SCIENCE: House panel approves $84B research, innovation bill (04/29/2010)

Katie Howell, E&E reporter

The House Science and Technology Committee last night approved, 29-8, an $84 billion research and education bill that reauthorizes an innovative energy technology research program at the Energy Department.
The committee approved the bill (H.R. 5116) with a substitute amendment that would keep key science agencies on a path to doubling their budgets from 2007 appropriated levels after hours of debate on nearly 60 amendments.
"Honestly, this bill is a big deal and is important," said Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.). "It's a big deal and important for our country and for this committee's stature in the Congress. It's a big deal and an important step in leading our innovation agenda."
In addition to authorizing big boosts in funding for DOE's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes for Standards and Technology over the next five years, the legislation would authorize $3.15 billion in spending at DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, through fiscal 2015. That funding level, laid out in a manager's amendment offered by Gordon, is a 7 percent decrease from the funding level passed out of subcommittee last month.
The funding cut in the manager's amendment -- 10 percent of the original bill's authorization level -- was a move to earn the support of Republicans who have lamented such big spending increases during an economic downturn. But the effort did not appease all concerns.
"I remain committed to investing in basic science research and development, but I am also mindful of our current dire economic situation," said ranking member Ralph Hall (R-Texas), who ultimately voted against the final amended bill along with seven other Republicans.
The committee voted down several amendments offered by Republicans that would reduce authorization levels or cut programs in an effort to reduce spending.
But it approved some, including one offered by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) that would reduce the authorization timeline of ARPA-E from 10 years to five years.
"We have responsibility on this committee not only for authorization but also for oversight," Rohrabacher said. "For us to have proper oversight, we cannot authorize an effort for 10 years out before we're able to assess what happens in the first full year of funding. ARPA-E as a concept has just embarked on its mission, and we need to find out whether or not it, as a program, is actually being handled well or whether we're really funding high-risk projects that could have happened anyway."
The bulk of the legislation approved yesterday resembles three committee prints marked up in subcommittee over the past month, but a few new sections cropped up, including one dealing with innovation. That title of the bill formally authorizes an Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Commerce Department to foster innovation and commercialization of new technologies. That program was announced by Commerce earlier this year, but its inclusion in the bill will guarantee committee oversight, Gordon said.
The innovation title also includes a section providing federal loan guarantees for innovative technologies in manufacturing, and it authorizes creation of a competitive regional innovation cluster grant program that many say is key to fostering "bottom up" systems of business development and innovation.
"This marks a watershed in American innovation policy, which has for too long assumed that the nation possesses a single placeless economy in which innovation occurs 'black-box' style, linearly, as if by magic with the right combination of R&D spending and traditional inputs of capital and labor," Mark Muro, director of policy for the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute, wrote in an e-mail. "Now, we have a prominent acknowledgment of the critical role played in innovation of regions and regional networks of firms and other actors."
The bill, which Gordon has said is his top priority for 2010, should reach the House floor by Memorial Day. Gordon has said he has the support of leadership to meet that deadline. And a committee aide reiterated that last night.
But before then, the text of the measure could see some more changes, including addition of language that would prohibit funds appropriated under the bill's authorization from being used for lobbying purposes and from being granted to those who have infringed upon intellectual property rights. Those issues, offered up as amendments by Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Rohrabacher during the markup, were ultimately withdrawn after an agreement to work with committee leaders on language agreeable to all.
"I believe this is a good bill both on substance and on process," Gordon said. "And it is a better bill because of the contributions of our members."
The Senate has held one hearing so far on the subject. The original 2007 America COMPETES bill is set to expire at the end of this year.