
The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab in Illinois is one of several DOE facilities slated to receive a major upgrade over the coming years.
(Image credit – Argonne National Lab)
The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab in Illinois is one of several DOE facilities slated to receive a major upgrade over the coming years.
(Image credit – Argonne National Lab)
At a Nov. 15 markup
Three of the bills would set target completion dates and authorize funding levels for eight in-progress or planned DOE facility construction projects, totaling almost $7 billion over an 11-year period.
Of the four STEM-focused bills, three would direct NSF to increase its focus on women, veterans, and young children, respectively, within certain STEM programs. The fourth would direct NSF to assess the effectiveness of its efforts to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields and would require federal science agencies to annually submit to NSF demographic information on all R&D grant applicants.
The below chart displays the funding amounts authorized by the three facility bills. A committee staff member told FYI that the levels were chosen after consulting with DOE and facility host institutions. Although congressional appropriators are not required to abide by funding authorizations, the levels serve as markers of what the committee views as appropriate funding profiles.
The bills also signal the committee’s strong support for DOE’s user facilities, which several members lauded during the markup.
“These bills provide infrastructure investments that are crucial to ensuring America remains a leader in basic research and innovation,” said Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX).
Similarly, Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (R-TX) said, “Our laboratories are the crown jewels of American innovation, and the user-driven science facilities at those laboratories and at our universities are the foundation on which our leadership in science is built.”
Johnson also applauded the bills’ specification of funding levels, adding, “I hope we can continue to include funding authorizations in future bills passed out of the committee.” Last year, she lamented that Congress did not include topline funding authorizations for science agencies in the recently enacted American Innovation and Competitiveness Act
The committee may seek to incorporate these bills into other legislation, such as a bill implementing a potential infrastructure initiative by President Trump or a broader DOE authorization bill, such as the Senate’s “Energy and Natural Resources Act”
Each of the three DOE research infrastructure bills concentrates on different varieties of scientific infrastructure.
The “DOE Research Infrastructure Act”
For the light and neutron sources, both bills direct DOE to follow a 2016 report
Congress has already begun funding FRIB, LBNF, and the APS upgrade, and the Senate Appropriations Committee is moving to begin most of the other projects. The report accompanying its fiscal year 2018 spending bill
The third bill, the “Nuclear Energy Research Infrastructure Act,”
In its budget request for fiscal year 2018, the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy requested $10 million to establish a versatile fast test reactor R&D program charged with finalizing capability requirements and technical attributes of such a reactor.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have taken divergent stances on this request. The report accompanying the House spending bill for DOE specifies $35 million to support development of the reactor. The counterpart Senate report rejects the request, saying “The Department continues to recommend new programs or projects without showing any commitment to follow through with existing programs, especially key programs that show promise, or providing a detailed rationale for canceling those programs or projects. Accordingly, the Committee is reluctant to support a new multi-billion dollar project.”
Among the four STEM-focused bills is the “STEM Research and Education Effectiveness and Transparency Act,”
The first provision would require NSF to submit a report to Congress on the effectiveness of its programs for broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. The second would require federal agencies with R&D budgets over $100 million in fiscal year 2017 to annually submit to NSF information on all R&D grant applicants, including demographics and funding outcomes. NSF would then publish a summary of the data.
Johnson, a cosponsor of the bill, noted that the latter provision comes from the “STEM Opportunities Act”
She also asked Smith, who is retiring from Congress, to consider the full bill. “I continue to ask my good friend Chairman Smith, my hero here, to take up the entire [bill] which has been very well vetted by many experts, and I’m encouraged by this first small step,” she said, grabbing Smith’s hand mid-sentence. “Do this before you leave,” she implored.
Smith replied, “We will renew our efforts and take another look.”