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December 04, 2023

Subcommittee on Research and Technology Ranking Member Stevens Floor Statement on H.R. 2980, the DOE and NSF Interagency Research Act

(WASHINGTON, DC)— Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives considered and passed under suspension of the rules four bipartisan bills led by Members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology Rep. Haley Stevens' (D-MI) statement as prepared for the record on H.R. 2980, the DOE and NSF Interagency Research Act is below

Mister Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bipartisan bill, H.R. 2980, the DOE and NSF Research Interagency Act that I offered with my colleague, Representative Jim Baird from Indiana.

The Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation represent some of our nation’s most cutting-edge research activities supporting the innovation that we require to solve our most pressing issues and remain competitive on the world stage. DOE’s and NSF’s employees and funded researchers are world-renowned scientific minds pushing the bounds of what we think is possible, making science fiction a reality every day. And both agencies' education and workforce development programs inspire the next generation of STEM innovators and help current workers learn new skills to meet the needs of a 21st century economy. Their work is critical to developing the solutions needed to our nation’s most pressing issues. The CHIPS and Science Act, that I helped author along with my Science Committee colleagues, bolstered both of the cutting-edge work that DOE and NSF were doing and set them up for success in the coming years. To ensure that we are maximizing the impact of that historic bill, we must promote cross-cutting interagency research activities.

My bill, H.R. 2980, will do just that. It will maximize the efforts of both DOE and NSF by reducing duplication and creating an open, innovative environment that bolsters the work already being done by DOE and NSF. Separately, these two agencies are already doing great things, but together? 

  • Combining the NSF’s expertise in advanced physics with the amazing work that the DOE is doing at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in fusion science, including their historic ignition, will expedite making this clean energy source a reliable and commercially-viable technology.
  • Combining the DOE’s expertise in computational sciences including the scientific potential of the fastest supercomputers in the world with what NSF is doing with artificial intelligence and machine learning will be key to unlocking the metrics needed to create safe and trustworthy AI applications.
  • Combining NSF’s material science expertise with the work being done across the Department of Energy and at the National Laboratories on critical minerals will be key to not only untangling our supply chains but creating a circular economy that promotes worker safety and environmental protections while securing our economic prosperity, energy independence, and national security for decades to come.
  • And lastly, combining the work that both agencies are doing with quantum technologies will be key to unlocking the potential of this revolutionary emerging technology including for manufacturing applications and cybersecurity.

These are just a few examples of the amazing potential that fostering partnerships between the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation will mean for our nation, proving once again that federal sciences are the key to our nation’s future and deserve robust support by Congress.

Our nation has many challenges that this body needs to solve from the climate crisis to securing supply chains to creating the workforce needed for the 21st century. And I am deeply proud of the work that the Science Committee is doing this Congress, under the leadership of Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Lofgren on solving these issues. This bill, a bipartisan bill that was voted out of Committee unanimously, is just one example of how the Science Committee is delivering for the American people.

I urge my colleagues to support my bipartisan bill to push forward our nation’s scientific ecosystem and bolster our competitiveness on the world stage.

Thank you