Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 359) to Amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require reporting relating to certain cost-share requirements, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 359

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2025''. SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

Section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

``(g) Reporting.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection and at least quarterly thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and shall make publicly available, a report on the use by the Department during the period covered by the report of the authority to reduce or eliminate cost-sharing requirements provided by subsection (b)(3) or (c)(2).''.

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Mr. BABIN. 359, the bill now under consideration.

H.R. 359, the Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2025, is a good government bill that does exactly what it says: It improves accountability.

Led by Mr. Obernolte, this bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a quarterly report to Congress describing instances where it has modified or waived cost-share requirements and make these reports publicly available.

DOE is subject to cost-share requirements when making awards for research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities. This means that each project must have a certain funding percentage, usually at least 50 percent, contributed by the award recipient. However, DOE can modify or eliminate those requirements, when necessary, which is an authority that can be critical to supporting early-stage technologies.

H.R. 359 does not prevent DOE from waiving cost-share requirements. It simply ensures that any changes are reported to Congress and are made public. Transparency and accountability are important because they allow us to track how taxpayer dollars are spent once appropriated to DOE.

Mr. Speaker, this bill passed the House with unanimous support in the 118th Congress and is a prime example of the bipartisan backing for Congress' role in overseeing transparent and efficient spending by Federal agencies. I thank Representative Obernolte for leading this legislation again in the 119th Congress and Representative Foster for cosponsoring it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to join me in support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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