA-E
during the previous fiscal year that examine
topics and technologies closely related to
other activities funded by the Department, and
includes an analysis of whether in supporting
such projects, the Director is in compliance
with subsection (i)(1)(A); and
(C) describes current, proposed, and planned
projects to be carried out pursuant to
subsection (e)(3)(D).
(2) Strategic vision roadmap.--Not later than October
1, 2021, and every four years thereafter, the Director
shall provide to the relevant authorizing and
appropriations committees of Congress a roadmap
describing the strategic vision that ARPA-E will use to
guide the choices of ARPA-E for future technology
investments over the following 4 fiscal years.
(i) Coordination and Nonduplication.--
[(1) In general.--To the maximum extent practicable,
the Director shall ensure that the activities of ARPA-E
are coordinated with, and do not duplicate the efforts
of, programs and laboratories within the Department and
other relevant research agencies.]
(1) In general.--To the maximum extent practicable,
the Director shall ensure that--
(A) the activities of ARPA-E are coordinated
with, and do not duplicate the efforts of,
programs and laboratories within the Department
and other relevant research agencies; and
(B) ARPA-E does not provide funding for a
project unless the prospective grantee
demonstrates sufficient attempts to secure
private financing or indicates that the project
is not independently commercially viable.
(2) Technology transfer coordinator.--To the extent
appropriate, the Director may coordinate technology
transfer efforts with the Technology Transfer
Coordinator appointed under section 1001 of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16391).
(j) Federal Demonstration of Technologies.--The Director
shall seek opportunities to partner with purchasing and
procurement programs of Federal agencies to demonstrate energy
technologies resulting from activities funded through ARPA-E.
(k) Advice.--
(1) Advisory committees.--The Director may seek
advice on any aspect of ARPA-E from--
(A) an existing Department of Energy advisory
committee; and
(B) a new advisory committee organized to
support the programs of ARPA-E and to provide
advice and assistance on--
(i) specific program tasks; or
(ii) overall direction of ARPA-E.
(2) Additional sources of advice.--In carrying out
this section, the Director may seek advice and review
from--
(A) the President's Committee of Advisors on
Science and Technology; and
(B) any professional or scientific
organization with expertise in specific
processes or technologies under development by
ARPA-E.
(l) ARPA-E Evaluation.--
[(1) In general.--After ARPA-E has been in operation
for 6 years, the Secretary shall offer to enter into a
contract with the National Academy of Sciences under
which the National Academy shall conduct an evaluation
of how well ARPA-E is achieving the goals and mission
of ARPA-E.]
(1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the
date of enactment of the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of
2019, the Secretary is authorized to enter into a
contract with the National Academy of Sciences under
which the National Academy shall conduct an evaluation
of how well ARPA-E is achieving the goals and mission
of ARPA-E.
(2) Inclusions.--The evaluation [shall] may include--
(A) [the recommendation of the National
Academy of Sciences] a recommendation on
whether ARPA-E should be continued or
terminated; and
(B) a description of lessons learned from
operation of ARPA-E, and the manner in which
those lessons may apply to the operation of
other programs of the Department.
(3) Availability.--On completion of the evaluation,
the evaluation shall be made available to Congress and
the public.
(m) Existing Authorities.--The authorities granted by this
section are--
(1) in addition to existing authorities granted to
the Secretary; and
(2) are not intended to supersede or modify any
existing authorities.
(n) Protection of Information.--The following types of
information collected by ARPA-E from recipients of financial
assistance awards shall be considered commercial and financial
information obtained from a person and privileged or
confidential and not subject to disclosure under section
552(b)(4) of title 5, United States Code:
(1) Plans for commercialization of technologies
developed under the award, including business plans,
technology-to-market plans, market studies, and cost
and performance models.
(2) Investments provided to an awardee from third
parties (such as venture capital firms, hedge funds,
and private equity firms), including amounts and the
percentage of ownership of the awardee provided in
return for the investments.
(3) Additional financial support that the awardee--
(A) plans to or has invested into the
technology developed under the award; or
(B) is seeking from third parties.
(4) Revenue from the licensing or sale of new
products or services resulting from research conducted
under the award.
(o) Funding.--
(1) Fund.--There is established in the Treasury of
the United States a fund, to be known as the ``Energy
Transformation Acceleration Fund'', which shall be
administered by the Director for the purposes of
carrying out this section.
[(2) Authorization of Appropriations.--Subject to
paragraphs (4) and (5), there are authorized to be
appropriated to the Director for deposit in the Fund,
without fiscal year limitation--
[(A) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2008;
[(B) such sums as are necessary for each of
fiscal years 2009 and 2010;
[(C) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2011;
[(D) $306,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and
[(E) $312,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.]
(2) Authorization of appropriations.--Subject to
paragraph (4), there are authorized to be appropriated
to the Director for deposit in the Fund, without fiscal
year limitation--
(A) $428,000,000 for fiscal year 2020;
(B) $497,000,000 for fiscal year 2021;
(C) $567,000,000 for fiscal year 2022;
(D) $651,000,000 for fiscal year 2023; and
(E) $750,000,000 for fiscal year 2024.
(3) Separate budget and appropriation.--
(A) Budget request.--The budget request for
ARPA-E shall be separate from the rest of the
budget of the Department.
(B) Appropriations.--Appropriations to the
Fund shall be separate and distinct from the
rest of the budget for the Department.
(4) Allocation.--Of the amounts appropriated for a
fiscal year under paragraph (2)--
(A) not more than 50 percent of the amount
shall be used to carry out subsection
(e)(3)(D);
(B) at least 5 percent of the amount shall be
used for technology transfer and outreach
activities, consistent with the goal described
in subsection [(c)(2)(D)] (c)(2)(C) and within
the responsibilities of program directors
described in subsection (g)(2)(B)(vii); and
(C) no funds may be used for construction of
new buildings or facilities during the 5-year
period beginning on the date of enactment of
this Act.
* * * * * * *
XX. Proceedings of the Subcommittee Markup
______
2019
MARKUPS:
H.R. 4901, ARPA-E
REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2019; AND
H.R. 4230, CLEAN INDUSTRIAL
TECHNOLOGY ACT OF 2019
=======================================================================
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY
of the
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
__________
Serial No. CP 116-7
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman
ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma,
DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois Ranking Member
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon MO BROOKS, Alabama
AMI BERA, California, BILL POSEY, Florida
Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania BRIAN BABIN, Texas
LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
HALEY STEVENS, Michigan ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
KENDRA HORN, Oklahoma RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas
BRAD SHERMAN, California TROY BALDERSON, Ohio
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee PETE OLSON, Texas
JERRY McNERNEY, California ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida
PAUL TONKO, New York JIM BAIRD, Indiana
BILL FOSTER, Illinois JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington
DON BEYER, Virginia JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON, Puerto
CHARLIE CRIST, Florida Rico
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois VACANCY
KATIE HILL, California
BEN McADAMS, Utah
JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY
HON. CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania, Chairman
DANIEL LIPINKSI, Illinois RANDY WEBER, Texas,
LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas Ranking Member
HALEY STEVENS, Michigan ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
KENDRA HORN, Oklahoma NEAL DUNN, Florida
JERRY McNERNEY, California RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina
BILL FOSTER, Illinois MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois
C O N T E N T S
September 11, 2019
Page
H.R. 4091--ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019.................... 00
H.R. 4230--Clean Industrial Technology Act of 2019............... 00
MARKUPS:
H.R. 4091, ARPA-E
REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2019; AND
H.R. 4230, CLEAN INDUSTRIAL
TECHNOLOGY ACT OF 2019
----------
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
House Of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Energy,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m., in
room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Conor Lamb
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Chairman Lamb. Good morning. The Subcommittee will come to
order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare
recess at any time. Pursuant to Committee rule 2(e) and House
rule XI, the Chair announces that he may postpone roll call
votes.
Pursuant to notice, the Subcommittee on Energy meets to
con- sider the following measures: H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019, and H.R. 4230, the Clean
Industrial Technology Act of 2019.
I'm pleased to consider these two bipartisan bills today. I
think they are absolutely essential to our Nation's clean
energy future. They were considered at three hearings earlier
this Congress where we brought together experts from industry,
academia, and the De- partment of Energy (DOE). We talked about
ARPA-E and also R&D (research and development) to reduce
emissions from the manufacturing sector.
I'm an original cosponsor of H.R. 4091, the bipartisan
ARPA-E Reauthorization Act, which Chairwoman Johnson took the
lead on and we introduced in July. ARPA-E (Advanced Research
Projects Agency-Energy) was first authorized by this Committee
back in 2007. I think it has tremendous promise to help us
solve one of our longest-term challenges, which is the future
of low-carbon energy production in this country. Congress
recognized this back then, and we have maintained our
leadership in this research overall, creating jobs benefiting
the energy sector and of course the environment, but we think
there's a lot more we can do.
Groundbreaking research involves a high level of risk, some
of which the private sector is able to take, but a lot of it,
it can't bear alone, so we have our part to play. The first
appropriation for ARPA-E was $400 million, and it was made
exactly 10 years ago. In that time, ARPA-E and the people it's
given grants to have done incredible work, but the budget has
had stagnant, if any, growth. I don't believe in that. I think
that when the government is doing something right and doing it
well, especially in cooperation with other segments of our
society, that's an occasion to double down, especially on a
challenge this important.
So this bill answers the call of the National Academies and
the leading energy think tanks, who have all called for
significantly in- creasing ARPA-E's budget to allow them to do
even more of the great work they're already doing. This will
ensure that ARPA-E actually has the impact we want it to have,
not just individual excellent projects but an overall sector-
wide impact that can help us change the future of energy in
this country.
Many people have recognized this, and that's why the ARPA-E
reauthorization bill is now endorsed by those ranging from the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC), the American Gas Association, and the American
Council for Renewable Energy. You don't always see those groups
on the same side of an individual piece of legislation, but in
this case we have all their support, and I thank them for that.
The second bill we're looking at today is H.R. 4230, the
Clean Industrial Technology Act, which is introduced by my
colleague Rep- resentative Casten, and it is also a bipartisan
bill. We've made a lot of strides in the past couple of decades
in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, but
we still have a real uphill climb when it comes to
manufacturing in heavy industry. That's about 25 percent of our
Nation's emissions, yet only about 6 per- cent of the
Department of Energy's research budget has been dedi- cated to
this. And we have no national plan devoted to solving this
problem.
So this bill will help address those issues by authorizing
a cross- agency DOE-led R&D and demonstration program to
advance these technologies from industrial sources of emissions
including steel, cement, chemical production, and industrial
heat. Importantly, this program will operate in collaboration
with stakeholders from industry and labor groups to make sure
that people who are essentially the boots on the ground in the
sectors have a say in the investment we're going to make as a
Nation.
DOE has succeeded with large demonstration projects before,
so after the basic science and the basic research is done
actually showing it can be done on a large commercial scale.
We've done that most recently and prominently with the nearly
$200 million investment in a commercial-scale, post-combustion,
carbon-capture coal-fired power plant in Thompsons, Texas,
known as Petra Nova.
This bill, like the others, has support from a wide array
of stake-holders and groups, including the National Association
of Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council, the United
Steelworkers, the BlueGreen Alliance, the Union of Concerned
Scientists, the Clean Air Task Force, again, not players that
you usually see on the same side of the field, but in this case
we have them.
So we think it's essential to ensure that American
manufacturers can access these new technologies and the
technologies that are still to come so that they will remain
competitive throughout the 21st century and the fact that they
will have a competitive edge in the 21st century because of the
demand that you're going to have for some of this clean energy.
My Republican colleagues who have signed on to support
these important bills have recognized that innovation must play
a key role in doing our work here. And I just urge my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle again to consider
supporting these bills. I look for- ward to advancing them out
of the Subcommittee today.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Lamb follows:]
I am pleased to consider two bipartisan bills today that are
essential to securing our nation's clean energy future. These bills
were considered at three hearings earlier this Congress that brought
together expert witnesses from industry, academia, and the Department
of Energy to discuss two important topics: the Advanced Research
Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, and research and development to
reduce emissions from the manufacturing sector.
I am very proud to be an original cosponsor of H.R. 4091, the
bipartisan ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019, which Chairwoman Johnson
and I introduced in July. First authorized by this Committee in 2007,
ARPA-E was designed to address some of the unique challenges of
advancing new clean energy technologies.
In its creation of ARPA-E Congress recognized the necessity of
developing transformational technologies in the energy sector. By
maintaining our leadership in research, we're creating jobs here in
America, benefiting the energy sector and mitigating climate change.
We're making our power safer and more sustainable, and improving our
economy.
Groundbreaking research involves a high level of risk. The private
sector is understandably unable to take on these risks alone and make
all of the investments we so badly need to transition our energy
infrastructure into the twenty-first century.
ARPA-E received its first appropriation of $400 million exactly ten
years ago, and in that time has made significant strides in supporting
the development of groundbreaking energy projects. However, to this
day, the budget of this transformational agency has seen only marginal
growth. This bill answers the call of the National Academies and
leading energy think tanks and analysts to significantly increase ARPA-
E's budget to allow the agency to scale up the excellent work that it
is already doing. The authorizations in this bill will ensure that
ARPA-E has the resources it needs to make a truly transformational
impact on our nation's energy sector.
This bill is now endorsed by those ranging from the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Gas
Association, and the American Council for Renewable Energy. It's pretty
rare to receive support from this broad array of groups for the same
piece of legislation, and I certainly appreciate the range of
stakeholders who have weighed in on the legislation.
The second bill we are considering today is H.R. 4230, the
bipartisan Clean Industrial Technology Act introduced by my colleague
Rep. Casten. Over the past several decades, we have made significant
strides to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. But
it is critical we recognize the role that other sectors of the economy
play in contributing emissions to the atmosphere.
In particular, the manufacturing sector contributes nearly 25% of
our nation's emissions, and yet only 6% of the Department of Energy's
research budget is dedicated to developing technologies to help reduce
emissions from manufacturing. Furthermore, we currently have no
national plan devoted to solving this problem.
H.R. 4230 will help address these important issues by authorizing a
cross-agency, DOE-led research, development, and demonstration program
to advance technologies that will help reduce emissions from industrial
sources of emissions including: steel and cement production, chemical
production, and industrial heat. The research program will operate in
collaboration with stakeholders from industry and labor groups to
ensure that those who will work most closely with these technologies
have a say in our nation's investment in their development. The
Department of Energy has succeeded with large demonstration projects,
like when they provided nearly $200M to demonstrate the addition of a
commercial-scale post-combustion carbon capture technology to a coal-
fired power plant in Thompsons, Texas, commonly known as Petra Nova.
This bill has significant support from a wide array of
stakeholders, such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the
American Chemistry Council, the Steelworkers and the Blue Green
Alliance, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Clean Air Task
Force.
Ensuring American manufacturers can access technologies to make
them increasingly sustainable will ensure the domestic manufacturing
industry remains competitive through the 21st Century. We need to give
these companies, firms, factories and workers the assets and resources
they need to compete and succeed in the international market--and
sustainability, I believe, is one of the key components in doing so.
My Republican colleagues who have signed on to support these
important pieces of legislation have recognized the essential role that
innovation must play in achieving this goal. I urge my colleagues on
both sides of the aisle to support these bills and look forward to
advancing them out of our Subcommittee today.
Chairman Lamb. And with that I now recognize the Ranking
Member Mr. Weber for his opening remarks.
Mr. Weber. Good morning. And thank you, Chairman Lamb, for
the opportunity to speak on H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019 and H.R. 4230, the Clean Industrial
Technology Act of 2019.
During my tenure on the Science Committee, we've had an
incredible track record for passing bipartisan legislation.
Just last Congress, 32 of the 34 bills from this Committee, an
outstanding 94 percent, received bipartisan support. In fact,
this Energy Sub- committee only worked in a bipartisan fashion,
with all nine en- ergy-related bills passing the House with
bipartisan support from Science Committee Members.
Now, we certainly had different opinions on a whole range
of policy issues, but at the end of the day, when it came to
legislating, we focused on the areas where we indeed had common
ground. Unfortunately, that is not the case this Congress, and
today, we are holding yet another partisan markup in my
opinion.
The two bills we will consider today may be characterized
as bi-partisan because of a single cosponsor, which, by the
way, is not a Member of this Committee because once again both
bills propose reckless budget increases without including any
offsets in spend- ing, something I simply cannot and will not
support.
The first, H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of
2019, would actually increase ARPA-E's authorization by, listen
to this, 173 percent to $1 billion with a B in Fiscal Year
2024. This funding level is both unrealistic and unproductive.
Such a high rate of in- crease would be challenging for any
program to effectively manage, but ARPA-E is particularly
unsuited for the task. And with the small staff it has, this
will be extremely difficult.
Now, I want to acknowledge that this bill does make
important policy reforms to DOE's ARPA-E program, building off
those, I might add, in Ranking Member Lucas' bipartisan ARPA-E
legislation that passed the House last Congress. While I
support these re- forms, we don't need to drastically increase
ARPA-E's funding to implement them.
It is unfortunate that we are unable to meet in the middle
and reach a compromise on funding for this program. I'll be the
first to admit I, and many of my conservative colleagues on
this Committee, have been skeptical of ARPA-E, and I have voted
many times to cut spending for the program. But I believe that
Ranking Member Lucas' most recent ARPA-E bill, which has nearly
iden- tical policy reforms paired with authorization levels
that were sup- ported by both Chairwoman Johnson last Congress
and this Committee, is a responsible compromise approach. I
encourage the Chairman and the Committee to consider that
legislation.
The second bill we will consider today, H.R. 4230, the
Clean Industrial Technology Act of 2019, seeks to develop
technologies to reduce emissions in industrial sectors. And
while I agree that there is a need for collaboration in
developing new technologies to reduce emissions, I'm concerned
that we're rushing to move to a major authorization without
doing our homework.
For example, I support the establishment of the Federal
Advisory Committee in section 4 of the bill, but before we
authorize a new program, shouldn't we first make sure this
advisory committee has developed an effective research roadmap
and goals for that program? Don't we want the experts from
industry, academia, and the agencies to be able to weigh in
before blindly committing taxpayer dollars?
This legislation also includes language that delegates
authority for setting spending levels through the
appropriators. If we don't know how much a program should cost,
we have no business authorizing that program. Why don't we take
the time to hear from stakeholders on what is needed and let's
do our job?
We all support basic research. We all want to see the
United States remain a leader in energy technology. And we can
and should work together to send bipartisan legislation to the
House floor.
So, in closing, I want to emphasize that I support the
intent be- hind both of these bills, but unfortunately, I
cannot and will not support a bill where we haven't done our
due diligence on where we're making promises that we simply
cannot keep. So let's stop wasting time. Let's get back to work
on the areas that we can all agree and get our job done. Mr.
Chairman, I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Weber follows:]
Good morning. Thank you, Chairman Lamb, for the opportunity to
speak on H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019, and H.R.
4230, the Clean Industrial Technology Act of 2019.
During my tenure on the Science Committee, we've had an incredible
track record for passing bipartisan legislation. Just last Congress, 32
of the 34 bills from this Committee, an outstanding 94%, received
bipartisan support. In fact, the Energy Subcommittee only worked in
bipartisan fashion, with all nine energy related bills passing the
House with bipartisan support from Science Committee Members.
Now, we certainly had different opinions on a whole range of policy
issues. But at the end of the day, when it came to legislating, we
focused on the areas where we had common ground. Unfortunately, that is
not the case this Congress--and today we are holding yet another
partisan markup.
The two bills we will consider today may be characterized as
bipartisan because of a single cosponsor, but that support does not
come from Members of this Com- mittee. Because once again, both bills
propose reckless budget increases without including any offsets in
spending--something I simply cannot support.
The first, H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019, would
increase ARPA-E's authorization by 173%, to $1 billion in fiscal year
(FY) 2024.
This funding level is both unrealistic and unproductive. Such a
high rate of increase would be challenging for any program to
effectively manage--but ARPA-E is particularly unsuited for the task,
and its small staff will make this even more difficult.
Now I want to acknowledge that this bill does make important policy
reforms to DOE's ARPA-E program, building off those in Ranking Member
Lucas's bipartisan ARPA-E legislation that passed the House last
Congress. While I support these reforms, we don't need to drastically
increase ARPA-E's funding to implement them.
It is unfortunate that we are unable to meet in the middle and
reach a compromise on funding for this program.
And I'll be the first to admit--I and many of my conservative
colleagues on this Committee have been skeptical of ARPA-E, and I have
voted many times to cut spending for this program.
But I believe that Ranking Member Lucas's most recent ARPA-E bill,
which has nearly identical policy reforms paired with authorization
levels that were supported by Chairwoman Johnson last Congress, is a
responsible compromise approach. I encourage the Chairman and this
Committee to consider that legislation.
The second bill we will consider today, H.R. 4230, the Clean
Industrial Technology Act of 2019, seeks to develop technologies to
reduce emissions in industrial sectors. While I agree there is a need
for collaboration in developing new technologies to reduce emissions,
I'm concerned that we're rushing to move a major authorization without
doing our homework.
For example, I support the establishment of the federal advisory
committee in section four of this bill.
But before we authorize a new program, shouldn't we first make sure
this advisory committee has developed an effective research roadmap and
goals for that pro- gram? Don't we want the experts from industry,
academia, and the agencies to be able to weigh in before blindly
committing taxpayer dollars?
This legislation also includes language that delegates authority
for setting spending levels to the appropriators.
If we don't know how much a program should cost, we have no
business authorizing that program. Let's take the time to hear from
stakeholders on what is needed, and do our job.
We all support basic research. We all want to see the United States
remain a leader in energy technology. And we can and should work
together to send bipar- tisan legislation to the House floor.
In closing, I want to emphasize that I support the intent behind
both of these bills. But unfortunately, I can't support a bill where we
haven't done our due diligence, or where we are making promises we
can't keep.
Let's stop wasting time, and get back to work on the areas where we
can all agree.
Chairman Lamb. We will now consider H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019. The clerk will report the bill.
The Clerk. H.R. 4091, a bill.
[The bill follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Lamb. Without objection, the bill is considered as
read and open to amendment at any point.
I now recognize Chairwoman Johnson to present her remarks
on the bill.
Chairwoman JOHNSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm
pleased that we are now considering H.R. 4091, the bipartisan
ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019 led by myself and Chairman
Lamb.
Even though the agency is still relatively young, ARPA-E
has already demonstrated incredible success in advancing high-
risk, high-reward energy technology solutions that neither the
public sector nor the private sector have been willing or able
to support in the past. Industry leaders like Bill Gates and
Chad Holliday and Norm Augustine have repeatedly called for
significantly increasing this agency's budget given the unique
role it is now playing in our energy innovation pipeline.
ARPA-E's impressive track record now includes over $2.9
billion in private-sector follow-on funding for a group of 145
ARPA-E projects since the agency's founding in 2009. Equally
notable, 76 projects have formed new companies, 131 projects
have shown enough promise to result in partnerships with other
government agencies, and ARPA-E projects have led to 2,489
peer-reviewed journal articles and 346 U.S. patents.
Unfortunately, ARPA-E has only been able to support about 1
percent of the proposals submitted for its open funding
opportunities, and 12 percent of the proposals submitted for
its focused programs, even though the number of promising high-
quality proposals that the agency has received is many times
higher.
That is why I am proud to sponsor H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019, which authorizes substantial
growth in support for the agency over the next 5 years. This
growth is consistent with the National Academies' original
recommendations for establishing and supporting ARPA-E, as well
as more recent recommendations from well-respected bipartisan
and nonpartisan institutions such as the Bipartisan Policy
Center's American Energy Innovation Council, the Energy Futures
Initiative, and the Information Technology and Innovation
Foundation.
I'd also note that in its review of the program released in
2017, the National Academies found that a significant increase
in funding would be necessary for ARPA-E to be able to support
the scale-up of several particularly promising technologies
that were previously supported by the agency. But many of these
new approaches are still too risky to be supported by the
private sector alone, and too often other DOE programs remain
ill-suited to steward them.
By authorizing these resources, this bill ensures that
ARPA-E is able to fully pursue the development and
demonstration of truly transformational clean energy
technologies, just as DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency), the agency on which ARPA-E is modeled, has been able
to do time and again for defense applications.
This bill also authorizes ARPA-E to better address DOE's
significant nuclear waste clean-up and management issues,
something which the Department currently spends billions of
dollars every year trying to manage with current technologies.
And it allows ARPA-E to pursue projects that improve the
resilience, reliability, and security of our energy
infrastructure.
The ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019 incorporates
extensive feedback from stakeholders, including input from a
hearing on ARPA-E this Subcommittee held in February, as a
matter of fact, February 26. It also incorporates constructive
language from a bill that I cosponsored with my friend, Ranking
Member Lucas, last year.
Just to name a few of the bill's many supporters, it is
endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National
Association of Manufacturers, the Council on Competitiveness,
the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Association of American
Universities, the Association of Public Land-Grant
Universities, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the American
Petroleum Institute, the American Gas Association, the Energy
Storage Association, the Carbon Utilization Research Council,
the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Natural Resources
Defense Council, and the Energy Sciences Coalition. I'll submit
the full list of supporters for the record.
ARPA-E's unique work is one of the best tools we have to
produce the innovation needed to maintain our international
competitiveness, and transition ourselves to a clean energy
future. If we are truly serious about using innovation to
address the increasing dangers of climate change, then we must
provide ARPA-E the resources to reach its immense potential.
Given this bill's crucial mission, along with the deep
support from industry, academia, and scientific and
environmental organizations, I hope that each of my colleagues
on both sides of the aisle will strongly support advancing H.R.
4091 this morning.
With that, I yield back. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Johnson follows:]
I am pleased that we are now considering H.R. 4091, the bipartisan
ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019, led by myself and Chairman Lamb.
Even though the agency is still relatively young, ARPA-E has
already demonstrated incredible success in advancing high-risk, high-
reward energy technology solutions that neither the public nor the
private sector had been willing or able to support in the past.
Industry leaders like Bill Gates, Chad Holliday, and Norm Augustine
have repeatedly called for significantly increasing this agency's
budget given the unique role that it is now playing in our energy
innovation pipeline.
ARPA-E's impressive track record now includes over $2.9 billion in
private-sector follow-on funding for a group of 145 ARPA-E projects
since the agency's founding in 2009. Equally notable, 76 projects have
formed new companies, 131 projects have shown enough promise to result
in partnerships with other government agencies, and ARPA-E projects
have led to 2,489 peer-reviewed journal articles and 346 U.S. patents.
Unfortunately, ARPA-E has only been able to support about 1% of the
proposals submitted for its open funding opportunities, and 12% of the
proposals submitted for its focused programs, even though the number of
promising, high quality proposals that the agency has received is many
times higher.
That is why I am proud to sponsor H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019, which authorizes substantial growth in
support for the agency over the next five years. This growth is
consistent with the National Academies' original recommendations for
establishing and supporting ARPA-E, as well as more recent
recommendations from well-respected bipartisan and nonpartisan
institutions such as the Bipartisan Policy Center's American Energy
Innovation Council, the Energy Futures Initiative, and the Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation.
I'd also note that in its review of the program released in 2017,
the National Academies found that a significant increase in funding
would be necessary for ARPA-E to be able to support the scale-up of
several particularly promising technologies that were previously
supported by the agency. But many of these new approaches are still too
risky to be supported by the private sector alone, and too often other
DOE programs remain ill-suited to steward them.
By authorizing these resources, this bill ensures that ARPA-E is
able to fully pursue the development and demonstration of truly
transformational clean energy technologies, just as DARPA, the agency
upon which ARPA-E is modeled, has been able to demonstrate time and
again for defense applications.
This bill also authorizes ARPA-E to better address DOE's
significant nuclear waste clean-up and management issues, for which the
Department currently spends billions of dollars every year trying to
manage with current technologies. And it allows ARPA-E to pursue
projects that improve the resilience, reliability, and security of our
energy infrastructure.
The ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019 incorporates extensive
feedback from stakeholders, including input from a hearing on ARPA-E
this Subcommittee held on February 26th. It also incorporates
constructive language from a bill that I cosponsored with my friend,
Ranking Member Lucas, last year.
Just to name a few of the bill's many supporters, it is endorsed by
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of
Manufacturers, the Council on Competitiveness, the Bipartisan Policy
Center, the Association of American Universities, the Association of
Public & Land-grant Universities, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the
American Gas Association, the Energy Storage Association, the Carbon
Utilization Research Council, the American Council on Renewable Energy,
the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Energy Sciences
Coalition. I'll submit the full list of supporters for the record.
ARPA-E's unique work is one of the best tools we have to produce
the innovation needed to maintain our international competitiveness and
transition ourselves to a clean energy future. If we are truly serious
about using innovation to address the increasing dangers of climate
change, then we must provide ARPA-E the resources to reach its immense
potential. Given this bill's crucial mission, along with its deep
support from industrial, academic, scientific, and environmental
organizations, I hope that each of my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle will strongly support advancing H.R. 4091 this morning.
With that, I yield back.
Chairman Lamb. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Does anyone
else wish to be recognized?
Mr. Lucas. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Lamb. So recognized.
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Chairman Lamb.
We all know this Committee has one of the best track
records in Congress of passing productive, bipartisan
legislation, so I have to say I'm a little surprised and
disappointed that we've been unable to reach a consensus on
reauthorizing ARPA-E in a truly bipartisan way, especially
given that Republicans have proposed a bill that not only
includes similar program reforms but also authorizes a
responsible spending increase.
Now, I'm optimistic that there are many opportunities for
bipartisanship in the future, but as stewards of the taxpayers'
resources, we, in Congress, must do our job to set realistic
priorities and focus our limited Federal funds where we can
maximize the return on that investment.
Unfortunately, the bills we're considering today don't meet
that standard. H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of
2019, includes substantial increases in funding for the
program, reaching $1 billion in funding by 2024. If enacted,
this bill would authorize, I won't use the word shocking; I'll
just say an amazing 173 percent increase in spending.
This legislation does include policy reforms that were
first proposed in my bipartisan bill last Congress like
expanding ARPA-E's mission to include a wider range of
innovative technologies and requiring the Department to provide
annual reports on ARPA-E projects. I support these reforms, and
I know we can achieve them without irresponsibly raising
spending.
Now, I have spent a number of years working with Chairwoman
Johnson and my friends across the aisle to support ARPA-E, and
I have worked hard in this Congress to bring my Republican
colleagues to the table. And I am proud of how far we have all
come on this issue. I believe there is a real opportunity to
find common ground. So I'm disappointed I will acknowledge, to
see my friends in the majority on the Science Committee
apparently unwilling to have a realistic and productive
conversation about ARPA-E funding in this Congress.
However, we still have an opportunity to pass a truly
bipartisan ARPA-E bill out of this Committee. My bill, H.R.
3915, the ARPA-E Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2019,
includes the key policy reforms included in this legislation
and includes a realistic funding profile for the program,
authorizing an over $130 million increase in funding over 5
years, reaching $500 million by 2024.
And I want to remind my colleagues that we are proposing an
amount that is $100 million more than what was included in
Chairwoman Johnson's ARPA-E authorization bill from the last
Congress. We're making an effort to find consensus.
I can't support the bill we're considering today, but as
someone who is committed to reauthorizing ARPA-E, I hope that
before we consider legislation in the full Committee, we can
agree on a compromise approach that will actually have a chance
of becoming law.
With that, I would remind all my colleagues I've been a
Member of the legislative process long enough. I understand and
respect the fact that the majority has the right and the
responsibility to govern. But the minority also has the right
and the responsibility to be heard, and today we're using this
opportunity to stress these points that we think are critical
to a successful reauthorization of ARPA-E.
And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Lucas follows:]
We all know this Committee has one of the best track records in
Congress for passing productive, bipartisan legislation. So I have to
say, I am surprised and disappointed that we have been unable to reach
a consensus on reauthorizing ARPA-E in a truly bipartisan way,
especially given that Republicans have proposed a bill that not only
includes similar program reforms but also authorizes a responsible
spending increase.
Now, I am optimistic that there are many opportunities for
bipartisanship in the future. But as stewards of taxpayer resources, we
in Congress must do our job to set realistic priorities and focus our
limited federal funds where we can maximize the return on investment.
Unfortunately, the bills we will consider today don't meet this
standard.
H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019, includes
substantial increases in funding for the program, reaching $1 billion
in funding by 2024. If enacted, this bill would authorize a shocking
173 percent increase in spending.
This legislation does include policy reforms that were first
proposed in my bipartisan bill last Congress, like expanding ARPA-E's
mission to include a wider range of innovative technologies and
requiring the Department to provide annual reports on ARPA-E projects.
I support these reforms, and I know we can achieve them without
irresponsibly raising spending.
I have spent a number of years working with Chairwoman Johnson and
my friends across the aisle to support ARPA-E, and I have worked hard
this Congress to bring my Republican colleagues to the table. I am
proud of how far we all have come on this issue, and I believe there is
a real opportunity here to find common ground.
So I am disappointed to see Science Committee Democrats unwilling
to have a realistic and productive conversation on ARPA-E funding this
Congress.
However, we still have an opportunity to pass a truly bipartisan
ARPA-E bill out of this Committee. My bill, H.R. 3915, the ARPA-E
Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2019, includes the same key policy
reforms included in this legislation. And it includes a realistic
funding profile for the program, authorizing an over $130 million
increase in funding over five years, reaching $500 million by 2024.
I want to remind my colleagues that we are proposing an amount that
is over $100 million more than was included in Chairwoman Johnson's
ARPA-E authorization bill from last Congress. We are making an effort
to find consensus.
I can't support the bill we are considering today. But as someone
who is committed to re-authorizing ARPA-E, I hope that before we
consider legislation in the full Committee, we can agree on a
compromise approach that actually has a chance of becoming law.
Chairman Lamb. Thank you to the Ranking Member.
Does anyone else wish to be heard? OK.
We will now proceed with the amendments in the order of the
roster. The first amendment on the roster is an amendment
offered by the gentleman from Illinois. He is recognized to
offer an amendment.
Mr. Foster. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at
the desk.
Chairman Lamb. The clerk will report the amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment No. 1, amendment to H.R. 4091 offered
by Mr. Foster.
[The amendment of Mr. Foster follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Lamb. I ask unanimous consent to dispense with the
reading. Without objection, so ordered.
I now recognize the gentleman from Illinois for 5 minutes
to explain the amendment.
Mr. Foster. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I hope I don't use
the 5 minutes here. I'm introducing this amendment to establish
a Chief Evaluation Officer position at ARPA-E.
The National Academies recently issued an assessment of
ARPA-E in 2017, and while the report was generally positive in
terms of ARPA-E's technological advancements and its effective
program and project management, the authors noted a few areas
of attentional improvement.
Now, one area that was in need of attention was ARPA-E's
evaluation and assessment program. These are findings 4-9 and
recommendations 4-8 in their report. The Academy found that the
agency is not yet able to fully assess the full extent of its
impact and achievement on its statutory missions and goals.
They also found that ARPA-E is not doing a good job of creating
awareness of its successes in enhancing the economic and energy
security of the United States. The report recommended that,
quote, ``The ARPA-E Director and Program Director should
develop and implement a framework for measuring and assessing
the agency's impact in achieving its missions and goals.''
Now, I don't believe that Congress should be overly
prescriptive in telling ARPA-E how to best measure and assess
its impact or better communicate its success to lawmakers and
the general public, so my amendment simply creates a position
of Chief Evaluation Officer in ARPA-E.
The Chief Evaluation Officer coordinates, promotes,
sponsors, and builds capacity within a Federal department to
help that agency understand and conduct evaluations. The
results of these evaluations can be used to improve policies
and programs, as well as communicate the success of the agency
to the public. Other Federal agencies have such a position and
benefit greatly from having this position filled.
Under my amendment, it would be left to ARPA-E and the
Chief Evaluation Officer to determine how to best measure
impact and communicate its successes. The position would also
provide some institutional memory in ARPA-E. Where the Director
comes in as a political appointee and initiates a number of--by
design--fairly short-term projects to provide the agility and
flexibility that we all hope will continue to make ARPA-E a
productive research and development enterprise.
I think it's a tremendous idea and I was very pleased to
find that since introducing my amendment, we have learned that
ARPA-E now plans to hire an evaluation and impact assessment
expert to help them respond to the National Academies'
recommendations. So this is a tremendous example of, I think,
first off, the real value that Congress gets from the National
Academies and other sources of technical advice, and also the
way we benefit from having a collaborative relationship between
Congress and the agencies that it oversees.
So, Mr. Chairman, I hereby withdraw my amendment and look
forward to working with the agency to ensure that this
critically important role is effectively filled using existing
authorities.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairman Lamb. Thank you. The next amendment on the roster
is an amendment offered by the gentleman from Indiana. He is
recognized to offer an amendment.
Mr. Baird. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
Chairman Lamb. The clerk will report the amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment No. 2, amendment to H.R. 4091 offered
by Mr. Baird.
[The amendment of Mr. Baird follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Lamb. I ask unanimous consent to dispense with the
reading. Without objection, so ordered.
I recognize the gentlemen for 5 minutes to explain the
amendment.
Mr. Baird. Thank you, Chairman Lamb. My amendment to H.R.
4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019, would replace the
authorized funding levels with more reasonable numbers that
have received bipartisan support in the past.
In the 115th Congress, Chairwoman Johnson introduced H.R.
3681, an ARPA-E reauthorization bill that was cosponsored by 39
Members, including five Democratic Members currently sitting on
this Committee. My amendment simply takes the exact funding
profile proposed in the bill and adds it here. This funding
level would be a modest, reasonable increase in spending with
funding, reaching $390 million in Fiscal Year 2022.
After supporting it last year, I see no reason why
Chairwoman Johnson and my Science Committee colleagues cannot
support this funding level again. Good policy doesn't change as
the result of an election or based on who controls the House of
Representatives, and successfully reauthorizing ARPA-E will
take a collaborative bi-partisan approach.
The funding levels I propose in this amendment are also
reflected in Ranking Member Lucas' bill, H.R. 3915. Mr. Lucas'
bill, of which I am a cosponsor, proposes a manageable $130
million increase to operate ARPA-E over the next 5 years. That
bill proposes an increase to $500 million by the year 2024,
which I will note is significantly higher than Chairwoman
Johnson's bill from last Congress.
I believe my amendment is a good starting point and Mr.
Lucas' bill is an excellent compromise. I urge all of my
colleagues to sup- port this amendment, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Chairman Lamb. Thank you. Are there any other comments or
discussion on the amendment?
Chairwoman Johnson. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Lamb. Madam Chairwoman, you are recognized.
Chairwoman Johnson. I move to strike the last word.
Chairman Lamb. You're recognized.
Chairwoman Johnson. I am sure that my friends in the
minority think that they've caught me in a tough spot this
time. That's because the funding levels in this amendment
simply match the funding levels included in the bipartisan
ARPA-E Reauthorization Act that I introduced in 2017.
However, a lot has happened since 2017, but one thing, at
that time, the Trump Administration was attempting to shut down
ARPA-E in defiance of the law. That bill, which had 39
cosponsors, including 11 Republicans, served to send a strong
bipartisan message to the Administration to change course and
support this agen- cy in accordance with its statutory mission.
In 2017, ARPA-E's appropriated funding level was also lower
than it is today, and I think we can all remember that at the
time I was serving as Ranking Member of the Committee rather
than Chairwoman. That bill was my attempt to write a proposal
that the previous Republican-controlled Congress could pass.
Now, it's 2019, and things are little different. For one,
we now have a series of recommendations from well-respected
bipartisan and nonpartisan institutions that call for
supporting ARPA-E at the levels in this bill. ARPA-E's funding
levels have increased to the point where the 2020 level
authorized in this amendment would make a significant cut to
the agency's budget. In fact, even the out-year funding in this
amendment would cut ARPA-E to well below the bipartisan, House-
passed appropriation level for next year.
The climate crisis has only grown more urgent, and we have
a new congressional majority in the House that is ready and
willing to make the investments we need to address it. For all
of these reasons, I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this
amendment. I yield back.
Chairman Lamb. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Any other
discussion on the amendment?
Mr. Casten. Move to strike the last word.
Chairman Lamb. You're recognized.
Mr. Casten. So I'm a freshman. I'm pleased to serve with my
friend Mr. Baird. Neither of us were here in the last session,
but as a newly elected Member, I think any discussion of fiscal
responsibility with respect to the last Congress deserves one
five-word re- sponse: $1.5 trillion.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Mr. Lucas. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Chairman Lamb. You are recognized, sir.
Mr. Lucas. Mr. Chairman, I realize that we have a lot of
new Members in Congress and a lot of new Members on the
Committee, and Chairwoman Johnson and I are kind of the senior
Members from experience and time. So I will just offer a little
thought to my colleagues from my perspective. And I say this
respectfully.
But as I mentioned earlier, it is the right and the
responsibility of the majority to govern. It's the right and
the responsibility of the minority to be heard. What we are
trying to do is simply say to our friends you don't control the
entire congressional process. You don't control the
Administration. We are trying to work with you to craft a piece
of legislation that gives us a chance to leave this Com-
mittee, and across the floor in a bipartisan way, so that we
can persuade that other body that might not be quite as
enlightened always, as we are to join us in this effort to get
something signed at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
If this is an aspirational bill, I respect that fully.
Going from $500 million to $1 billion is an aspirational
increase in 2024. But we, in the minority, are trying in good
faith to work with you to craft something we can get all the
way through. We can't control our brethren at the other end of
Pennsylvania Avenue or the other side of this building, but we
can promise you, based on how hard it has been to maintain
ARPA-E in recent years, that if we don't work together, we'll
wind up doing great damage.
So with that, in the greatest of respect for my colleagues,
I en- courage my friends to vote for Dr. Baird's amendment and
to urge us all to consider those factors today and understand
the majority will have its way. That's the way it's supposed to
work. But we'll revisit this in full Committee, and we'll
revisit this on the floor and it'll make it more difficult
ultimately. I want to accomplish some- thing.
I understand the joys of being in the conscience of the
body, as some of my other friends on the other side have
experienced, too.
And with that, Mr. Chairman, I respectfully yield back.
Chairman Lamb. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member. Any further
discussion on the amendment?
Mr. Weber. I move to strike the last word.
Chairman Lamb. You are recognized.
Mr. Weber. I appreciate that. What he said, the gentleman
from Oklahoma. I yield back.
Chairman Lamb. Thank you. And I would just recognize myself
for a moment to say that I very much appreciate the spirit of
bipartisanship that survives even in moments where we disagree.
I think that our disagreement in this particular case is really
a disagreement of degree rather than kind. I think most of us
believe in the ARPA-E program and think that it has been
successful and is promising, and so it's a debate about how
large of a bet that you're willing to place on that progress.
I think that our hope is that with the support already of
four Republicans, not one, every one of which we value--much
like the good Lord counts every hair on your head--we count
every Republican who is willing to support our bills. We hope
that on the other side of Capitol Hill and at the other end of
Pennsylvania Avenue supporters like the Chamber of Commerce and
American Gas Association will also carry a lot of weight.
So with that, we will vote on the amendment.
All in favor, say aye.
All opposed, say no.
The noes have it. The amendment is not agreed to.
Are there any more amendments?
Mr. Norman. Mr. Chair?
Chairman Lamb. You're recognized. False alarm, OK.
A reporting quorum being present, I move that the Energy
Subcommittee of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee
report H.R. 4091 to the full Committee and with the
recommendation that the bill be approved.
Those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye.
Those opposed, no.
The ayes have it, and the bill is favorably reported.
Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon
the table. I ask unanimous consent that staff be authorized to
make any nec- essary technical and conforming changes to the
bill. Without objection, so ordered.
Members will have 2 subsequent calendar days in which to
submit supplemental minority or additional views on the
measure.
H.R. 4230
Chairman Lamb. We will now consider H.R. 4230, the Clean
Industrial Technology Act of 2019, and the clerk will please
report the bill.
The Clerk. H.R. 4230, a bill.
[The bill follows:]
XXI. Proceedings of the Full Committee Markup
______
2019
MARKUPS:
H.R. 4901, ARPA-E REAUTHORIZATION
ACT OF 2019; H.R. 2051,
SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2019; AND
H.R. 1709, SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY ACT
=======================================================================
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 17, 2019
__________
Serial No. CP 116-10
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman
ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma,
DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois Ranking Member
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon MO BROOKS, Alabama
AMI BERA, California, BILL POSEY, Florida
Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania BRIAN BABIN, Texas
LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
HALEY STEVENS, Michigan ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
KENDRA HORN, Oklahoma RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas
BRAD SHERMAN, California TROY BALDERSON, Ohio
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee PETE OLSON, Texas
JERRY McNERNEY, California ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida
PAUL TONKO, New York JIM BAIRD, Indiana
BILL FOSTER, Illinois JAMIE HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington
DON BEYER, Virginia FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
CHARLIE CRIST, Florida GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois
KATIE HILL, California
BEN McADAMS, Utah
JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia
C O N T E N T S
October 17, 2019
Page
H.R. 4091--ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019.................... 00
H.R. 2051--Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of
2019........................................................... 00
H.R. 1709--Scientific Integrity Act.............................. 00
MARKUPS:
H.R. 4091, ARPA-E REAUTHORIZATION
ACT OF 2019; H.R. 2051,
SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2019; AND
H.R. 1709, SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY ACT
----------
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019
House of Representatives,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
Washington, D.C.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in
room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eddie
Bernice Johnson [Chairwoman of the Committee] presiding.
Chairwoman Johnson. Good morning. The Committee will come
to order. And without objection, the Chair is authorized to
declare recess at any time. Pursuant to Committee rule and
House rule XI, the Chair announces that she may postpone roll
call votes.
Pursuant to notice, the Committee meets to consider the
following measures: H.R. 4091, ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of
2019; H.R. 2051, Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development
Act of 2019; and H.R. 1709, Scientific Integrity Act.
Good morning, and welcome to today's markup of three bills.
I'm very pleased that we are considering the bipartisan ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019 this morning. ARPA-E (Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy) stewards the development of
high-risk, high-reward energy technologies that neither the
private sector nor other DOE (Department of Energy) programs
had previously been willing to support.
After demonstrating a strong record of success over its
first 10 years in operation and successfully passing numerous
independent, bipartisan, and nonpartisan assessments over the
last several years, it is clear that ARPA-E has been a
successful program. This bill will enable ARPA-E to truly
fulfill its potential to help transform our Nation's energy
infrastructure for a far cleaner and more prosperous future.
The next bill we will consider is H.R. 2051, the
Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019,
which is sponsored by the gentleman from Illinois, Mr.
Lipinski. The Research and Technology Subcommittee held a
hearing in July to explore the challenges and opportunities in
sustainable chemistry. The Committee heard from an expert panel
of witnesses about the need for more research and technology
development, improved chemistry education, and enhanced Federal
agency coordination to encourage the use of sustainable
chemicals and processes throughout the chemical science and
engineering enterprise. All of the witnesses spoke in support
of H.R. 2051.
This bipartisan bill is a good step to advancing the
chemical innovations we need to reduce our reliance on
substances that are hazardous to human health and the
environment. I want to thank Mr. Lipinski for his leadership on
this important issue. I'll also take a moment to mention that
this bill has a companion in the Senate which is sponsored by
Senator Coons, and I know he is committed to moving this
legislation forward. Hopefully, he can help us to get this
important legislation enacted this Congress.
Last, we will consider H.R. 1709, the Scientific Integrity
Act. I want to thank Mr. Tonko for his leadership on this
legislation, which began in 2016 when he sought to codify the
scientific integrity policies put in place under the Obama
Administration for all agencies that fund, conduct, and oversee
scientific research. These policies were developed in response
to a 2010 memorandum from the Office of Science and Technology
Policy, which in turn was in response to a requirement in the
2007 America COMPETES Act.
This legislation brings our 2007 effort full circle by
spelling out in law the core principles of a Federal agency's
scientific integrity policy. There are many specific principles
addressing openness, transparency, and due process. At their
essence, they are about protecting Federal science and
scientists from undue political influence and ensuring that the
public can trust the science and scientific process informing
public policy decisions.
H.R. 1709 has 218 cosponsors and has earned the
endorsements of 60 organizations. This is important
legislation, regardless of which party is in the White House,
and I urge my colleagues to support it.
I'd like to also take a moment to observe that we will be
considering extensive amendments to each of these bills,
offered by all three bill sponsors. All of these amendments
were formed with input from outside stakeholders and also
extensive negotiations with Ranking Member Lucas and his staff.
I greatly appreciate his efforts to reach bipartisan
agreements, and the efforts of both of our staffs to work
together.
It sometimes seems like ``compromise'' has become a dirty
word in this town. I will be the first to acknowledge that
compromise can be less than satisfying. But I do not believe
that our constituents sent us here to posture. There are real
problems that need to be solved, and those problems won't be
addressed if Democrats and Republicans always go their separate
ways. I hope that the Science Committee will continue to be a
place where people from both sides of the aisle can come
together to pass good legislation, and I look forward to doing
that today.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Johnson follows:]
Good morning and welcome to today's markup of three good bills.
I am very pleased that we are considering the bipartisan ARPA-E
Reauthorization Act of 2019 this morning. ARPA-E stewards the
development of high-risk, high-reward energy technologies that neither
the private sector nor other DOE programs had previously been willing
or able to support. After demonstrating a strong record of success over
its first ten years in operation, and successfully passing numerous
independent, bipartisan, and nonpartisan assessments over the last
several years, it is clear ARPA-E has been a successful program. This
bill will enable ARPA-E to truly fulfill its potential to help
transform our nation's energy infrastructure for a far cleaner and more
prosperous future.
The next bill we will consider is H.R. 2051, the Sustainable
Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019, which is sponsored by
the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Lipinski. The Research and Technology
Subcommittee held a hearing in July to explore the challenges and
opportunities in sustainable chemistry. The Committee heard from an
expert panel of witnesses about the need for more research and
technology development, improved chemistry education, and enhanced
Federal agency coordination to encourage the use of sustainable
chemicals and processes throughout the chemical science and engineering
enterprise. All of the witnesses spoke in support of H.R. 2051.
This bipartisan bill is a good step to advancing the chemical
innovations we need to reduce our reliance on substances that are
hazardous to human health and the environment. I want to thank Mr.
Lipinski for his leadership on this important issue. I'll also take a
moment to mention that this bill has a companion in the Senate which is
sponsored by Senator Coons. I know he is committed to moving this
legislation forward, and hopefully he can help us to get this important
legislation enacted this Congress.
Last, we will consider H.R. 1709, the Scientific Integrity Act. I
want to thank Mr. Tonko for his leadership on this legislation, which
began in 2016 when he sought to codify the scientific integrity
policies put in place under the Obama Administration for all agencies
that fund, conduct, and oversee scientific research. Those policies
were developed in response to a 2010 memorandum from the Office of
Science and Technology Policy, which in turn was in response to a
requirement in the 2007 America COMPETES Act. This legislation brings
our 2007 effort full circle by spelling out in law the core principles
of a Federal agency scientific integrity policy. There are many
specific principles addressing openness, transparency, and due process.
At their essence, they are about protecting federal science and
scientists from undue political influence and ensuring that the public
can trust the science and scientific process informing public policy
decisions. H.R. 1709 has 218 cosponsors and has earned the endorsements
of 60 organizations. This is important legislation, regardless of which
party is in the White House, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
I'd like to also take a moment to observe that we will be
considering extensive amendments to each of these bills, offered by all
three bill sponsors. All of these amendments were formed with input
from outside stakeholders and also extensive negotiations with Ranking
Member Lucas and his staff. I greatly appreciate his efforts to reach
bipartisan agreements, and the efforts of both of our staffs to work
together.
It sometimes seems like ``compromise'' has become a dirty word in
this town. I will be the first to acknowledge that compromise can be
less-than-satisfying. But I do not believe that our constituents sent
us here to posture.
There are real problems that need to be solved, and those problems
won't be addressed if Democrats and Republicans always go their
separate ways. I hope that the Science Committee will continue to be a
place where people from both sides of the aisle can come together to
pass good legislation, and I look forward to doing that today.
Chairwoman Johnson. I now recognize our Ranking Member, Mr.
Lucas, for his remarks.
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
And today, we will consider three bills. The first is H.R.
4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019. After a lot of
negotiation, I'm pleased to say we've reached a bipartisan
consensus on this legislation, and I look forward to supporting
the bill, as amended. I want to thank the Chairwoman for being
willing to come to the table and find a more measured approach
we can all agree on.
I believe the additional changes in the manager's
amendments that we'll consider today will further strengthen
this legislation. With this amendment, we'll double our
investment in ARPA-E's high-risk, high-reward research over 5
years, but we'll also establish important guardrails to ensure
that we're using our limited research dollars wisely and
efficiently.
To be sure, we're not using taxpayer dollars on initiatives
that industry can conduct, the bill requires grant applicants
to demonstrate they made sufficient attempts to fund projects
without Federal dollars. Importantly, this bill will address
the problem of duplication within ARPA-E. Like all Federal
programs, ARPA-E isn't perfect, and in the past, some
initiatives have appeared to duplicate the efforts of other DOE
programs. ARPA-E is meant to focus on cutting-edge research to
enable transformative technologies. It can't do that if its
resources are being drained by duplicative work conducted
elsewhere in the Department. This bill will require the
Department to prevent duplication between ARPA-E's initiatives
and other research across DOE.
I'm also pleased that Chairwoman Johnson has agreed to join
me in a GAO (Government Accountability Office) request seeking
to add transparency to the program. With this report, I hope we
can shed more light on unintended duplication and develop
policies to prevent that from occurring in the future. Taken
together, these initiatives will strengthen ARPA-E and refocus
the program on its intended mission: Serving as the bridge
between basic research and industry-led innovation.
The second bill on our agenda today is H.R. 2051, the
Sustainable Chemistry Act of 2019. H.R. 2051 provides for
Federal coordination of research and development for new
innovations in chemistry, manufacturing, and materials. This
bill continues our Committee's bipartisan commitment to
prioritizing fundamental research for new technologies and the
ideas that will drive the American economy into the future.
Chemistry is essential to our economy and plays a vital
role in helping to solve the greatest challenges facing the
Nation and our world. From farming to medicine to the
applications we use, chemical manufacturing touches our lives
every day. There is market demand for chemical products that
use resources more efficiently and are safer for both humans
and the environment. Consumers want these products to be just
as effective or more effective than traditional chemical
products. This bill will help support the research, training,
and standards needed to meet these demands.
It's rare that a bill has the endorsement of both the
chemical companies and the environmental advocates. I thank the
bill's sponsors, Representative Dan Lipinski and Representative
John Moolenaar, for their leadership on this issue and for
developing a good consensus bill. I encourage my colleagues to
support it.
The final bill on our agenda today is the Scientific
Integrity Act. I will speak more about that when we consider
the bill and I'll offer an amendment. But in the meantime, I
appreciate Chairwoman Johnson and the bill's sponsor Mr. Tonko
for working with us on a compromise that will be able to move
that bill forward with my support.
In the meantime, I look forward to considering our
bipartisan bills on ARPA-E and sustainable chemistry. Thank
you, Madam Chair, and I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Lucas follows:]
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Today we will consider three bills.
The first is H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019.
After a lot of negotiation, I'm pleased to say we've reached a
bipartisan consensus on this legislation, and I look forward to
supporting the bill as amended.
I want to thank the Chairwoman for being willing to come to the
table and find a more measured approach we can all agree on.
I believe the additional changes in the Manager's Amendment that
we'll consider today will further strengthen this legislation. With
this amendment, we'll double our investment in ARPA-E's high-risk,
high-reward research over 5 years--but we'll also establish important
guardrails to ensure we're using our limited research dollars wisely
and efficiently.
To be sure we're not using taxpayer dollars on initiatives that
industry can conduct, the bill requires grant applicants to demonstrate
they made sufficient attempts to fund projects without federal dollars.
Importantly, this bill will address the problem of duplication
within ARPA-E. Like all federal programs, ARPA-E isn't perfect, and in
the past, some initiatives have appeared to duplicate the efforts of
other DOE programs.
ARPA-E is meant to focus on cutting-edge research to enable
transformative technologies. It can't do that if its resources are
being drained by duplicative work conducted elsewhere in the
Department.
This bill will require the Department to prevent duplication
between ARPA-E's initiatives and other research across DOE.
I'm also pleased that Chairwoman Johnson has agreed to join me in a
GAO request seeking to add transparency to this program. With this
report, I hope we can shed some light on unintended duplication and
develop policies to prevent that from occurring in the future.
Taken together, these initiatives will strengthen ARPA-E and
refocus the program on its intended mission: serving as the bridge
between basic research and industry-led innovation.
The second bill on our agenda today is H.R. 2051, the Sustainable
Chemistry Act of 2019. H.R. 2051 provides for federal coordination of
research and development for new innovations in chemistry,
manufacturing and materials.
This bill continues our Committee's bipartisan commitment to
prioritizing fundamental research for new technologies and the ideas
that will drive the American economy into the future.
Chemistry is essential to our economy and plays a vital role in
helping to solve the biggest challenges facing the nation and our
world.
From farming to medicine to the appliances we use, chemical
manufacturing touches our lives every day.
There is market demand for chemical products that use resources
more efficiently and are safer for both humans and the environment.
Consumers want these products to be just as effective, or more
effective than traditional chemical products. This bill will help
support the research, training, and standards needed to meet these
demands.
It's rare that a bill has the endorsement of both chemical
companies and environmental advocates. I thank the bill's sponsors Rep.
Dan Lipinski and Rep. John Moolenaar for their leadership on this
issue, and for developing a good consensus bill.
I encourage my colleagues to support it.
The final bill on our agenda today is the Scientific Integrity Act.
I will speak more on that when we consider the bill and I offer an
amendment. But in the meantime, I appreciate Chairwoman Johnson and the
bill's sponsor Mr. Tonko for working with us on a compromise to be able
to move that bill forward with my support.
In the meantime, I look forward to considering our bipartisan bills
on ARPA-E and sustainable chemistry. Thank you and I yield back.
H.R. 4091
Chairwoman Johnson. Thank you very much.
We will now consider H.R. 4091, the ARPA-E Reauthorization
Act of 2019. The clerk will report the bill.
The Clerk. H.R. 4091, a bill to amend the America COMPETES
Act to reauthorize the ARPA-E program and for other purposes.
[The bill follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Johnson. Without objection, the bill is
considered as read and open to amendment at any point. I
recognize myself to speak on this bill.
I'm pleased that we are now considering H.R. 4091. Before
going into any further detail, I want to thank my friend
Ranking Member Lucas for working with me to come to an
agreement on the bill.
After discussions between ourselves and our staff, I am
proud to say that we have achieved a genuine compromise that
will allow us to support this bill together this morning. As I
noted during the Energy Subcommittee markup of 4091 last month,
ARPA-E has al- ready demonstrated incredible success in
advancing high-risk, high-reward energy technology solutions
that neither the public sector nor the private sector have been
willing or able to support in the past.
Industry leaders like Bill Gates, Chad Holliday, and Norman
Au- gustine have repeatedly called for significantly increasing
this Agency's budget given the unique role that it is now
playing in our energy innovation pipeline. ARPA-E's impressive
track record now includes over $2.9 billion in private-sector
follow-on funding for a group of 145 ARPA-E projects since the
Agency's founding in 2009. Equally notable, 76 projects have
formed new companies, and that's one of the main goals here. We
want American science investments to result in American
innovation and high-tech jobs. ARPA-E projects have also had
significant impacts on science, leading to thousands of peer-
reviewed journal articles and 346 U.S. patents.
Unfortunately, ARPA-E has only been able to support about 1
percent of the proposals submitted for its open funding
opportunities and 12 percent of the proposals submitted to the
FOCUS (Full-Spectrum Optimized Conversion and Utilization of
Sunlight) programs. Too many good ideas are falling by the
wayside, and that ends up shifting the enormous potential of
this program--stifling the enormous potential of the program.
H.R. 4091 addresses this problem by authorizing substantial
growth and support for the Agency over the next 5 years. The
growth is consistent with the National Academies' original
recommendations for establishing and supporting ARPA-E, as well
as more recent recommendations from well-respected bipartisan
and nonpartisan institutions such as the Bipartisan Policy
Center of America's Energy Innovation Council, the Energy
Futures Initiative, and the Information Technology and
Innovation Foundation.
H.R. 4091 incorporates extensive feedback from
stakeholders, including constructive language from a bill that
I cosponsored with Ranking Member Lucas last year. The bill
would incorporate additional provisions proposed by the Ranking
Member upon the passage of the manager's amendment today. I
value the perspectives that the Ranking Member and my
colleagues across the aisle bring to this Committee and will
continue to consider good ideas to improve our legislation
wherever they come from.
This bill is now endorsed by a broad coalition of
organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the
National Association of Manufacturers, the Bipartisan Policy
Center, the Association of American Universities, the Nuclear
Energy Institute, the American Petroleum Institute, the Natural
Resources Defense Council and Energy Storage Association, the
Carbon Utilization Research Coun- cil, the American Council for
Renewable Energy, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the
Energy Sciences Coalition, just to name a few.
ARPA-E's unique work is one of the best tools we have to
produce the innovation needed to maintain our international
competitiveness and transition ourselves to a clean energy
future. Given this bill's crucial mission, along with this deep
support from our Nation's leading industrial, academic,
scientific, and environmental organizations, I am hopeful that
all of my colleagues will strongly support advancing 4091 this
morning.
Does anyone else need to be recognized or desire to be
recognized?
The Chair recognizes Mr. Lipinski.
Mr. Lipinski. Thank you, Chairwoman Johnson. I just want to
very briefly say ARPA-E I think is one of the most important
pro- grams that we have making a difference with the potential
to do even greater things for our country. And when it comes to
our posi- tion on science and technology and innovation and
addressing a lot of the big problems that we face, including
climate issues and other very critical issues, I just want to
say this is very important. I'm glad we've been able to come to
agreement on this. I yield back.
Chairwoman Johnson. Thank you very much. Ms. Bonamici.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Chairwoman Johnson. I move to
strike the last word.
Chairwoman Johnson. The Chair recognizes you for 5 minutes.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Chairwoman. In addition to the
Science Committee, I serve on the Select Committee on the
Climate Crisis, and I just came from a hearing in that
Committee. And, you know, in northwest Oregon climate change is
a reality. We have acidic oceans that are threatening our
shellfish industry on the Pacific Coast. We have smoke from
raging wildfires that's made air unhealthy to breathe. We have
decreased snowpack that's limiting access to skiing and
snowboarding, and that affects our outdoor recreation industry.
We have droughts and extreme weather patterns that are
jeopardizing the livelihoods of our farmers and our prestigious
wineries; warmer water temperatures in the Columbia River that
are endangering salmon, which are a fundamental part of the
identity and culture of the Northwest tribes; and, of course,
rising sea levels that are threatening homeowners and small
businesses in our coastal communities.
If you look at the findings from the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change in the Fourth National Climate
Assessment, it's more than a wake-up call; it's really an
alarm. Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the
most substantial factor that account for observed warming over
the past 6 decades, and carbon dioxide concentrations in the
atmosphere are higher than any time in the last 3 million
years.
We know the climate crisis is a national emergency and an
existential threat, and we have the imperative to act on
climate and to transition to a clean energy economy no later
than midcentury. And that transition can start by strengthening
investments in research and development for clean energy, which
is one of the reasons why I'm so proud to cosponsor the
bipartisan ARPA-E Reauthorization Act. The bill would more than
double authorization for the Agency to $1 billion by 2024.
These funds will help support the high-risk but high-reward
energy research that's not being addressed by the private
sector. At current funding levels ARPA-E continues to identify
more projects than can be funded. And it's worth noting that
the increase in funding is consistent with the recommendations
from the National Academies in their assessment ``Rising Above
the Gathering Storm'' report. By authorizing $1 billion for
ARPA-E, we can show leadership and also help accelerate the
development of clean energy technologies.
And, importantly, we must complement Federal high-risk,
high- reward programs like ARPA-E with regional partnerships
that can spur the development of early stage innovations and
help also move new technologies beyond laboratory research to
market deployment.
I'm working on a bill to help support the creation and
expansion of regional private-public partnerships to foster an
environment of innovation and job creation at the local level
and to accelerate smart market deployment of clean energy
technologies. And that is something that, you know, since the
creation of ARPA-E, we have seen so much growth in the private
sector, as well as the groundbreaking research, so it takes
vision and persistence to pursue areas of research when the
benefits are unknown at the outset. The Federal Government has
a role as an active participant in this important work, and one
part of that is providing robust funding for ARPA-E.
So I thank Chairwoman Johnson for her leadership on this
bipartisan bill. I also thank the Ranking Member for his
collaboration, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this
bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairwoman Johnson. Thank you very much. Any other requests
for time?
We will now proceed with the amendments in the order of the
roster. The Chair's amendment, the first amendment on the
roster is an amendment offered by the Chair. The clerk will
report the amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment No. 1, amendment to Committee print of
H.R. 4091 offered by Ms. Johnson.
[The amendment of Chairwoman Johnson follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Johnson. I ask unanimous consent to dispense
from further reading, and without objection, so ordered. I
recognize myself for 5 minutes to briefly explain the
amendment.
The manager's amendment represents an agreement between me
and my friend Mr. Lucas to pass a major reauthorization of
ARPA-E out of this Committee with strong bipartisan support. I
greatly appreciate the hard work that he and his staff put into
achieving this compromise, and I truly hope that this bodes
well for all of our mutual efforts to advance the authorization
of other important clean energy R&D (research and development)
programs going forward. I urge all my colleagues on both sides
of the aisle to support the amendment, and I yield back.
Is there further discussion?
Mr. Lucas. Madam Chair?
Chairwoman Johnson. Mr. Lucas.
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. When we marked up
H.R. 4091 in the Energy Subcommittee, I said that I believed
there was an opportunity to find common ground and to
reauthorize ARPA-E in a bipartisan way. I want to thank you,
Chairwoman Johnson, for working with me to achieve that common
ground through this manager's amendment. We both had to make
compromises, but I believe we achieved consensus. And I believe
this amendment is a responsible approach and will give us the
best chance to see a robust reauthorization bill signed into
law.
I introduced a bill in July to reauthorize and reform ARPA-
E, and the manager's amendment we are considering today
includes elements of that bill that were essential for reaching
bipartisan consensus. ARPA-E is meant to advance cutting-edge
technologies that are too high-risk for industry but have the
potential to revolutionize energy production, development, and
use in America. This is vitally important work, and ARPA-E is
unique in its ability to do this. So it's critical that even as
we grow the program's resources, we make sure that we're going
to fund work within ARPA-E's mission, not duplicative research,
a development that can be better funded by other DOE programs
or the private industry.
This manager's amendment goes a long way toward eliminating
the duplication between ARPA-E and other Department of Energy
research. It also creates a more rigorous approval process that
ensures applicants have first sought private investment before
applying for ARPA-E grants.
These reforms, in addition to the reforms included in the
original legislation, have given us the opportunity to pass a
bipartisan bill that benefits taxpayers while strengthening the
transformational energy research.
I want to thank the Chairwoman for working with me on this
bill, and I yield back.
Chairwoman Johnson. Thank you very much.
Any further discussion on the amendment?
Seeing none, the vote will occur on the amendment.
All those in favor, say aye.
Those opposed, no.
The ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
We now will hear the Foster amendment. The next amendment
on the roster is offered by the gentleman from Illinois. He is
recognized to offer the amendment.
Mr. Foster. Thank you. I have an amendment at the desk.
Chairwoman Johnson. The clerk will report the amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment No. 2, amendment to H.R. 4091 offered
by Mr. Foster.
[The amendment of Mr. Foster follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Johnson. I ask unanimous consent to dispense
with the reading. Without objection, so ordered.
I recognize the gentleman for 5 minutes to explain his
amendment.
Mr. Foster. Thank you, Ms. Chairwoman. I'm introducing this
amendment to establish a Chief Evaluation Officer position at
ARPA-E. In 2017 the National Academies issued a comprehensive
assessment of ARPA-E. While the report was generally positive
in terms of ARPA-E's technological advancements and effective
program and project management, the authors noted a few areas
in need of improvement.
One area in need of attention was ARPA-E's evaluation and
assessment program. The Academy found that the Agency is not
yet able to fully assess the full extent of its impact and
achievement of its statutory mission and goals. They also found
that ARPA-E is doing a poor job of creating awareness of its
success in enhancing the economic and energy security of the
United States. The report recommended that, quote, ``The ARPA-E
Director and Program Director should develop and implement a
framework for measuring and assessing the Agency's impact in
achieving its mission and goals,'' unquote.
I do not want to be overly prescriptive in telling ARPA-E
how to better measure and assess its impact or better
communicate its success to lawmakers and the general public. My
amendment simply creates a position of Chief Evaluation
Officer, a position which is successfully used in other
agencies. A Chief Evaluation Officer coordinates, promotes,
sponsors, and builds capacity within a Federal department to
help the Agency understand and conduct evaluations. The results
of these evaluations can be used to improve policies and
programs, as well as to communicate the success of the Agency
to the public. It will be left up to ARPA-E and the Chief
Evaluation Officer to determine how best to measure impact and
communicate its success.
Now, since introducing my amendment, I have recently
learned that ARPA-E now plans to hire an evaluation impact
assessment expert to help them respond to the National
Academies' recommendations.
So, Ms. Chairwoman, I withdraw my amendment and look
forward to working with the Agency to ensure that this
critically important role is filled using existing authorities.
And I yield back.
Chairwoman Johnson. Thank you very much.
Are there any other amendments? Are there any requests for
time?
If not, a reporting quorum being present, I move that the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology report H.R. 4091,
as amended, to the House with the recommendation that the bill
be approved.
Those in favor of the motion can signify by saying aye.
Those opposed, no.
Hearing none, the motion is carried.
Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the
table, and I ask unanimous consent that the staff be authorized
to make any necessary technical and conforming changes to the
bill. Without objection, so ordered.
Members will have 2 subsequent calendar days in which to
submit supplementary minority and additional views on this
measure.
H.R. 2051
Chairwoman Johnson. We will now consider H.R. 2051, the
Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019. The
clerk will report the bill.
The Clerk. H.R. 2051, a bill to provide for Federal
coordination of activities supporting sustainable chemistry and
for other purposes.
[The bill follows:]