Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer a bipartisan amendment with Representatives Gibson, Peters, Dold, and Swalwell of California, to increase funding for the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy, otherwise known as ARPA-E.

I offered similar bipartisan amendments many times in the past, and they have passed with bipartisan support.

The House bill includes roughly $306 million for ARPA-E this year, which is an improvement over prior years, but it still falls $44 million below the President's request.

This amendment would not make up the full deficit of $44 million, but would increase funding for ARPA-E by $19 million with the offset taken from the administrative account. With this amendment, the House bill would fund ARPA-E at $325 million. That is the same level as the Senate bill, which acted in a bipartisan fashion to increase funding. While passage of the amendment would mean that ARPA-E is still funded well below the President's request, it will reinforce our commitment to supporting high-risk, high-reward, and game-changing research.

ARPA-E is a revolutionary program that advances high-potential, high- impact energy technologies that are simply too early for market investment. ARPA-E projects have the potential to radically improve U.S. economic security, national security, and environmental well- being. ARPA-E empowers America's energy researchers with funding, technical assistance, and market readiness.

ARPA-E is modeled after the highly successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which has produced groundbreaking inventions for the Department of Defense and the Nation.

Energy is a national security issue. It is an economic imperative. It is a health concern. It is an environmental necessity. Investing wisely in this type of research going on at ARPA-E is exactly the direction we should be going as a nation. We want to lead the energy revolution. We don't want to see this advantage go to China or some other country.

If we are serious about staying in the forefront of the energy revolution, we must continue to fully invest in the kind of cutting- edge work that ARPA-E represents. By providing this additional funding with the offset, we will send a clear signal of the seriousness of our intent to remain the world leader.

I have a couple of my GOP colleagues who wanted to speak, Mr. Gibson and Mr. Dold. I don't know if they are present.

Mr. Chairman, I urge support for the bipartisan measure.

I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source