A bipartisan group of senators proposed legislation Wednesday to renew a group of basic research programs that would put the federal government on a path to double energy research spending within 20 years.
The Senate introduction of the five-year America COMPETES (America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science) Act, which expires this year, comes as the House prepares to vote on its version under a veto threat from the White House.
“Governing is about setting priorities, and this legislation will put us on a path to double basic energy research — one of the best ways to keep good-paying jobs from going overseas — while streamlining basic energy research programs at the U.S. Department of Energy,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman and one of the bill’s seven co-sponsors.
The Senate bill would boost basic research funding by 4 percent annually over five years. Part of paying for the increase would come from closing six programs and changing five others but, since it’s not a spending bill, the bill doesn’t discuss how to pay for the programs.
Overall, basic research authorization would hit nearly $5.3 billion in fiscal 2016 under the Senate bill — the same level as the House bill — up from the current $5 billion. It would rise to $6.2 billion in fiscal 2020.
The Senate bill is likely to be included in broader energy legislation spearheaded by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and top committee Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, both of whom co-sponsored the bill. Other sponsors include Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee.
“The federal government is uniquely situated to take the long view of research investments in breakthrough energy and environmental sciences, as well as the technologies and applications that will ultimately make energy more affordable,” Cantwell said.
Significant differences exist between the House and Senate bills. Much criticism of the House bill is directed at a provision that blocks federal agencies from using the results of federal research projects in future rulemakings and assessments. It also would impair the National Science Foundation’s role in issuing grants, the White House said.
“The administration opposes barring federal regulatory authorities from relying on the results of certain federally supported research and development,” the White House said this week. “This provision would set an extremely harmful precedent of political interference in the scientific integrity of the regulation process, which would undermine the value of the federal research and development enterprise as a whole.”
The Senate version also deals only with basic research. So, unlike the House bill, the Senate iteration doesn’t inlclude the Energy Department Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and other programs within the department.
However, both bills include funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, an effort that sets desired metrics for projects without prescribing how to achieve them.
The Senate bill would fund it at $291.2 million in fiscal 2016, compared with current funding levels of $280 million. It would increase to $340.6 million in fiscal 2020. The House version, meanwhile, calls for $140 million in fiscal 2016 and 2017.
With four Democrats on board for the Senate version, the dynamics of the upper chamber bill contrast with the House version, which has been attacked by Democrats for minimizing clean energy research. The House bill included no Democratic co-sponsors.
The House bill would cut funding for clean energy and energy-efficiency research in half compared with what President Obama proposed in his fiscal 2016 budget. The bill would give the Energy Department Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy $1.2 billion for both 2016 and 2017, compared with a White House request of $2.7 billion and a fiscal 2015 enacted level of $2.3 billion.
The House version also slashed funding for biological and environmental research at the Energy Department Office of Science, reduced spending on various National Science Foundation programs and called for one-fifth less funding for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy than the president requested.
“The reprioritization of basic research will help ensure future U.S. economic competitiveness and security. And it will spur private-sector technological innovation,” House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said when his panel approved the House bill in April.
