The House Appropriations Committee is meeting on Thursday to debate its draft spending bills for the Department of Energy and Department of Defense, which Republicans released last week along with their spending allocations for the panel’s 12 subcommittees. Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-TX) has decided to advance bills that significantly undershoot the spending cap just approved through the deal to raise the debt ceiling, though the cuts would be offset in some cases by redirecting funds previously appropriated through special legislation such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Senate Appropriations Committee is setting subcommittee allocations on Thursday that will likely meet the spending levels allowed by the debt ceiling deal.

House Republicans will release detailed spending proposals in conjunction with this week’s meetings. Their overarching proposals include level funding for the DOE Office of Science and Office of Nuclear Energy and a 12% cut for the base budget of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Their bill would also redirect $3.6 billion previously appropriated through the infrastructure act toward advanced nuclear reactor development initiatives and rescind more than $5 billion in energy efficiency funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. Republicans previewed additional proposals via a fact sheet last week, including a rejection of the Biden administration’s push to create a new national lab located at a minority-serving institution and a prohibition on DOE spending funds to implement its Equity Action Plan or the administration’s Justice40 initiative. Democrats identified this restriction on diversity initiatives as among their main reasons for opposing the legislation.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding subcommittee meetings starting Tuesday to advance this year’s National Defense Authorization Act and the full committee will take up the bill later this week. Most of these meetings will be closed to the public and draft legislation will only be released after they have all concluded. The House Armed Services Committee is starting its own full committee meeting to amend the NDAA on Wednesday, which will be public. Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) has already released his draft of the bill, complementing provisions that advanced through subcommittee last week. House proposals introduced so far include measures intended to accelerate the transition of defense technology into use and to expand the military’s use of commercial technologies. One of these would involve revising the title and responsibilities of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering and another would create a pilot program to advance “near-term” quantum computing applications. A few proposals address research security, including one that would authorize DOD to contract with “consortia” to assist universities in implementing research security policies and vetting visiting scholars.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is revealing his legislative framework for regulating artificial intelligence on Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Schumer previewed the framework in April and has begun organizing a series of briefings for senators on AI as Congress scrambles to better understand the technology. The House Science Committee is holding its first AI-focused hearing this year on Thursday, inviting testimony from five AI experts currently working outside of government. The committee played a lead role in developing the National AI Initiative Act of 2020, which outlined R&D policies for non-defense programs but did not regulate the technology.

The Senate Budget Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday titled, “Investigating Fossil Fuel Dark Money’s Systemic Threats to Climate and the Federal Budget.” One of the witnesses is Harvard University historian Naomi Oreskes, who has researched how fossil fuel companies have sowed doubt about climate science even though they have long been aware of the climate change risks posed by carbon emissions. Also testifying are ethics law professor Richard Painter, filmmaker Christine Arena, climate policy scholar Roger Pielke Jr., and physicist Steven Koonin, who has argued that the risks of climate change are overstated. Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has focused the panel on climate risks since taking on the role this year and last week launched an investigation into insurance companies continuing to underwrite fossil fuel production projects even as they limit homeowner insurance in some regions of the U.S. due to the increasing risk of catastrophic natural disasters. (Update: Koonin was on the initial list of witnesses but later replaced with a different witness.)

The National Academies is kicking off a decadal survey for the National Science Foundation’s Division of Ocean Sciences this week. The survey committee is tasked with recommending research and infrastructure priorities that will “advance understanding of the ocean’s role in the Earth system and the sustainable blue economy” and help the division quickly respond to emerging opportunities over the 2025-to-2035 time frame. The survey will also include an interim report focused on infrastructure for scientific ocean drilling, given NSF’s recent withdrawal from the international drilling ship JOIDES Resolution. The committee is co-chaired by Oregon State University ocean engineer Tuba Özkan-Haller and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Dean Emeritus Jim Yoder. Separately this week, the National Academies is launching a routine assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for Neutron Research, which recently received approval to resume operations after a two-year shutdown.

NASA is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday for its new Earth Information Center, an exhibit opening to the public on June 26 at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Chief Scientist Kate Calvin, and Earth Science Division Director Karen St. Germain will speak at the event. The exhibit is the physical component of a resource also housed online that aims to inform decisions on climate change mitigation and adaptation. While the underlying datasets are already publicly available, the center will focus on accessibility and visualization, with an initial emphasis on building prototype capabilities for greenhouse gas monitoring. Proposed in NASA’s fiscal year 2023 budget request, the center is a collaborative effort with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Environmental Protection Agency.

The National Science Foundation announced 34 semifinalists on June 14 in the first competition of its Regional Innovation Engines program, which aims to foster public-private collaborations in key technology and societal challenge areas concentrated in specific geographic regions. Most of the semifinalist proposals relate to advanced manufacturing, sustainability and clean energy, or health and bioscience. There is also one semifinalist in each of the areas of quantum and microelectronics research. From the semifinalists, the agency expects to select five proposals to receive “Engine” grants of up to $160 million over 10 years. The remaining semifinalists will be eligible for smaller grants of $1 million over two years to further develop their proposals. The program awarded 44 of such grants this spring to applicants who did not compete for the larger grants.

The House Ways and Means Committee advanced legislation last week called the Build It in America Act that would reverse a provision in the 2017 tax overhaul law that weakened the R&D tax credit by requiring companies to amortize qualified research expenses rather than immediately deducting them. The change went into effect in 2022, and the committee’s bill would push that date back to 2026 and allow companies to retroactively deduct research expenses for 2022. The committee approved the bill on a party-line vote, with all Republicans voting in favor. Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) indicated he is open to reverting to the pre-2017 policy but sought to narrow its scope through an amendment that would retain the amortization requirement for R&D conducted in China. He also argued against applying the extension retroactively, asserting that it would “reward companies for the research and development they conducted last year that they needed no incentive to undertake.” The bill would also roll back clean-energy tax credits established by the Inflation Reduction Act, a move that Democrats strongly oppose and is likely to prevent the bill from gaining traction in the Senate.

Members of the House Science Committee reiterated their interest in advancing fusion energy during a hearing last week, at which witnesses urged support for wide-ranging public and private efforts. Fusion Industry Association CEO Andrew Holland noted his organization has 37 member companies as well as 72 affiliate members with a stake in fusion power and that cumulative investment has more than doubled to nearly $6 billion since the committee’s last hearing on the subject in late 2021. Kathy McCarthy, who directs U.S. participation in the international ITER fusion facility, briefly discussed the serious engineering problems ITER is facing as well as the dismissal of senior project leaders by its new director-general, which she referred to as “organizational adjustments.” However, committee members did not probe the subject and Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) instead used his first question to invite McCarthy to defend ITER’s relevance amid burgeoning private-sector work in fusion. She replied that, even if smaller projects achieve major fusion milestones first, ITER will still be an important research facility for exploring various fusion concepts that will help foster a full-fledged fusion industry.

Last week, the National Academies released a study assessing the status of risk analysis surrounding war and terrorism involving nuclear weapons. It stresses that, because there is little direct evidence to draw on, the subject is pervaded by “great uncertainties” that are driven by the variety of scenarios involved as well as the assumptions and biases underlying the different methods and modes of expertise that risk analyses draw on. The study responds to a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 and was co-chaired by Stanford University professor Marie-Elisabeth Paté-Cornell and William Ostendorff, a retired nuclear submarine officer and former official at the National Nuclear Security Administration and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A related study on environmental effects of nuclear war other than fallout is holding its first information-gathering session this week.

All times are Eastern Daylight Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.

Juneteenth Holiday

National Academies: “Climate Intervention in an Earth Systems Science Framework”
(continues through Thursday)

National Academies: “China-U.S. Scientific Engagement on Sustainability: Sustainability and Planetary Health — Key Issues and Possible Solutions”
(continues Wednesday)

NSF: “U.S. Leadership in Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence Engineering: Critical Needs and Priorities”
(continues Wednesday)

Senate: Subcommittee meetings to advance the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act
(continues Wednesday)
Armed Services Committee

BIS: Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting
9:00 am

Commerce Department: National AI Advisory Committee meeting
2:00 - 3:00 pm

RFF: “Financing the Energy Transition: A Policy Leadership Series Event with Jigar Shah”
3:30 - 4:30 pm

NASA: Planetary Science Advisory Committee meeting
(continues through Friday)

National Academies: “Assessment of the NIST Center for Neutron Research”
(continues through Friday)

Senate: Closed full committee meeting to advance the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act
(continues through Friday)
Armed Services Committee

DOD: Defense Science Board meeting
(continues Thursday)

National Academies: “Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences for the National Science Foundation,” meeting one
(continues Thursday)

NASA: Opening of NASA’s Earth Information Center
7:00 am

National Academies: “Preserving and Developing Ukraine’s Human Capital in Research, Education, and Innovation,” day two
9:00 am - 1:00 pm

Hudson Institute: “U.S. Leadership in Tech Diplomacy: A Conversation with Ambassador Nathaniel Fick”
9:30 - 10:30 am

Senate: “Dollars and Degrees: Investigating Fossil Fuel Dark Money’s Systemic Threats to Climate and the Federal Budget”
10:00 am, Budget Committee

House: “Clearing the Air: Examining the EPA’s Proposed Emissions Standards”
10:00 am, Oversight Committee

House: Meeting to advance fire technology and construction safety bills
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: Full committee meeting to advance the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act
10:00 am, Armed Services Committee

House: “Oversight of the FCC”
10:30 am, Energy and Commerce Committee

CSIS: Event with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to reveal his policy framework for AI
11:15 am - 12:00 pm

House: “Microvast and More: Oversight of President Biden’s Energy Spending Spree”
2:00 pm, Energy and Commerce Committee

National Academies: “Independent Study on Potential Environmental Effects of Nuclear War,” information gathering session one
(continues Friday)

NOAA: 2023 Space Weather Enterprise Forum
8:30 am - 4:45 pm

House: “Artificial Intelligence: Advancing Innovation Towards the National Interest”
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: Full committee meeting to advance draft spending proposals for DOE and DOD
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

Senate: Hearing on FCC nominees
10:00 am, Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee

NSF: Frontiers in Ocean Sciences Symposium
12:30 - 5:00 pm

House: “Using Cutting-Edge Technologies to Keep America Safe”
1:00 pm, Oversight Committee

CSBA: “The Decisive Decade: U.S.–China Competition in Defense Innovation and Defense Industrial Policy in and Beyond the 2020s,” report release webinar
1:00 - 2:30 pm

SIA: “How AI and Semiconductors Will Drive Innovation and Productivity”
2:00 pm

Commerce Department: National AI Advisory Committee meeting
2:00 - 3:00 pm

CSIS: “Building the North American Semiconductor Corridor”
3:00 - 4:30 pm

National Academies: “Climate Conversations: Artificial Intelligence”
3:30 - 4:45 pm

EPA: Science Advisory Board meeting
12:00 - 5:00 pm

National Academies: “NASA Mission Critical Workforce, Infrastructure, and Technology,” meeting five
(continues through Wednesday)

ICSSI: International Conference on the Science of Science and Innovation
(continues through Wednesday)

National Academies: “Promoting Equitable and Inclusive Implementation of Open Scholarship Policies”
11:00 am - 2:30 pm

National Academies: “Independent Study on Potential Environmental Effects of Nuclear War,” information gathering session two
12:00 - 2:00 pm

National Academies: “Roundtable on Mentorship, Well-Being, and Professional Development,” meeting four
2:00 - 4:00 pm

Federal Lab Consortium: “Lab Showcase: Here is NIST!”
3:15 - 4:15 pm

Asian American Scholar Forum / ACLU: “Perils of Warrantless Surveillance: The Case for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Reform,” with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
4:00 pm

Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

The National Academies is hiring a director to oversee its Polar Research Board and its Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. Candidates should have a strong technical background in related sciences as well as experience growing relationships with federal, state, and private sponsors. They must also have ten years of professional experience, including five in a supervisory capacity.

Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is hiring a science associate to help develop and evaluate its portfolio of science philanthropy. Candidates should have a graduate degree in a STEM field and experience in research, analysis, consulting, or management.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science is seeking input on areas of biological and environmental research that could benefit from improved data accessibility and integration. Feedback will inform a forthcoming advisory committee report that will recommend a “next generation data management and analysis” strategy for the office’s Biological and Environmental Research program. Comments are due Oct. 31.

Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.

White House: Fact sheet on new actions to build community climate resilience
White House: Remarks by President Biden on climate resilience
OSTP: Biden-⁠Harris administration hosts inaugural ARPA–Infrastructure Summit, announces new policy actions
AP: Former North Carolina health official Mandy Cohen is picked to be new CDC director
Washington Post: Health Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) vows to oppose NIH director nominee until Biden produces drug-pricing plan
AAAS: 115 organizations sign letter in support of Biden’s nominee for NIH director

Washington Post: Inflation Reduction Act foes race to repeal climate, drug pricing programs
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): Counter China in defense bill, not Schumer’s ‘China Bill 2.0’
House China Select Committee: Alfred University closes Confucius Institute as a result of committee investigation
House China Select Committee: Republicans seek answers from DOJ on Chinese IP theft
Washington Post: Lawmakers propose ‘blue-ribbon’ AI commission
Washington Post: Congress is racing to regulate AI. Silicon Valley is eager to teach them how
House Science Committee: Committee advances DOE research partnerships bills and FAA R&D bill
House Science Committee: Committee leaders send letter to Commerce Department inspector general regarding the disclosure of the identity of a whistleblower
Senate Energy Committee: Ranking Member Barrasso (R-WY) calls for investigation of Energy Secretary Granholm’s financial holdings
American Astronomical Society: A letter to congressional appropriations leadership
Wired: UFO whistleblower claims may gain traction on Capitol Hill

AP: Confidence in science fell in 2022 while political divides persisted, poll shows
New York Times: Republicans target researchers who study disinformation ahead of 2024 election
NSF: California leads in innovative capacity of US states as measured by US R&D expenditures
NSF: Business sector increases funding for basic research
New York Times: This dystopian C.S. Lewis novel helps explain the weirdness of 2023 (perspective by Ross Douthat)
Foreign Policy: A history of Black futures at the Smithsonian is a kaleidoscope that offers multiple readings (perspective by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein)

APS News: As undergrad physics enrollment stumbles, departments look inward
APS News: To bolster undergraduate enrollment, some colleges are emphasizing engineering physics degrees
IDA: Weighing the costs and benefits of foreign-born STEM talent
Nature: Transgender scientists recount transition experiences as political landscapes turn increasingly hostile in many places
Lincoln Laboratory: All-gender bathrooms provide a more equitable workplace at Lincoln Laboratory
Science: NIH working group calls for increased pay and benefits for postdocs

NSF: Federally funded R&D declines as a share of GDP and total R&D
Macroscience: The seductions of big science (perspective by Tim Hwang)
Institute for Progress: How DARPA can proactively shape emerging technologies
Federation of American Scientists: Focused research organizations: A new model for scientific research (perspective by Alice Wu)
American Council on Education: Comments on NSF’s new foreign funding disclosure requirement
NIH: Implementation of the NIH SBIR and STTR foreign disclosure pre-award and post-award requirements
Stat: Muzzled for years, vindicated MIT professor says fraud investigation into his lab did lasting damage
COGR: Comments on draft updates to NSF grant policy manual
The Geyser: Is NSF’s public access plan unconstitutional? (perspective by Kent Anderson)

Scientific American: World’s largest fusion project, ITER, is in big trouble, new documents reveal
MAX IV: Olof Karis becomes director for MAX IV
Extreme Light Infrastructure: ELI welcomes Romania as founding observer
CERN: Preparing for the next era of neutrino research
Jefferson Lab: Jefferson Lab oversight roles filled by DOE
Oak Ridge National Lab: John Gearhart named director of ORNL’s Environment, Safety, Health and Quality Directorate

Argonne National Lab: Visionary report unveils ambitious roadmap to harness the power of AI in scientific discovery
GAO: S&T spotlight on generative AI
AP: How Europe is leading the world in the push to regulate AI
Science|Business: European Parliament agrees research should have exemptions in draft artificial intelligence law
Treasury Department: Treasury Department bolsters semiconductor supply chain confidence with key CHIPS investment tax credit guidance
HPCwire: Texas throws stake in race to get funds from US CHIPS Act
Bloomberg: Germany, Intel agree on €10 billion subsidy package for chip plant
Financial Times: Intel to spend $25 billion on Israel chip plant upgrade, says Netanyahu
Politico: Build better ties instead of only asking for microchips, Taiwan tells Europe
Wall Street Journal: US to allow South Korean, Taiwan chip makers to keep operations in China
Wall Street Journal: Watering down China chip restrictions sometimes makes sense (perspective by Jacky Wong)
Deutsche Welle: German university entangled in China’s quantum military strategy
Physics World: UK announces £45 million boost for quantum technology research
New York Times: Quantum computing advance begins new era, IBM says

Space Review: A chaotic trajectory for NASA’s budget
Ars Technica: Weirdly, a NASA official says fixed-price contracts do the agency ‘no good’
SpaceNews: NASA agreements to support work on commercial spacecraft and space stations
JHU APL: NASA taps Johns Hopkins APL to lead lunar exploration research team
SpaceNews: China attracts Moon base partners, outlines project timelines
Space.com: China launches national-record 41 satellites on single rocket
Space Review: Mars 2033: Can we do this?
Science: Measuring and monitoring light pollution: Current approaches and challenges (paper by Miroslav Kocifaj, et al.)

British Antarctic Survey: Polar science for a sustainable planet: BAS launches new 10-year science strategy
NSF: US Antarctic Program facing severe shortage of logistics resources, upcoming research season will be significantly curtailed
Federation of American Scientists: Save lives by making smoke tracking a core part of wildland fire management (perspective by Alistair Hayden)
National Academies: New report recommends EPA develop framework for evaluating new approach methods for toxicity testing
E&E News: Watchdog probes EPA air chief’s ethics lapse
Bloomberg: Carbon air-capture technology is struggling for maturity
Wall Street Journal: Companies are shelling out big dollars to get rights to subsurface holes where they hope to store carbon dioxide
National Academies: Carbon dioxide utilization markets and infrastructure: Status and opportunities (report)
Vox: NASA’s newest X-plane wants to save the planet

E&E News: Granholm details views on climate law and DOE staffing
Reuters: DOE and other agencies hit in global hacking spree
DOE: DOE announces $192 million to advance battery recycling technology
Idaho National Lab: Finally, an industrial-scale facility for testing new, clean hydrogen technologies
E&E News: Renewable group shifts position, shakes up clean hydrogen debate
New York Times: Why the US pays billions to Russia’s nuclear agency
Exchange Monitor: NRC gives Centrus green light for high assay low-enriched uranium demo
Nuclear Energy Institute: Is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ready to meet the moment?
Physics Today: European Union nations grapple with nuclear waste storage
South China Morning Post: China gives green light to nuclear reactor that burns thorium
Ars Technica: Congress shows interest in space-based solar power

Emerging Technologies Institute: Trends in the Defense Department’s science and technology funding (report)
Emerging Technologies Institute: How DOD funds science and technology (video interview with Jacob Winn)
South China Morning Post: China’s top naval scientist proposes a Star Wars-style ‘supership’ to convert nuclear energy to kinetic force weapons
Washington Post: Military tests the possibility of a green future with Pentagon’s first net-zero base
Wired: The US Navy, NATO, and NASA are using a shady Chinese company’s encryption chips
Breaking Defense: Inside NATO’s plans to rev up an ‘innovation engine’ for dual-use technologies

GAO: NIH could take additional actions to manage risks involving foreign subrecipients (report)
Ecohealth Alliance: Statement in response to GAO report
National Academies: Opportunities and challenges for digital twins in biomedical research (report)
CSET: Large language models in biology
ScienceInsider: Could chatbots help devise the next pandemic virus?
Nature: Global ‘pandemic treaty’: Nations wrestle with how to fairly share virus data

Reuters: Amid rivalry, landmark US–China Science and Technology Agreement faces new scrutiny
Nature Index: China tops natural-science publishing index table
Financial Times: Xi Jinping has promoted technocrats to key posts in a renewed push for a Chinese military-industrial complex
CNRS: The G6 is preparing the future of European research
Research Professional: Spain announces extra €1.3 billion in R&D spending
UK Government: £50 million pilot program to fund new collaborative approaches for performing science in the UK
ScienceInsider: ‘Quietly revolutionary’ plan would shake up the way UK universities are evaluated
Research Professional: Swiss national funder revamps governance structure