Arpa-E Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5906) to amend the America COMPETES Act to establish Department of Energy policy for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. LUCAS. 5906, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5906, the ARPA-E Act of 2018. This legislation requires the Department to refocus ARPA-E towards developing transformative science and technology solutions to address energy, environment, economic, and national security issues.

ARPA-E was created to ensure that the U.S. energy sector maintained a competitiveness in developing emerging energy technologies. The program was established to help develop high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that were too early stage to attract private sector investment.

ARPA-E was designed to bring this finite R&D funding for a limited time, with the intention to make quick, notable impact on the development of new energy technologies.

In order to accomplish this goal, ARPA-E was given a unique management structure, with flexibility to start and stop research projects that are no longer achieving individual goals, expedited hiring and firing authority to make sure that ARPA-E staff could adequately select and support projects, and the tools to identify market challenges that could affect the advancement in project technologies.

However, we have all heard of the concerns with ARPA-E. The first is the worry that this is just one more of the same from DOE. With the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program office funded at over $2.3 billion, it is easy to see why some would ask if we need another clean energy program.

Second, we have all heard of concerns over the years that ARPA-E wasn't meeting its intended goal--to fund the kind of technologies that are so innovative they would never attract private sector investment-- but was instead provided funding to big companies with access to market capital, or funding research that was already under way in other Federal agencies or in the private sector.

The Science, Space and Technology Committee on which I serve as vice chairman particularly explored these concerns under the Obama administration. I believe there were valid concerns that must be addressed for the program to continue.

ARPA-E is a program that can have tremendous impact on the development of new energy technologies, but we can't have another agency playing favorites or handing out grants that distort our energy markets.

The bill we will consider today will address these concerns and enable ARPA-E to apply its innovative approach to a more appropriate set of technology challenges within the DOE mission, as the Trump administration sees it.

It does not--I repeat, this bill does not--authorize new spending or expand the size of the program. H.R. 5906 will refocus the mission of ARPA-E to mirror the full DOE mission and empower the Agency to promote science and technology-driven solutions.

My bill will allow the Agency to solve big challenges, like nuclear waste management and cleanup and improving the reliability, resiliency, and security of the electric grid.

The ARPA-E Act also provides important steps to prevent the duplication of research across DEO and to require applicants to indicate they have attempted to find private sector financing for a particular technology.

This is a good-government reform that is vital to ensuring that ARPA- E can't be abused for crony capitalism purposes in the future. We can't afford to spend limited taxpayer dollars competing with the private sector.

H.R. 5906 will align ARPA-E's innovative approach with the right mission goals and management. It will build on the basic science and early-stage research of the Department and help fast-track new technologies that will grow our economy.

I want to thank Chairman Lamar Smith and Ranking Member Johnson for cosponsoring this important legislation and for their leadership in advocating the reformed Agency functions within the Department of Energy's missions and goals. I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside the other members of the committee to craft a bipartisan bill that will improve--yes, improve--a DOE research program but that still allows Congress the opportunity to reduce funding for the program as appropriate.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. Speaker, reforming the mission and the goals of ARPA-E will transform the Agency to do what the DOE does best: develop innovative technology solutions to complex science, energy, and national security challenges.

I again want to thank my nine colleagues on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee who cosponsored H.R. 5906, including Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Johnson. I want to thank the new leadership staff at ARPA-E and the Department of Energy, who provided technical comments and policy recommendations as we developed this legislation.

I urge the adoption of this bipartisan, good-government legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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