Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendments to H.R. 8997, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2025.

These two amendments support essential funding for our National Labs and specifically for the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, or CEBAF, at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, commonly known as JLab, in Newport News, Virginia. CEBAF is a world- leading facility studying the inner properties of nuclei, such as the quark and gluon structure of protons and neutrons. The research conducted at this facility has vastly improved our understanding of the fundamental make-up of matter and is actively supporting collaborative research globally in medium energy physics.

The first amendment highlights the need for funding critically needed infrastructure improvements at CEBAF. The workforce at JLab is rapidly growing with the increased use of CEBAF and the installation of the Department of Energy's High Performance Data Facility. For JLab to effectively support its employees and researchers, the lab needs increased funding to build a modern workspace to match the research conducted at this facility. The final appropriations bill should include $32 million for JLab to update its CEBAF infrastructure.

The second amendment highlights the importance of an optimal runtime for CEBAF. Currently, numerous PhD students and researchers are waiting to use the facility for experiments, and the backlog continues to grow as more scientists hope to use this critical technology. The funding in the underlying bill only allows CEBAF to operate 29 weeks of the year, but to meet the research needs and to optimize the use of this facility, CEBAF requires an additional $10 million to operate for an optimal runtime of 34 weeks. An appropriation of $160 million for CEBAF operations should be included in the final legislation.

I would like to thank my colleague, Congressman Rob Wittman, for cosponsoring these amendments that draw attention to the need for additional funding to spur innovation, create jobs, and facilitate incredible discovery. I urge my colleagues to support these amendments.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source