Doe and Nasa Interagency Research Coordination Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BEGICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 1368, the Department of Energy and NASA Interagency Research Coordination Act.

This legislation authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to carry out research and development activities focused on the advancement of shared DOE and NASA mission priorities. This includes R&D in critical technology areas like nuclear thermal propulsion systems, astrophysics, radiation health effects, machine learning, and more.

DOE and its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, have a long and successful history of interagency collaboration with NASA. Over the last 60 years, this relationship has evolved from radioisotope power systems to new areas of research such as quantum information and environmental sciences.

This interagency relationship has greatly benefited my home State of Alaska. The North Slope of Alaska is home to the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement, or ARM, user facility, which gathers data pertaining to clouds and radiation processes in cold environments and high altitudes.

Given its strengths, NASA has partnered with this DOE facility to conduct research in areas such as aerosols. In addition, any atmospheric data from ARM stands to benefit the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island in my home State of Alaska, which supports commercial and government suborbital and orbital launch missions, as well.

Additionally, H.R. 1368 requires the Secretary and the Administrator to implement research security provisions consistent with the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. Given the transformational nature of these emerging technologies and their impact on national security, this language is necessary to protect our investments and breakthroughs from hostile powers such as the Chinese Communist Party.

I thank my colleague, Mr. Whitesides of California, for working with me on this important legislation and continuing the bipartisan tradition of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1368 is a good governance and commonsense bill, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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