Ranking Member Lofgren Opening Statement for Full Committee Markup of Seven Bipartisan Bills
(Washington, DC)--Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is holding a Full Committee Markup of H.R. 676, Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2023; H.R. 1482, NOAA Weather Radio Modernization Act of 2023; H.R. 1496, National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act; H.R. 1713, DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act; H.R. 1715, Advanced Weather Model Computing Development Act; H.R. 1734, TRANQ Research Act; and H.R. 1735, Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act.
Ranking Member Lofgren's (D-CA) opening statement as prepared for the record is below.
Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Lucas, for holding today’s markup.
I am encouraged, but not surprised, that our first markup of this Congress in the Science Committee involves seven bipartisan bills. I’m encouraged because this continues the bipartisan tradition of the Committee from the past four years. And I say I’m not surprised, because Chairman Lucas was a true partner with our former Chair in their efforts to take this Committee back to its bipartisan roots. Those efforts met with great legislative success for the Science Committee, and it is my hope that we can continue to do good work for the American people here this Congress.
I’ll take a moment to briefly address the bills we are considering today.
H.R. 676, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2023, which was introduced by Representative Pingree, would support current efforts of coastal communities to address ocean acidification, including improving and reporting on NOAA’s collaborative efforts with state, local, and tribal governments.
Next we will consider H.R. 1482, the NOAA Weather Radio Modernization Act of 2023, which was introduced by Ms. Bice. This bill would enhance and expand the coverage of NOAA Weather Radio.
We are also considering H.R. 1496, the National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act, which was sponsored by Mr. Feenstra. H.R. 1496 would require the National Weather Service to improve its instant messaging system. Both this bill and the last one should enhance the public’s access to vital severe weather information, and everyone should support adoption of these bills.
I was happy to join with Chairman Lucas to cosponsor H.R. 1713, the DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act. This bill would task DOE and USDA to agree on a plan to conduct cross-cutting and collaborative research and development. Really, this bill is about leveraging the amazing capabilities we have at these two agencies to further enhance their scientific expertise. There are obvious topics where DOE and USDA can collaborate, like in the biofuel sector. However, there are other, less obvious ways these agencies can work together. For instance, DOE is a leader in genomics research, which has connections to modern agriculture. The hope would be that the collaborations contemplated in this bill will enhance the ability of both agencies to fulfill their statutory missions.
H.R. 1715, the Advanced Weather Model Computing Development Act, which is sponsored by Environment Subcommittee Chairman Miller, will help improve coordination between DOE and NOAA on addressing their critical weather and climate modeling needs. I support this bipartisan bill, and urge my colleagues to as well.
I also want to highlight another bill that I cosponsored, H.R. 1734, the TRANQ Research Act, which was introduced by Mr. Collins. If the opioid epidemic wasn’t bad enough already, our communities now have to deal with various chemicals being added to these drugs to “enhance” their effects and make them harder to detect. This, of course, is hugely consequential to our first responders and law enforcement as they deal with these drugs on the street. The TRANQ Research Act would leverage the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s unique research capabilities to help develop technologies to characterize and safely handle these novel drugs. This is a fantastic example of how we can activate our excellent government laboratories to use their expertise to really make a difference for our local communities all over the country.
Finally, we are considering H.R. 1735, the Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act, which was introduced by Representative Houlahan. This bill would direct the National Science Foundation to invest in K-12 education research and development that has a focus on mathematical modeling. This is an important bill that will better prepare our students for careers in STEM, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
I want to once more thank the Chair for working collaboratively with the Minority on these bills, I look forward to a productive markup, and I urge all the Members of the Committee to support each of these pieces of legislation.
I yield back.
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