Committee Examines DOE Science Activities, Draft Legislation

Press Release

The Energy Subcommittee today held a hearing to examine challenges and opportunities in setting priorities for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. Witnesses provided comment on the draft legislation Enabling Innovation for Science, Technology, and Energy in America Act, or EINSTEIN America Act.

Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas): "The EINSTEIN America Act supports high-impact research that promotes economic innovation and revolutionary scientific research, such as the development of x-ray light sources and high performance computing programs. It recognizes the role of discovery science programs, which explore the most fundamental questions about the nature of the universe."

The discussion draft requires DOE to coordinate with other federal agencies to streamline workplace regulations, which reduces burdensome red tape and provides the National Labs flexibility to more effectively and efficiently execute DOE's science mission. DOE is the lead federal agency supporting fundamental scientific research for energy and the nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences.

Energy Subcommittee Chairman Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.): "Fundamental science and basic research activities provide the underpinnings of America's long-term economic competitiveness and result in scientific discoveries which change the way we look at the natural world. This scientific research has led to 113 Nobel Prize winners affiliated with DOE or its predecessor agencies. We must continue to pursue this standard of international excellence."

Source