Full Committee Markup -- H.R. 364

Opening Statement By Chairman Bart Gordon

Today the Committee is meeting to markup four bills.

The first bill we will consider today is a bill that I introduced, H.R. 364, which establishes an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. In the subcommittee hearing and markup we had a very healthy discussion that, I believe, pointed to the critical need for such an entity.

We have worked hard with our friends across the aisle. And, while there are still substantial differences, it has resulted in a better bill. It is my understanding that this discussion will continue today with a number of amendments, and I look forward to addressing your concerns.

The next bill we will take up is H.R. 1467, the 10,000 Trained by 2010 Act introduced by Chairman Wu. This is a good bill which I support.

There has been a lot of talk in Washington about the need to push healthcare IT forward. Our medical system is far behind other sectors in the use of information technology. However, it is common knowledge that information technology could significantly improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs.

While there has been a lot of discussion on the issue in Congress, not much has actually been done. In this case, Chairman Wu and other Members of the Committee have identified one component of the issue and how the Science and Technology Committee could make a real and positive contribution in this area.

I strongly support this legislation and would urge everyone on the Committee to do so as well.

H.R. 1716, the Green Energy Education Act of 2007, was reintroduced by Mr. McCaul this year after having passed the House as part of a broader bipartisan Science Committee Energy R & D bill at the end of the 109th Congress.

H.R. 1716 raises the profile of a very important issue – university research and education on clean energy, including energy efficiency and green building design and technologies. It would bring together the Department of Energy, a mission agency, and the National Science Foundation, which has a long history with science and technology education, in a common goal to help educate the next generation of energy technology experts and green building professionals.

This bill helps meet a very important need and I thank Mr. McCaul for bringing it to the Committee.

We will also consider by Mr. Lipinski, H.R. 632, the H-Prize act of 2007. Hydrogen technologies represent just the type of transformational possibilities that we are hoping to achieve with ARPA-E, and may some day make up an important piece of our energy puzzle.

I commend my colleagues Mr. Inglis and Mr. Lipinski for working together and for working hard to make this a good, bipartisan bill. I look forward to moving it through committee today.

These are four good bills, and I strongly encourage my colleagues to support all of them.

To provide for the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)